The Sumach takes root at Toronto’s Regent Park

Chartwell Retirement Residences, Welltower Inc. and The Daniels Corporation have broken ground on a new rental retirement residence in Toronto’s Regent Park neighbourhood.

Located at the corner of Sumach and Shuter streets, The Sumach by Chartwell will be a 12-storey residence with 332 units geared towards active retired adults.

The three partners are investing more than $100 million — in hard and soft costs — to bring the project to reality. Occupancy is scheduled for September 2018.

"The Sumach by Chartwell is our first large-scale development in Ontario, offering a wide variety of amenities and activities on an a la carte basis," Chartwell president and CEO Brent Binions said in a statement.

He said this approach makes this living option "much more affordable" in comparison to an all-inclusive retirement living model prevalent in the province today.

Being constructed by builder/developer Daniels Corporation, the project will include close to 5,500 square feet of retail spaces, an outdoor terrace and barbecue area for entertaining and 82 underground parking spaces. It also will house a restaurant and a casual café/bistro.

The project is being undertaken by a team that includes SvN Architects, mechanical and electrical engineering consultants SNC-Lavalin and structural engineering consultants Jablonsky, Ast and Partners. Landscape architects are Vertechs Design Inc.

Subtrades have not yet been retained.

Christian Fisker, Chartwell’s vice-president of planning and development, said the project is very "resident-focused" from a design perspective.

"Within our development team, there are a few of us with gerontology backgrounds," he said. "So, we are very much thinking about seniors and how they are going to live their everyday lives."

Within the residence, careful attention has been paid to such items as a smooth transitions between floor spaces, lighting and directional signage, Fisker said.

Construction of the residence represents the latest initiative in the 69-acre Regent Park revitalization which is being led by a partnership between The Daniels Corporation and Toronto Community Housing (TCH).

Now in its 10th year, the revitalization program is ramping up, with nine active construction sites in 2016 and more to come.

All told, there are a total of 14 projects of various types under construction within a five-block radius of the Chartwell site.

"This is an incredibly dense construction site," Daniels vice-president Martin Blake said in an interview. "So for us, this (residence) is a good project to be putting up in a relatively small space."

The residence is being constructed on a 1.26 acre site.

Blake said the residence "will probably come out of the ground more quickly than a typical condo development" given that there is only one level of underground parking.

In revitalizing Regent Park, The Daniels Corporation and TCH are undertaking the largest mixed-income development in Canada.

Eventually, more than 17,500 residents will live in 7,500 units when the project is completed over the next 10 years.

"This truly is city-building," TCH president and interim CEO Greg Spearn said at a media briefing.