Eight prime city-owned sites to be 'unlocked,' Toronto Council decides

Torontosun.com
April 7, 2022
Antonella Artuso

Toronto Council will repurpose -- and likely sell -- eight prime city-owned buildings in the downtown and midtown areas.

According to a report passed unanimously by council Thursday, 33% of any residential component must be affordable housing.

Mayor John Tory said the ModernTO plan approved by council will create an opportunity to shrink the city’s footprint and move staff jobs out of the downtown area.

“I believe that it is very in the public interest,” Tory said Wednesday. “I believe it is going to lead to substantial -- they say $20 million a year of savings. It is going to lead to huge city-building opportunities, in particular, with respect to affordable housing and other public purposes.

“I think we will be better off in terms of the broadened use ... of that real estate than to just have it sit today in its present use,” he said.

The eight sites to be “unlocked” and some or all sold are: 610 Bay St., 277 Victoria St., 931 Yonge St., 33 Queen Street E., 75 Elizabeth St., 1900 Yonge St., 18 Dyas Rd., and 95 The Esplanade.

The supervised drug consumption site known as The Works -- at 277 Victoria St., near Yonge-Dundas Square -- would likely have to be moved, council heard.

The former bus terminal near Bay and Dundas Sts. would also be one of the first properties likely to be repurposed.

“Many different Torontonians and even people that are visitors to our city have memories of the bus terminal off Bay St.,” Councillor Mike Layton said. “It was an entry point, a welcome, a meeting place, it was how a lot of people experienced getting into and out of our city.”

The building site is unique in that it is located between two subway stations, on a streetcar line, near hospitals, and adjacent to supportive housing but with no neighbours, he said.

These factors give this site so much potential for redevelopment with affordable housing, Layton said.

“We can’t lose that; we can’t accept the traditional way that we would dispose of properties,” he said.

The report estimated the initiative could trigger the construction of 500 to 600 affordable housing units.

Councillor Kristyn Wong-Tam said the city has a civic purpose in this plan, seeking to leverage the institutional value resting in these properties.

“It’s not just about pursuing the mighty dollar, it’s about ensuring that we do it smartly,” Wong-Tam added.

For instance, adjacent to 277 Victoria St. is a city-owned building that has been sitting largely vacant in the heart of the city, a target for graffiti and vandalism, she said.

“We had a building that was owned by the city that was abandoned,” Wong-Tam said. “We have a responsibility to make sure that those assets that we are holding on behalf of the citizens of Toronto, that it always is well maintained, that there’s a purpose in the interim even as we’re getting to a final outcome.”