Development News

Developer and builder named for 20-year Lawrence Heights overhaul

Wednesday, May 01, 2013

One of the most significant development projects in the city was announced on Monday when it was revealed that developer Context and builder Metropia will be working with Toronto Community Housing to overhaul Lawrence Heights.

The 100-acre neighbourhood, completed in 1962, is a suburban version of Regent Park tucked just south of Yorkdale Mall, and all three partners have expressed the intention of making the revitalization at least as successful as the much-lauded downtown Regent Park project.

"At this point in my career, it’s very important to do something that has social significance," says 30-year veteran and Metropia president Howard Sokolowski.

The entire project is expected to take 20 years, encompassing more than 1,000 low-cost units and more than 4,000 market-price units. Context and Metropia have been given the contract for the first phase, 25 acres on which they will build 225 rental homes and 950 condos and townhouses. Construction will begin next spring.

Sokolowski emphasizes the importance of community consultation as the project moves forward, sensitive perhaps to the initial opposition from residents.

"We’re not about to do anything until people know exactly what’s happening and have input into acceptable architecture, acceptable street furniture," he says. "That’s number one."

The plan has been a long time coming. It was first announced in 2007 by then city councilor Howard Moscoe.

Writer: Bert Archer
Source: Howard Sokolowski

Do you know of a new building going up, a business expanding or being renovated, a park in the works or even a new house being built in the neighbourhood? Please send your development news tips to bert@yongestreetmedia.ca.

Artscape nears completion of $16-million school renovation

Wednesday, May 01, 2013

Artscape has a novel way of getting artists into studio spaces.

With its latest project, Young Place, 80 per cent of the 75,000 square feet of disused schoolhouse will be rented, and 20 per cent of it will be sold according to a scheme based on the Options for Homes model.

"The spaces were valued at $430 a square foot by an appraiser, and we provide prospective owners with a 25 per cent down payment interest- and payment-free," says Tim Jones, Artscape’s president and CEO. But unlike Options for Homes, Artscape retains that 25 per cent ownership, so when the original buyer sells, the next buyer will get the same deal.

When it opens in September, Young Place, located at 180 Shaw Street between Dundas and Queen, will be Artscape’s biggest, though at $16 million to renovate that old Givens Shaw Public School, it is only roughly half as expensive as the Daniels Spectrum in Regent Park.

Young Place, named for funder the Michael Young Family Foundation, will open on the old school’s centenary. Getting such an old building into shape to be a modern arts space has been difficult.

"It really is an overhaul of the building," Jones says, "bringing it up to building code, with all its mechanical, electrical and structural issues. It’s an old school, and there’s a reason the school board has such a challenge with all this aging infrastructure."

Writer: Bert Archer
Source: Tim Jones

Do you know of a new building going up, a business expanding or being renovated, a park in the works or even a new house being built in the neighbourhood? Please send your development news tips to bert@yongestreetmedia.ca.

City has family-sized condos on its radar

Wednesday, February 20, 2013

There’s no solution to the absence of family-sized condos in the city yet, but it is on the radar.

The city’s conducting a series of public consultations on every aspect of condominium living, and according to Peter Moore, the city planning division project manager in charge of the project, the subject of raising families in condos came up last week's initial meeting held in the downtown core.

"We raise this issue with developers," he says. "They say you can’t sell these big units because they’re too expensive. I know there was a direction to require developers to provide larger units, but I don’t think the direction was finalized as a zoning requirement or a official plan policy."

Peter Langdon, citing manager of the community policy sector of the planning division, confirms in a report to City Council’s Planning and Growth Management Committee that the recommendation is working its way through the system. He also added that Councillor Adam Vaughan has already insisted knock-out panels be installed in towers in Ward 20, which includes City Place, reasoning that though buying multiple units may be prohibitively expensive now, in 20 years or so, the relative expense may be more manageable.

People at the first consultation brought up the notion of adaptable of flexible units, condos that start out with the usual complement of studios and one-bedroom units, that can evolve over time through concatenation into large units suitable for families without millions to spend on the current versions of large suites.

"I’m pretty sure not many buildings are amenable to that at this time," Moore says, "but I’m pretty sure that will be an issue going forward."

The other family-related subject that came up at the first meeting was the possibility that, instead of each tower having its own fief-like amenities, developers band together in neighbourhoods and contribute to community centres such as other, non-condo neighbourhoods across the city.

The next public meeting will be held at Scarborough Civic Centre tonight from 7-9 p.m. There will be another meeting tomorrow at the same time at All Saints Kingsway Anglican Church, and on Feb 27 in North York at Congregation Darchei Noam, at Allen and Sheppard.

Writer: Bert Archer
Sources: Peter Moore, Peter Langdon

Do you know of a new building going up, a business expanding or being renovated, a park in the works or even a new house being built in the neighbourhood? Please send your development news tips to bert@yongestreetmedia.ca.

City testing new sidewalk surfaces for the visually impaired

Wednesday, December 05, 2012

The city is starting work on figuring out whether there's a way to help the visually impaired better determine when they're approaching an intersection.

The Public Works and Infrastructure Committee is overseeing the installation of four trial surfaces at Victoria and Shuter.

"It is our goal to make pedestrian travel as safe as possible for all residents and visitors to the city—especially for those who are visually impaired," said councillor Denzil Minnan-Wong, chair of the committee, in a prepared statement on the subject. "Testing different options at the same intersection will give us an opportunity to perform a side-by-side comparison of the cost, ease of installation, durability and effectiveness of each treatment."

In addition to textured surfaces, the city is experimenting with different colours, looking for high-contrast patterns that will be more easily detectable to people with low vision.

"We're very happy that the city is undertaking this consultation," says Chris McLean, the regional director for the GTA chapter of the Canadian National Institute for the Blind. "Generally, we feel that tactile walking surface indicators add an extra element of safety for blind and low-vision pedestrians."

Though the city chose Victoria/Shuter intersection because it's already slated for reconstruction at the end of next year, which is when the pilot project is scheduled for completion, McLean figures it's a better location than most, given its proximity to St. Michael's Hospital and its ophthalmological unit.

Writer: Bert Archer
Source: Chris McLean

Do you know of a new building going up, a business expanding or being renovated, a park in the works or even a new house being built in the neighbourhood? Please send your development news tips to bert@yongestreetmedia.ca.

Daniels donates $4M, renames Regent Park Arts & Cultural Centre

Wednesday, October 31, 2012

The $4-million donation for a Regent Park cultural centre from the Daniels Corporation—and the foundation set up by its CEO—is more significant than it may seem on the surface.

"Part of the donation has been to act as a long-term transition fund for the anchor tenants at the facility," says Daniels VP Martin Blake of the centre now known as Daniels Spectrum. "The Regent Park School of Music has now transitioned into this facility. It's a purpose-built facility for them, 2,000 or so square feet. They don't have the means to pay for market rent in the building."

A portion of the $4 million will fund a five-year transition for these tenants, part of a plan to ramp up their own fundraising and income generation to allow the organizations to ultimately pay the market rent themselves.

But perhaps more significantly, none of the donation had anything to do with Section 37, the municipal regulation that trades developer density for community benefits, the source for much of the charitable-seeming work developers do in the city.

Though it's a first for Daniels, which has in the past funnelled its donations to Second Harvest, Habitat for Humanity Canada and the Daniels School of Architecture at the University of Toronto, it may signal a shift in developers sense of economic responsibility to the neighbourhoods they’re making their money in.

Writer: Bert Archer
Source: Martin Blake

Do you know of a new building going up, a business expanding or being renovated, a park in the works or even a new house being built in the neighbourhood? Please send your development news tips to bert@yongestreetmedia.ca.

Census numbers point to future development trends

Wednesday, October 03, 2012

The findings of the 2011 Census are finally trickling through, and the city has released its assessment of the demographic changes that may have a profound influence on Toronto's future development.

Despite the numbers having been collected in the full flush of the condo boom, the city of Toronto's demographic primacy within the GTA is actually slipping. In 2011, it accounted for 48.2 per cent of GTA households, down from 49.8 per cent at the time of the 2006 census.

Among those households, the number non-family households—households made up of roommates or singles—increased by 13.5 per cent, while the number of single-family households increased by only 3.9 per cent. The number of one-person households increased by 12.1 per cent to 331,180. The average number of people per Toronto household was also the lowest in the GTA, at 2.5.

There has also been a six per cent increase in the number of seniors living alone, up to 95,205.

"Those types of numbers affect the ways we look at the types of services we provide," says Harvey Low, manager of the social research and analysis unit of the city's social development finance and administration division, "from housing services and infrastructure to the delivery of social services, smaller household services means a different type of client."

In addition to, for example, deciding where to spend the city's childcare money (increasingly in the outer boroughs), the dwindling Toronto numbers within the context of the GTA imply either an overly optimistic condo development industry, a continuing and perhaps overshadowing development boom in the suburbs, or a possible evacuation of the suburbs for the core once an oversupply of housing forces a drop in Toronto prices.

More detailed census data, including how long people live in households and low long it takes to build them, have yet to be released.

Writer: Bert Archer
Source: Harvey Low

Do you know of a new building going up, a business expanding or being renovated, a park in the works or even a new house being built in the neighbourhood? Please send your development news tips to bert@yongestreetmedia.ca.

Accessible playground officially opens at Oriole Park

Wednesday, July 25, 2012

Toronto now has a fully accessible playground for children of all levels of physical and mental abilities, right in the heart of Forest Hill.

The $1.3-million Neshama Playground in Oriole Park, just northwest of Upper Canada College, near the junction of Yonge and Chaplin Crescent, opened this week.

"The project was initially the brainchild of Thomas Caldwell [of Caldwell Financial] and Toronto lawyer Steven Skurka, who enlisted Theo and Brendan Caldwell and recruited friends and associates who became known as 'A Bunch of Guys,'" says Rob Richardson of the city's parks department. "A Bunch of Guys raised over $700,000 to create a state-of-the-art, inclusive playground experience for all children. The site was chosen for its central location, access to public transit and proximity to numerous organizations who cater to persons of various abilities."

According to an interview Caldwell gave to Metro Morning this week, the playground came about when Caldwell found himself seated next to Skurka on a flight eight years ago, after Skurka had read a magazine article about accessibility and playgrounds. They went to see then-mayor David Miller, who got his parks department on it.

The playground was designed by Beverly Ambler of PMA Landscape Architects. Work began in 2010 and the majority of it was completed last year, with finishing being added into this past spring.

Neshama is the Hebrew word for "spirit" or "soul."

Writer: Bert Archer
Source: Rob Richardson, Manager of Partnership Development, Toronto Parks, Forestry and Recreation Department

Do you know of a new building going up, a business expanding or being renovated, a park in the works or even a new house being built in the neighbourhood? Please send your development news tips to bert@yongestreetmedia.ca.

United Way's $800K tower project sets sights on Rexdale & Orton Park

Wednesday, June 27, 2012

The suburban slabs are about to get prettier, and possibly happier.

Last year, the United Way issued a report called Poverty by Postal Code 2: Veritcal Poverty, in which they asserted that poverty is especially intransigent in the citys outer areas, and most particularly in the high-rise apartments there.

After interviewing 2,800 residents of such towers, the United Way determined that though most of these towers were solid structures and an asset to the city and its residents, there were both long- and short-term problems that needed to be resolved. Broader issues—like long-term housing strategies and neighbourhood-improving by-laws—take broader and longer-term approaches. But there were other complaints residents had that could be fixed pretty quickly.

"Residents told us they needed community space," says United Way president and CEO Susan McIsaac. "They wanted space where children could play, they wanted buildings that looked nicer, they wanted to reclaim some of the common space that had been lost to storage."

So they set aside $800,000 to make the slabs more livable, and this week, the costing is being figured out so that changes in the first two neighbourhoods in Rexdale (at a cluster of towers centred on 2667 Kipling) and Orton Park, can be completed within 12 months. Similar improvements to two other pilot areas, yet to be determined, could be done within 12 months of that.

An NFB production, called the Thousandth Tower, has also been produced in tandem with this tower renewal.

Writer: Bert Archer
Source: Susan McIsaac

Do you know of a new building going up, a business expanding or being renovated, a park in the works or even a new house being built in the neighbourhood? Please send your development news tips to bert@yongestreetmedia.ca.

New French elementary school breaks ground in Scarborough

Wednesday, June 20, 2012

The French public school board broke ground this past weekend on yet another new school, this one in Scarborough.

"Finally after many talks and actions, we were able to put our hands on this lot that was separated from the TDSB," says Conseil Scolaire Viamonde's director of education Gyslaine Hunter-Perrault, referring to the 15-acre property that was divided into 10 acres for single-family home construction and about five acres for the French school board.

The design of the small, one-storey school, which will initially have about 200 students with a capacity of 300, is based on Carrefour des Jeunes, a school the board had built in Brampton about a decade ago. The architects are Robertson Simmons.

Like all its recently built schools, the new École élémentaire Laure-Rièse, named for the late Swiss-born professor at the University of Toronto's Victoria College, will include various ecologically conscientious elements. Hunter-Perrault says the question of whether they'll apply for LEED status has not been decided, since the application costs several thousand dollars, money which might be better spent elsewhere.

The school will replace the current Laure-Rièse on Morningside Drive, which had become over-crowded.

Construction started this week, and the school is scheduled to be ready for the beginning of the school year in 2013.

The lot is on Alton Towers Circle, near McCowan, just south of Steeles.

Writer: Bert Archer
Source: Gyslaine Hunter-Perrault

Do you know of a new building going up, a business expanding or being renovated, a park in the works or even a new house being built in the neighbourhood? Please send your development news tips to bert@yongestreetmedia.ca.

Lakeshore Lodge long-term care unveils therapeutic terrace gardens

Wednesday, June 13, 2012

It started with a fundraising lake cruise in 2006, and it finished just last week, with the official opening of the therapeutic terrace for the residents of the Lakeshore Lodge.

With the help of landscape architect Viive Kittask of Vertechs Design, the municipally owned long-term care home now has a lake view, a gazebo and a raised garden, part pre-planted, and part left fallow for those of the home's 150 residents to plan themselves.

The lodge also invested in a floor specially designed for its residents.

"For people who may be shuffling, it's a perfectly level floor," says Rob Price, the lodge's administrator, speaking of the Buzon system. "It's a technology that was borrowed from Belgium. It's like little piano stools underneath each corner of the floor slabs. They're raised and lowered as needed to make the floor level."

The budget for the project, Price says, was in the neighbourhood of $30,000.

Writer: Bert Archer
Source: Rob Price

Do you know of a new building going up, a business expanding or being renovated, a park in the works or even a new house being built in the neighbourhood? Please send your development news tips to bert@yongestreetmedia.ca.

Affordable housing working group has first meeting to figure out repair strategy

Wednesday, April 25, 2012

The committee tasked with figuring out what to do about the enormous backlog of repairs to Toronto's subsidized housing met for the first time last week, beginning a process that it hopes will resolve the $751-million problem.

Their deadline, tight for such committees, is to submit a final report by September 10.

"It's obviously a challenging task," says councillor Ana Bailão. "We're going to be ensuring that we have a concerned and open process, that we engage tenants, that we engage stakeholders, and I'm sure we're going to be able to bring something to the table in September."

The initial meeting, held April 16, was organizational in nature, setting interim goals and laying out how the committee will operate. Its first task will be to send out a questionnaire to all Toronto Community Housing tenants. One of the chief challenges there is to get the questionnaire translated into as many languages as that may require.

The committee is scheduled to release an interim report on May 28, likely before responses to the questionnaire are received.

In the meantime, community consultations are being organized to include tenants and other stakeholders.

According to city staff, almost every TCH property requires repair of some sort, whether major or simply fresh coats of paint. One of the committee's jobs is to perform a sort of triage, applying what funds are available to the most urgently needed repairs.

Writer: Bert Archer
Source: Ana Bailão

Do you know of a new building going up, a business expanding or being renovated, a park in the works or even a new house being built in the neighbourhood? Please send your development news tips to bert@yongestreetmedia.ca.

Regent Park residents declare pride in their 'hood in the face of criticism from the Sun

Wednesday, April 04, 2012

When columnists talk smack about Regent Park, they should be prepared to be smacked back.

After a series of columns by Sue Ann Levy appeared in the Toronto Sun last week, questioning the propriety of the revitalization of this originally ill-conceived low-rent neighbourhood, residents organized a press conference.

Mistress of ceremonies Debra Dineen, executive director of the Toronto Christian Resource Centre and a subsidized resident of the neighbourhood since 1989, introduced a string of speakers, including longtime residents and a new buyer of a market-priced condo, to speak on behalf of the neighbourhood and its current direction. (The physical aspects of the revitalization are being handled by Daniels Corporation.)

Dineen calls Levy's columns a "smear campaign" and an attempt to destroy the "good work" being done in Regent Park.

The event drew about 140 people to the as-yet-unlandscaped grounds in front of the Resource Centre at 40 Oak Street.

"Regent Park has gotten richer," Dineen told the crowd. "And we're worth it."

Kate Sellar, a young mother who recently bought a market-priced condo, spoke of the community feeling she's gotten since moving in.

"We all shop for bargains at Freshco," she said from the podium. "We all get our coffee from Tim Hortons," adding that "all the kids are going to swim in the new pool, all the kids will go to school together."

Writer: Bert Archer
Sources: Debra Dineen, Kate Sellar

Do you know of a new building going up, a business expanding or being renovated, a park in the works or even a new house being built in the neighbourhood? Please send your development news tips to bert@yongestreetmedia.ca.

Old Weston Village gets $23,750 neighbourhood improvement grant

Wednesday, December 14, 2011

Weston Village is getting a little boost that may turn into a major uplift.

Last month, it was announced that a plan to brush up John Street, the current site of a weekly farmer's market, and the future site of a Metrolinx stop on the way from Union Station to the airport, would get a $23,750 grant to help with the costs of designing and then implementing a plan to possibly pedestrianize and otherwise revitalize the street.

The grant came from the Urban Land Institute, a US-based organization that "promotes good land use and sustainable communities," according to its district council chair for Toronto, lawyer Mark Noskiewicz.

Though the grant is small, it is intended to spur investment from public-private partnerships. "The grant was announced last month, as we've already leveraged the $23,000 into $75,000 to $80,000" from the city and Metrolinx, Noskiewicz says.

The plan now is to use that money to complete the design and, if funds continue to flow in for the project, possibly even get the construction done by June of next year.

Writer: Bert Archer
Source: Mark Noskiewicz

Do you know of a new building going up, a business expanding or being renovated, a park in the works or even a new house being built in the neighbourhood? Please send your development news tips to bert@yongestreetmedia.ca.

Notorious 1011 Lansdowne gets million-dollar partial renovation

Wednesday, November 23, 2011

One of the worst residential buildings in the city is finally getting a reno.

The slab tower, 1011 Lansdowne at the corner of Dupont, has long been recognized by the media, the police and neighbourhood residents as a bad place. With an absentee landlord (living in Montreal), it's given city workers a heck of a time, too.

"This building has been an issue for many, many years," says the ward's councillor, Ana Bailão. "It had a lot of orders to comply over the years."

With apartment doors that don't close and drug paraphernalia in the stairwell, 1011 Lansdowne has needed all manner of physical improvements. But protocols, apparently, are protocols, and they can't be rushed.

"Anything with MLS [Municipal Standards and Licensing] takes a long time," Bailão says. "MLS goes in, gives people the order, then takes people to court, then they do a little bit of work, then we have to go back. That's basically the process."

The councillor says she was especially interested in securing some improvements, since the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH) rents several units for its patients.

Work on individual units started a couple of years ago, when the ward was represented by Adam Giambrone, but work has only recently started on the exterior.

According to Bailão, the cladding is being repaired, windows re-caulked.

Though there are still outstanding work orders relating to the inside of the building, the exterior work is meant to be done by the end of the year.

Bailão estimates the value of the exterior work at $1 million.

Writer: Bert Archer
Source: Ana Bailão

Do you know of a new building going up, a business expanding or being renovated, a park in the works or even a new house being built in the neighbourhood? Please send your development news tips to bert@yongestreetmedia.ca.

Design of 8,500-square-metre Salvation Army church recognized for its use of wood

Wednesday, November 09, 2011

The Salvation Army's much-awarded flagship downtown building has been recognized once again.

Ontario Wood Works has given the Diamond and Schmitt-designed structure, with its maple floors and red oak millwork and cabinetry, its annual prize for "outstanding use of wood."

"We are pleased to be recognized by Ontario Wood Works and especially gratified that the Salvation Army Harbour Light is the recipient of yet another award," said Donald Schmitt, a principal with the firm, in a released statement.

The $35-million building at Jarvis and Shuter opened its 85 residential treatment beds and its 98-unit transitional housing complex in 2009. It has already won the 2010 Brick in Architecture award, the Ontario Architecture Association Design Excellence award for 2011, and the Toronto Urban Design Award of Excellence, also for 2011.

Writer: Bert Archer
Source: Paul French

Do you know of a new building going up, a business expanding or being renovated, a park in the works or even a new house being built in the neighbourhood? Please send your development news tips to bert@yongestreetmedia.ca.

French public, Catholic school boards begin work on 1,000-student school reclamation

Wednesday, November 02, 2011

West Toronto Collegiate has become the latest disused school to be bought up by the explosively expanding French system.

The three-storey building on Lansdowne Avenue was officially handed over last month, and will be split between the French public and the French Catholic school boards, who will be teaching 500 students each on the first and second floors respectively. The third storey will be used by the Toronto District School Board for adult education.

According to Claire Francoeur, communications and marketing director for the public board, known as the Conseil scolaire Viamonde, "We could open 10 schools in Toronto and fill them up very quickly."

The system caters to students for whom French is a first language.

West Toronto Collegiate is one of five schools in Southern Ontario currently being converted from English to French education. Schools in Scarborough, Richmond Hill and Pickering are also making the switch.

The renovation is expected to cost between $10 and $12 million and to be completed by the beginning of the fall term.

Writer: Bert Archer
Source: Claire Francoeur

Do you know of a new building going up, a business expanding or being renovated, a park in the works or even a new house being built in the neighbourhood? Please send your development news tips to bert@yongestreetmedia.ca.

Toronto French public school board gets $5.2 million for new facility in Etobicoke

Wednesday, September 21, 2011

The Ontario government will help the city's public French school board buy a disused school in Etobicoke.

The announcement came as part of a three-year, $45-million commitment to French-language education in the province. The Etobicoke funding totals $5.2 million.

The former Parkview Public School will accommodate 200 students when it opens after renovations in 2013.

Local MPP Laurel Broten didn't return a call for comment, but said on her website that "I am proud to be part of a government that values French language education."

Writer: Bert Archer
Source: Laurel Broten

Do you know of a new building going up, a business expanding or being renovated, a park in the works or even a new house being built in the neighbourhood? Please send your development news tips to bert@yongestreetmedia.ca.

Sri Sathya Sai Baba Centre gets $489,300 provincial grant to build South Asian community centre

Wednesday, August 10, 2011

A community centre being expanded by a religious organization devoted to a recently deceased guru with millions of followers worldwide has received a big boost from the provincial government.

The Sai Baba Centre is an Indian-based operation organized around the teachings of Sathyanarayana Raju, aka Sri Sathya Sai Baba, who claimed to be the reincarnation of another spiritual leader who died 8 years before Raju was born.

The community centre, which received the $489,300 grant from the Ontario Trillium Foundation's Community Capital Fund, is meant to serve the South Asian community in Scarborough with health, youth and various other social services programs.

According to the centre's president, Mohana Thirukesan, the building at 5321 Finch Avenue will be expanded by about 40 per cent from its current 28,000 square feet. The centre has no payroll, relying on about 500 volunteers, doing good works such as providing hot meals to shelters, visiting the elderly and teaching youth "human values based on Baba's teachings," says Thirukesan. The expansion will allow the volume of these free services to increase, offering lessons to 900 youth, for instance, instead of the current 700.

Sai Baba's teachings took principles from Hinduism and Islam, and its logo, which includes the motto "Love all, serve all, help ever, hurt never", also includes the Star of David.

Upon his death in April, Sai Baba, whose miracles involving conjuring had recently been debunked, was found to have been in possession of, among other things, 500 pairs of shoes, 750 robes and hundreds of kilograms of gold, silver and gems.

Writer: Bert Archer
Source:

Do you know of a new building going up, a business expanding or being renovated, a park in the works or even a new house being built in the neighbourhood? Please send your development news tips to bert@yongestreetmedia.ca.

Earl Bales Park's new "sensory garden", result of $1-million private donation, opened Sunday

Wednesday, June 15, 2011

The city's first "sensory garden" opened in the Bathurst and Sheppard area on Sunday.

The result of a $1-million donation from Goldie Feldman and named in honour of her parents, the Sarah and Morris Feldman Sensory Garden and Accessible Water Playground is meant to be a play facility "for children and adults of all physical and cognitive skills and abilities," according to the city's press release on the subject.

The playground is in Earl Bales park.

Developer David Green, Ms Feldman's son, who is also an active fundraiser and philanthropist, spoke at the opening ceremony, highlighting the importance of this sort of facility in such a diverse city.

Writer: Bert Archer
Source: City of Toronto

Do you know of a new building going up, a business expanding or being renovated, a park in the works or even a new house being built in the neighbourhood? Please send your development news tips to bert@yongestreetmedia.ca.

Daniels donates house to Habitat Mississauga, who volunteer 3,312 hours to complete interior

Wednesday, June 01, 2011

There's a new kind of low-cost house in the GTA, thanks to Habitat for Humanity and Daniels.

Daniels -- which has worked with Habitat before, giving the housing alternative organization a packet of land around Islington and Lakeshore a little more than three years ago -- donated a constructed but unfinished house in their new FirstHome development at 3050 Erin Centre Blvd.

Habitat for Humanity's Mississauga branch then rustled up 3,312 hours of volunteer labour to finish the interior, before it was sold to a family of six whose income, which is below the designated poverty line of $50,000 for that size of family, at market value, but with no money down and an interest-free mortgage.

Doug Clark, president and chairman of the board for Habitat for Humanity Mississauga, hopes that the Daniels gift will serve as an example to other developers.

"Maybe one of the reasons there hasn't been more of this thing happening previously is that there's sort of a stigma attached to affordable housing," Clark says. "With this project, we've amply demonstrated that that stigma is not deserved. We've got a project where there's a habitat home that's going to be within an existing community and four months from now, people will drive down the street and they won't know which one's the Habitat home."

The house will be ready for its new owners by September.

Writer: Bert Archer
Source: Doug Clark

Do you know of a new building going up, a business expanding or being renovated, a park in the works or even a new house being built in the neighbourhood? Please send your development news tips to bert@yongestreetmedia.ca.

96-suite condo-retail complex nearly complete, one of the first to incorporate 3-bedroom units

Wednesday, April 27, 2011

The once controversial retail and residential complex at Queen West and Portland is now practically complete.

Derided at the time of its proposal for its scale and rumours that its lower floors would be home to a Home Depot or even a Wal-Mart, Queen and Portland, as it's known, with its 96 suites and two major retail anchors will be ready for residents and tenants in a couple of months.

The two major retail tenants will be Loblaws and Winners, which will be topped with five floors of recessive residential floors, which are some of the first in the city to include the so-called family suites, three-bedroom units now officially encouraged by the city.

"Part of the municipal approval process required 10 per cent of the building to have a larger number of bedrooms in the suites to encourage families," says Tony Whitaker, vice president of sales for Tribute Communities, the project's developer.

The architect for the project is Turner Fleischer.

Writer: Bert Archer
Source: Tony Whitaker

Do you know of a new building going up, a business expanding or being renovated, a park in the works or even a new house being built in the neighbourhood? Please send your development news tips to bert@yongestreetmedia.ca.

Architects Alliance gets Green Toronto nomination for 22-storey, 159-unit Regent Park tower

Wednesday, April 06, 2011

In the future, let's hope all subsidized housing is as green as the Sackville-Dundas Apartments.

Architects Alliance has been nominated for a Toronto Green Award for their work on this first phase of the Regent Park overhaul.

Owned by the Toronto Community Housing Corporation, the complex was able to use 75% of the materials from the demolition of the public housing disaster whose place it's taking (saving 20% on construction costs). It has green roofs with cisterns to capture storm water that are connected to the irrigation system for the grounds. There's a heat reclamation system hooked up to the two hottest rooms in each apartment, the kitchen ad bathroom, to heat the building's water, there are motion sensors in the stairwells for lighting control and the exterior walls are half masonry, half glazing, to improve their thermal performance. There's also plenty of parking for bikes.

"It's important to have as many ways as possible of letting people know that the city is committed to sustainability," says Mary K. McIntyre, Architects Alliance's director of business development, talking about the prize, "and it's important to highlight projects that are sustainable. In an ideal world sustainability is not a placard you wear around your neck, it's just the way you build. With a lot of these buildings that win, I think people will say, 'Wow, I didn't know that was a green building.' It's becoming not an exception that adds costs, but just a part of the building code, that's what we're aiming toward."

Writer: Bert Archer
Source: Mary McIntyre

Do you know of a new building going up, a business expanding or being renovated, a park in the works or even a new house being built in the neighbourhood? Please send your development news tips to bert@yongestreetmedia.ca.

Farsi community gets $2-million centre with $1-million renovation including $439,000 Trillium grant

Wednesday, April 06, 2011

The city's Persian community is getting its own community centre, thanks in part to a grant from the Trillium Foundation.

The Parya Trillium Foundation, started in 2002, has been operating since 2008 out of a rented 15,000 square foot space at 7171 Yonge Street. Thanks to the $439,000 grant, announced last month, Parya has started to renovate an old Canuck Kitchen manufacturers office building, 10,000 square feet at 344 John Street in Thornhill, on about 1.3 acres of land.

Work has already begun, and Parya founder and president Ahmad Tabrizi figures it will be ready in two or three months to serve their 800 registered members and, more generally, the larger community of approximately 100,000 Farsi-speaking Torontonians.

The building cost about $2 million, and the renovations are expected to clock in at about another million. The funds not provided by Trillium have been and continue to be raised through donations.

"The new one will be more efficient," Tabrizi says, speaking of the fact that they can do whatever they want with this space, but weren't able to make any physical changes to 7171 Yonge. "There's less space, but it will be more productive for us."

The contractor for the project is Pegah Construction Ltd., and the renovation was designed by Icon Architects.

Writer: Bert Archer
Source; Ahmad Tabrizi

Do you know of a new building going up, a business expanding or being renovated, a park in the works or even a new house being built in the neighbourhood? Please send your development news tips to bert@yongestreetmedia.ca.

$500,000 Trillium grant helps Sanatan Mandir Cultural Centre build 10,000 square foot addition

Wednesday, March 16, 2011

With the help of a $500,000 Trillium grant, announced last week, the Sanatan Mandir Cultural Centre is building a 10,000 square foot addition.

The new building, built on a vacant lot to the east of the current 33,000 square foot building, built in 1994, will cost a total of $3 million. The balance of the money will be coming from fundraising and bank financing.

According to Mike Mehta, a lifetime trustee with the Markham centre, which caters to Toronto's Hindu community, "space was very limited" in the old facility, and the new space will allow for five classrooms, a library, and a centre for youth and seniors.

Work will start in mid July, and be finished by March, 2012.

Writer: Bert Archer
Source: Mike Mehta

Do you know of a new building going up, a business expanding or being renovated, a park in the works or even a new house being built in the neighbourhood? Please send your development news tips to bert@yongestreetmedia.ca.

Renovated seniors home at 717 Broadview opens its doors

Wednesday, March 09, 2011

Residents are moving in to 717 Broadview, a comprehensively renovated seniors building owned by Toronto Community Housing.

Originally slated for a December opening, the $10-million renovation and redesign has taken a 1970s building with 200 small rooms and transformed it into a 69-unit apartment building. The overhaul also turned part of the rear parking lot into a community garden.

In addition to being a more livable space for seniors in need of assisted housing, the new building is expected have its energy needs reduced by between 25 and 40 per cent.

Woodgreen Community Services will also be running programs out of the refurbished building's first floor.

Writer: Bert Archer
Source: Riva Finkelstein

Do you know of a new building going up, a business expanding or being renovated, a park in the works or even a new house being built in the neighbourhood? Please send your development news tips to bert@yongestreetmedia.ca.

200 attend housing symposium to discuss poverty, homelessness

Wednesday, March 09, 2011

There was a symposium held last week on poverty and homelessness that could have substantial repercussions on how low-cost housing is handled in the city.

The symposium was attended by about 200 representatives of government and non-profit organizations. Its purpose was to discuss developments since the 2010 senate report, "In from the Margins: A Call to Action on Poverty, Housing and Homelessness," which was written by senators Art Eggleton and Hugh Segal.

Senator Eggleton, a former Toronto mayor, was at the symposium, as was the new chair of the city's affordable housing committee, Ana Bailao.

"This symposium keeps the momentum going as we work to strengthen the engagement of the federal government to adopt comprehensive strategies on poverty, housing and homelessness," Senator Eggleton said in a press release. "It also shows how important it is to have all the players working together."

"Neighbourhood decline and disinvestment is a great risk to the future prosperity of our city. And our efforts to address the most complex issues facing our communities will require collaboration and commitment from all of us," said United Way CEO Susan MacIsaac. "We all have a role to play to reverse the growing trend of concentrated poverty to ensure all of our neighbourhoods are vital and strong."

Writer: Bert Archer
Source: Gil Hardy

Do you know of a new building going up, a business expanding or being renovated, a park in the works or even a new house being built in the neighbourhood? Please send your development news tips to bert@yongestreetmedia.ca.

Home Ownership Alternatives release 3 case studies supporting development of government surplus land

Wednesday, March 09, 2011

An alternative home financing organization released a report last week to remind government that selling surplus land for low-cost residential development can help struggling neighbourhoods as well as aspiring homeowners.

Home Ownership Alternatives released three case studies of properties in Guelph, Kitchener-Waterloo and Toronto where government surplus land was used by HOA to improve the area and provide housing.

The Toronto example was Shermount, at Bathurst and Lawrence, on land that was once under the stewardship of the Canada Lands Company, the bureau responsible for federal land that's been designated as surplus.

"Home Ownership Alternatives wanted more people to realize what an impact careful redevelopment can have on a community." said Joe Deschenes Smith, vice president of partnerships for Home Ownership Alternatives, explaining the thinking behind releasing the report. "In each case study, governments committed to find partners who would develop mixed income communities. Each government was paid market value for their land and at the same time helped families realize their dream of home ownership."

The result of the Shermount development was 380 mid-rise condominiums and 51 town homes, which sold at an average cost of $144,000 to buyers under the HOA second-mortgage scheme.

Writer: Bert Archer
Source: Joe Desch�nes Smith

Do you know of a new building going up, a business expanding or being renovated, a park in the works or even a new house being built in the neighbourhood? Please send your development news tips to bert@yongestreetmedia.ca.

Exhibit of renderings from $300-million Ismaili Centre at Ontario Science Centre ends today

Wednesday, January 12, 2011

Today's the last day to get an advance look at the designs for the Ismaili Centre and the Aga Khan Museum, being built on a large campus of land between 49 and 77 Wynford Drive.

On display on the first floor of the Ontario Science Centre since Dec. 23, the exhibit is free. According to theismaili.com, the website of the international Ismaili community, "The Aga Khan Museum will be a museum of Muslim culture that will seek to address the gap of knowledge about Islam and create opportunities for dialogue and understanding between peoples and cultures. The first of its kind in North America, it will bring together visitors locally and internationally, both Muslim and non-Muslim, to explore their connected heritage and celebrate their unique backgrounds."

According to Councillor John Parker, in whose ward the buildings are going up, the exhibit is "well worth viewing."

The $300-million, 6.8 hectare project is set to be completed in 2013.

Writer: Bert Archer
Source: Councillor John Parker

Do you know of a new building going up, a business expanding or being renovated, a park in the works or even a cool new house being built in the neighbourhood? Please send your development news tips to bert@yongestreetmedia.ca.

100 attend formal opening of Regent Park Centre of Learning

Wednesday, December 15, 2010

An important part of the first phase of Regent Park's revitalization formally opened on Dec. 1, after several months of getting-to-know-you time that one planning and development co-ordinator says was absolutely necessary.

"There was a lot of confusion, and a lot of questions being asked by residents and other community members," says Alison Chan, who works for the Toronto Centre of Community Learning and Development, which is behind the Regent Park Centre of Learning, of the tumultuous process of re-building a neighbourhood, "so we wanted to give ourselves time to be able to establish a presence in the community before we did a formal opening. You need to have people know who you are before you can celebrate the opening of your centre."

The Centre, on the ground floor of a new building at 540 Dundas Street East, which is connected to 246 and 252 Sackville, seniors and family residential buildings respectively, all owned by Toronto Community Housing.

Though the centre started out as a literacy organization, they have moved into more diverse areas of education, for which the 2,233 square foot centre, with its conference room, multipurpose room, computer lab and classroom, is designed to be a hub. The Dec. 1 launch included what they're calling a community dialogue on creating a healthy community, something they're planning on making a series. The first one stayed general, and included Ontario Minister of Research and Innovation Glen Murray, city councilor Pam McConnell, and architect Ken Greenberg. Chan estimates there were about 100 people in attendance.

Writer: Bert Archer
Source: Alison Chan

Do you know of a new building going up, a business expanding or being renovated, a park in the works or even a cool new house being built in the neighbourhood? Please send your development news tips to bert@yongestreetmedia.ca.

St James' Cathedral Parish House gets $16-million renovation and expansion

Wednesday, November 10, 2010

The St. James Cathedral's Parish House is getting its second semicentennial renovation care of Peter Clewes, Dalton construction and $16 million.

"The space was getting pretty tired," says St James' director of operations and finance Rob Saffrey, "which is probably being nicer than one might otherwise be."

They demolished the one-storey 1959 addition and are replacing it with a three-storey space, primarily to be able to offer parishioners and community members more space to meet and celebrate.

"One of the major programs we run is an outreach for people in the neighbourhood. We do a foot care clinic, cutting of hair, we serve a meal one day a week, so the space was not really adequate for that at all."

Other groups that have been using the space, and could benefit from more of it, include a mother-and-baby group, and a Muslim men's prayer group.

Saffrey says $5 million is coming from St James' coffers, and $11 million from donations and capital funds.

In addition to the space, St James and Clewes are also revealing some of the original 1909 architectural details that were covered up in the 1959 renovation, including some interior stone archways.

The renovation and addition, set to be finished by October, 2011, will also include a new slate roof, the cleaning and exposure of much original interior brick, and the installation of various audio-visual conveniences.

Writer: Bert Archer
Source: Rob Saffrey

Do you know of a new building going up, a business expanding or being renovated, a park in the works or even a cool new house being built in the neighbourhood? Please send your development news tips to bert@yongestreetmedia.ca.

World Habitat Day party celebrates affordable development, will announce $3.5-million in new funding

Wednesday, September 29, 2010

Last year, when Home Ownership Alternatives was a finalist for the World Habitat Awards, they threw a party on the UN's designated World Habitat Day to let people know, and to celebrate their various partners who helped them provide the city with an entirely new kind of affordable housing.

It went so well, they decided to do it again, and give the city an event at which to announce a major new funding initiative.

"It's an opportunity to bring together various partners and stakeholders and thank them on a day the world should be talking about availability of affordable housing," says HOA vice president in charge of partnerships, Joe Deschenes-Smith.

So on October 4, between 80 and 100 people from various levels of the municipal and provincial development sector will gather at the Enoch Turner School House, where Sean Gadon, director of the City's Affordable Housing Office, will announce the city's $3.5-million support for affordable housing under a new program.

If it goes as well this year as last, Deschenes-Smith says they'll likely make it an annual event.

Writer: Bert Archer
Source: Joe Deschenes-Smith

Do you know of a new building going up, a business expanding or being renovated, a park in the works or even a cool new house being built in the neighbourhood? Please send your development news tips to bert@yongestreetmedia.ca.

Talk provides historical context for 1st nation $145-million entry into Toronto's development market

Wednesday, September 29, 2010

On June 8, a major new development force announced itself to city council.

The Mississaugas of the New Credit First Nation, which had recently negotiated a $145-million land claim settlement, appeared before council to introduce themselves as new city partners. Though the claim won't be completely settled or paid out for some time yet, the announcement made it clear that the nation intends to buy back some of the land they lost in 1828.

And this past Monday, an audience at Fort York was able to put all this in a little context with a talk by University of Calgary history professor emeritus Donald Smith, as well as Mississaugans Chief Bryan LaForme and Carolyn King, who talked about the facts and repercussions of the January 30, 1929 meeting between the British and a group of Mississauga chiefs, during which, as the talk put it, the "landlords became tenants."

"This is the first of a series of events that we're going to be having at Fort York, put on by the Friends of Fort York, that focus on Toronto and Canada's history, present and future," says Alok Sharma, supervisor of special events at the fort.

Writer: Bert Archer
Source: Alok Sharma

Do you know of a new building going up, a business expanding or being renovated, a park in the works or even a cool new house being built in the neighbourhood? Please send your development news tips to bert@yongestreetmedia.ca.

Tibetans reclaim 2 acres of disused Etobicoke community gardens, Dali Lama to bless

Wednesday, September 22, 2010

"These garden were in operation in the 70s and 80s and into the 90s," says Councillor Peter Milczyn, of the just-resuscitated Titan Road community gardens. "Around the time of amalgamation, the number of people using it dropped off, and when amalgamation occurred, the garden was shut down."

Then came the Tibetans.

"A couple of years ago, I was approached by a community group, the Tibetan Canadian Cultural Centre, who were constructing their community and cultural centre across the street. They saw the old sign that says City of Etobicoke garden plots."

Milczyn says he took the idea to city staff, and was met with silence, but after resolving an issue with another councillor who he says had been blocking the grounds use on behalf of one of their constituents, who was using it for storage, the two acres of hydro corridor lands are being prepared to use again. All it will take, Milczyn says, is a little tractor to clear out a decade of overgrowth, and a topsoil top up, to make it ready for the 1,000-plus members of the Tibetan centre, who will also be sharing it with other interested neighbours.

Though Little Tibet is several kilometres away in Parkdale, as a result of these gardens, this Kipling and Queensway neighbourhood will likely take on a greater significance to this exiled community. According to Milczyn, the Dalai Lama will be visiting it and giving the project his blessing next month.

Writer: Bert Archer
Source: Peter Milczyn

Do you know of a new building going up, a business expanding or being renovated, a park in the works or even a cool new house being built in the neighbourhood? Please send your development news tips to bert@yongestreetmedia.ca.

Sony Centre set to unveil radical $30-million renovation and restoration

Wednesday, September 15, 2010

The radical renovation of the Sony Centre for the Performing Arts will be ready for October 1, the 50th anniversary of its opening.

But better than the 189 re-milled brass doors, the 1,700 restored cherry panels, the fixed marble, the carpeting that now goes with the marble, the LED-lit coffered ceiling, the new Sony store and the removal of several architectural interventions that got in the way of architect Peter Dickinson's original design: there'll be a bar open from 4pm to midnight every day. And you won't even have to buy a ticket to a show to drink there.

The Balcony Bar sounds like it has definite new Toronto hang-out potential. It's part of a new approach the Sony Centre (aka the O'Keefe Centre, aka the Hummingbird Centre) to cater to the city it exists in now, rather than the one it was built into.

"The first show 50 years ago was Camelot," says Sony Centre CEO Dan Brambilla. "It represented the city at the time: homogenous. Now we have 232 cultures, so our programming is no longer focused on Broadway -- there are other theatres for that. We want to program to all the ethnicities in the city.

They want to feed them, too.

"Every night, the food will be paired with the show," Brambilla says. "If we have a Russian show, there'll be Russian food, and so on."

The idea is to bring the city into the Centre. The food will be cheap, the bar will be open to the public, and the whole building will offer free WiFi.

The renovation and restoration, which was budgeted at $30 million, was paid for by the sale of air rights to the developers of the new Libeskind condo going up next door.

Writer: Bert Archer
Source: Dan Brambilla

Do you know of a new building going up, a business expanding or being renovated, a park in the works or even a cool new house being built in the neighbourhood? Please send your development news tips to bert@yongestreetmedia.ca.

Maple Leaf Park at Jane and 401 gets 3 refurbished tennis courts

Wednesday, August 25, 2010

Thanks to two tennis organizations, kids at Jane and the 401 now have three resurfaced courts in Maple Leaf Park.

Tennis Canada and the Doug Philpott Inner-City Children's Tennis Fund (which caters to mostly outer-city kids, as it happens) are, among other things, devoted to smashing the stereotype that tennis is for rich kids.

"This is something that Tennis Canada has done a few times," says spokeswoman Sarah Grossman. "Our mandate is to get kids playing as much as we can, and this is just one extra way to fulfill our mission, providing an opportunity where it wouldn't otherwise be possible. I would say we've definitely gone a long way in terms of breaking down those stereotypes."

Maple Leaf Park is just south of Tennis Canada's Jane and Steeles offices.

The mayor and pros Bob and Mike Bryan were on hand for the official opening during the Rogers Cup.

As a result of the refurbishment, the Philpott fund's summer tennis program will be extending its program to include Maple Leaf Park as its 13th location.

Writer: Bert Archer
Source: Sarah Grossman

Do you know of a new building going up, a business expanding or being renovated, a park in the works or even a cool new house being built in the neighbourhood? Please send your development news tips to bert@yongestreetmedia.ca.

$110,000 of accessible equipment installed in park named for woman disabled by stray bullet

Wednesday, August 25, 2010

Louise Russo Park is getting new playground equipment as part of a rash of playground and park improvements being funded in-part by soon-to-expire federal funds.

The equipment at former Flindon Park, re-named four years ago in honour of Russo, who was paralyzed by a fragment of a bullet meant for someone else at California Sandwiches in 2004, has been designed with disabled children in mind.

"It's a very old park," says Councillor Giorgio Mammoliti, in whose ward it is, "and it was at the top of the list to get a new, freshly built playground."

Mammoliti estimates that the cost of the refurbishment, which was officially unveiled yesterday, was about $110,000.

Writer: Bert Archer
Source: Giorgio Mammoliti

Do you know of a new building going up, a business expanding or being renovated, a park in the works or even a cool new house being built in the neighbourhood? Please send your development news tips to bert@yongestreetmedia.ca.

Options for Homes announces next project, 13 storeys with 5-bdrm condos at Bathurst and Lawrence

Wednesday, August 18, 2010

Options for Homes is launching its next low-cost, no-down payment homes at Bathurst and Lawrence in September.

The building will be 13 storeys high with 331 units ranging from studios to five-bedroom apartments, between 485 square feet and 1,675 square feet, with pre-launch prices of $155,425 to $309,200.

The complex, designed by Burka Architects and built by Deltera, is going up on lands sold by Asbury & West United Churchh at the corner of Bathurst and Saranac.

"We were up against some stiff competition," says Options for Homes spokeswoman Jessica Speziale, speaking of their bid for the property, "but the church wanted to do something good for the city, something good for the neighbourhood and wanted to make sure more families could own."

The oldest part of the church itself, built in the 1870s with a 1950s addition, will be demolished to make room for the mid-rise condo, which will include a sabbath elevator.

Speziale expects construction to begin next summer with completion the summer after that, in 2012.

Writer: Bert Archer
Source: Jessica Speziale

Do you know of a new building going up, a business expanding or being renovated, a park in the works or even a cool new house being built in the neighbourhood? Please send your development news tips to bert@yongestreetmedia.ca.

Ground broken on $8-million low-cost rental project in Flemingdon Park

Wednesday, August 11, 2010

A development that will add 62 new affordable rental homes for seniors and people with disabilities broke ground at 5 Deauville Lane in Flemingdon Park last week.

"It's really exciting," says Simon Liston, manager of housing development at the city's Affordable Housing department, speaking of the roll-out of about 1,000 units of affordable seniors housing funded by economic stimulus money, of which the Deauville project is a part. "It's the largest tranche of seniors rental housing we've had in this city for decades."

Many honourable folks turned out with their fancy shovels to mark the event, including the Honourable Peter Kent, Minister of State for Foreign Affairs (Americas) and the area's MP, the Honourable Kathleen Wynne, provincial Minister of Transportation and the area's MPP, and Councillor John Parker, whose ward the units are going up in, who is also no doubt quite honourable.

The architect for the project is Michael McKnight of Barrie-based McKnight Charron Laurin Architects.

The project is being funded by the Canada-Ontario Affordable Housing Program to the tune of $7.4 million, with an extra $550,000 worth of incentives such as fees and property tax waivers from the city.

Writer: Bert Archer
Source: Simon Liston

Do you know of a new building going up, a business expanding or being renovated, a park in the works or even a cool new house being built in the neighbourhood? Please send your development news tips to bert@yongestreetmedia.ca.

Wigwamen donates $250,000 to assist YWCA in construction of 50 housing units for aboriginal women

Wednesday, August 04, 2010

Aboriginal housing organization Wigwamen has given $250,000 to support the 50 units being set aside for aboriginal women and their children in the new YWCA Elm Centre.

Wigwamen, a non-profit in operation since 1972, usually builds and owns its own properties, including a 103-unit seniors building at Spadina and Bloor, and a 92-unit community in Malvern. They currently run a total of 405 units in Toronto.

"Although it's nice to own units," says Angus Palmer, Wigwamen's general manager, "it's more important to us that we guarantee access to affordable housing units for the aboriginal community."

Wigwamen will continue to accept, screen and process the applications for the units, and will then hand over the likely candidates' names to YWCA, who will be making the final determination of who gets the units, which will be rented out at a rate of about 30 per cent of the woman's monthly income.

The YWCA, which will be running the facility when it's completed around May, 2011, has put $15 million of its own into the whole project, which was designed by Hilditch Architects and Regional Architects.

Writer: Bert Archer
Source: Angus Palmer

Do you know of a new building going up, a business expanding or being renovated, a park in the works or even a cool new house being built in the neighbourhood? Please send your development news tips to bert@yongestreetmedia.ca.

Three levels of government give $2.5 million to fund 108 affordable condos

Wednesday, July 28, 2010

All three levels of government announced their support of alternative routes to home ownership last week by giving $2.5 million to fund Home Ownership Alternatives and Option for Homes' latest project, the 643-unit Village by High Park condo tower in the Junction at Dundas and Keele, on the site of the old Canadian Tire.

The funding will provide financial backing for buyers of 108 units in the building.

"These new units will provide quality, affordable housing for low income households and benefit the economic and social well- being of the entire community," said Finance Minister Jim Flaherty in a press release.

"This investment will allow more people to realize their dream of owning a home which is a key ingredient of the City's 10-year affordable housing action plan," said city councilor Gord Perks. The plans calls for assistance for 257,700 households.

With this contribution the value for the average second mortgage offered to help prospective home buyers with a down payment will be $53,000.

Writer: Bert Archer
Source: Sharon Rego

Do you know of a new building going up, a business expanding or being renovated, a park in the works or even a cool new house being built in the neighbourhood? Please send your development news tips to bert@yongestreetmedia.ca.

Sales begin on 11-storey, 134-unit affordable East York condo

Wednesday, July 21, 2010

Non-profit developer Neighbourhood Concepts has begun selling units in a condo tower to be built at Donlands and Cosburn using an increasingly popular financing model that allows middle-income people to afford to get into the housing market.

Potential buyers for the East Yorker, which is being financed by Home Ownership Alternatives, can qualify to use a specially negotiated second mortgage as the down payment, which they only have to pay back when they sell the property. The financing model was developed by Options for Homes, with which Neighbourhood Concepts is affiliated.

"It's a great project," says Home Ownership's vice president Joe Deschenes-Smith. "You know Woodgreen Community Services? They actually owned the adjacent site, and we're buying the land from them as part of the agreement. We'll be doing affordable houses on upper stories and services for Woodgreen on the ground floor."

The 11-storey building will have 134 units, starting at about $200,000. Construciton is scheduled to begin in early to mid 2011.

Writer: Bert Archer
Source: Joe Descenes-Smith

Do you know of a new building going up, a business expanding or being renovated, a park in the works or even a cool new house being built in the neighbourhood? Please send your development news tips to bert@yongestreetmedia.ca.

Ontario announces $50-million fund for infrastructure spending

Wednesday, July 14, 2010

On July 9, the Ontario government announced the launch of its Community Capital Fund to support infrastructure projects for non-profit organizations across the province.

Aimed at various cultural communities that deliver public services, the grants, from $20,000 to $500,000, will be aimed at covering capital costs, which are often overlooked by other funding organizations.

The $50-million fund will be administered by the Trillium Foundation. Applications are going out in September, with a deadline of Dec. 31.

"Not-for-profit organizations deliver important public services to cultural communities and contribute greatly to the social and economic development of this province," says Minister of Tourism and Culture Michael Chan. "This new fund strengthens our diversity, supports local economic development, and creates more jobs for Ontario families."

Writer: Bert Archer
Source: Michael Chan

Do you know of a new building going up, a business expanding or being renovated, a park in the works or even a cool new house being built in the neighbourhood? Please send your development news tips to bert@yongestreetmedia.ca.

City honours funding organization behind 643-unit affordable housing development

Wednesday, June 30, 2010

Earlier this month, the city honoured Home Ownership Alternatives, a little known but increasingly influential funding body, as one of the city's several Affordable Housing Champions.

They were recognized for the work they did financing Options for Homes' 643-unit housing project at Keele and Dundas, Village by the Park.

"We're actively looking to get some new partners, both on the financial side and the developer side," says Joe Deschenes-Smith, HOA's vice president of partnerships, "so recognition like that is always great to help open some doors and find new projects and organizations.

HOA, which was founded in 1998 as the funding agency for Options for Homes St Lawrence Co-Operative, funds affordable housing by providing project financing, offering second mortgages to home buyers, and lobbying government for more affordable housing legislation and funding.

Writer: Bert Archer
Source: Joe Deschenes-Smith

Do you know of a new building going up, a business expanding or renovating, even a cool new house in the neighbourhood? Please send your development news tips to bert@yongestreetmedia.ca.

$300-million Aga Khan museum and Ismaili centre break ground

Wednesday, June 09, 2010

The Aga Khan and Prime Minister Harper were in town last week to break ground on the $300-million Aga Khan Museum and Ismaili Centre in the city's north end.

"His original hope was to locate this project in London, England," says an effervescently enthusiastic Councillor John Parker, in whose ward the buildings and adjacent park are being built, "but things didn't work out there. Plan B was Wynford Drive, Ward 26." Parker calls the development his ward's largest "by a long shot."

The site, on which construction began last week, was formerly home to a Shell Oil office building and, more notably, the former headquarters of Bata Shoes, a building by John B. Parkin that the Toronto Star's Chris Hume wrote was "reminiscent of an ancient Greek temple. Unadorned yet poetic, the architecture pays homage to the past while extolling the virtues of the future," and the Globe's Lisa Rochon described as "imperfect," "clumsy" and derivative.

According to Parker, the original plan was to build in two phases, but various delays in approvals convinced the developer, a local corporation put together by the Aga Khan, to build it all at once and much more quickly, starting several years later than planned, but finishing up by the original completion date, in 2013.

"Your average developer would move ahead on as many fronts as they could establish, and once they had a critical mass of construction approvals, would get to work building," Parker says. "This developer didn't want to make their first move until they had all their plans fully approved."

Writer: Bert Archer
Source: Councillor John Parker

Do you know of a new building going up, a business expanding or renovating, even a cool new house in the neighbourhood? Please send your development news tips to bert@yongestreetmedia.ca.

643 new low-cost condos in the Junction reach halfway point

Wednesday, April 28, 2010

Options for Homes, the city's developer of low-cost housing that offers buyers a second mortgage they can use toward their down payment to increase their likelihood of being accepted for a mortgage, has reached the halfway point in their Junction project.

On Keele just north of Dundas, the 643-unit, two-tower building, somewhat misleadingly called The Village by High Park, broke ground in August of 2008 and will probably be ready for residents beginning this summer, with final completion and occupancy early next year if the trades, many of which are currently renegotiating their contracts, don't strike. Construction costs are estimated at $170 per square foot. With a total of about 560,000 square feet, the project's construction budget is estimated to be about $95 million.

"We tend to go for land that is in up and coming neighbourhoods, neighbourhoods on the cusp, because it's less expensive, so we can keep our prices lower," says marketing co-ordinator Jessica Speziale. Options for Homes, which also has projects planned for Bathurst and Lawrence and in Barrie, were early develops in the Distillery District area, building their light brick towers in the late 90s, before the district was renovated and rebranded.

The Junction condos range in size from 455 square feet for a bachelor to 1190 square feet for a three bedroom, and in price from $143,000 to $324,000.

Though no commercial tenants have yet been signed, there will also be retail on the ground level along Keele.

Writer: Bert Archer
Source: Jessica Speziale

Do you know of a new building going up, a business expanding or renovating, even a cool new house in the neighbourhood? Please send your development news tips to bert@yongestreetmedia.ca.

Sake guru brings Korean tapas to Yorkville

Wednesday, January 13, 2010

Sang Kim, one of the forces behind Blowfish and the consultant behind Ki's aggressive training of its staff in the fine art of explaining sake to a still mostly innocent clientele, is bringing a Korean tapas restaurant to Yorkville.

KOKO! Share Bar, on the site of the old walk-down Sushi Bada at 81 Yorkville (below Dolce), will have a staff of 12 in two shifts and feature bossam, which is Korean for wrap. Dishes will feature loose leaf lettuce with steamed rice, and things like roasted pork belly and Korean barbequed meats served, on one side of the restaurant, at two long communal tables (the other side is reserved for the more reserved, with more usual two-seater table options). Following the long tradition of Korean and Japanese culinary hook-ups, KOKO! will also serve tamaki, which is the Japanese version of bossam, with seasoned seaweed instead of lettuce, sushi rice, raw fish and tempura.

A fan of Korean cuisine, but not of Toronto's two "Little Koreas" (on Bloor west of Bathurst and on Yonge north of Sheppard). "They beat up on each other by slashing prices," says Kim, who estimates his lunches for two will be under $40, and dinners about $100, "and they do Japanese food very poorly. I like not having to compete with pork bone soup pricing."

Demolition started on Jan. 9, with a goal of an early February soft opening and a launch on Feb. 14, in honour of Valentine's Day, as well as Chinese and Korean New Year.

Writer: Bert Archer

diversity : Development News