One of Toronto’s busiest construction sites marked a new milestone recently with principals and dignitaries gathered during a Bloor Street West street festival to launch construction of a 56-unit affordable housing residence.
The Bloor & Dufferin development from Hazelview Investments and Fitzrovia Real Estate includes over 2,000 units in a half-dozen residential towers, office and retail space, a 3,580-square-metre public park, private and public streets, a community hub with a day care centre, and direct underground access to the Dufferin TTC subway.
It’s said to be the largest single-phase rental apartment package and, at over $50 million, one of the largest community benefits deals of its type ever created for the City of Toronto.
“For us, this project is shaping up to be a flagship development, and what we love about it is that we’re able to deliver a mix of market rental residential units, alongside affordable housing options, and many more community benefits and amenities,” said Hazelview managing partner Colleen Krempulec.
After a lengthy and involved period of master planning spearheaded by Capital Developments and Metropia that included the Toronto District School Board, which in 2014 declared its Bloor and Dufferin site surplus, Hazelview and Fitzrovia moved in as co-developers in 2021. They kicked off joint and separate projects on the site in 2022, starting with demolitions.
Neighbourhood said ‘yes’
The residences will include 46.5 per cent family-oriented units. Hazelview said approximately 90 per cent of the project is confirmed rental and the tenure of the remaining approximately 10 per cent is being finalized.
“The units of housing we are adding are absolutely needed in this city,” said Coun. Alejandra Bravo.
“I think one of the really exciting developments about this project is that this neighbourhood didn’t say ‘no,’ this neighbourhood said ‘yes.’”
Hazelview’s construction manager is Deltera.
Besides infrastructure such as the new public Collegiate Road, named after one of the two schools formerly on the site, there are currently five separate blocks above ground from the two developers, with the affordable housing project to start soon.
Krempulec pointed out the various blocks under construction, A to E, one with two towers joined by a podium, ahead of the recent groundbreaking ceremony.
“The first building that will be delivered will be the affordable housing building. We knew that was important,” she explained. “What you can actually see in the background is a lot of construction, obviously under development. These will be much higher towers. They’ll take longer to deliver.
“The entire community as a whole is expected to be delivered around 2027 but will be delivered in phases, and occupancy will be taking place in phases.”
Anticipated delivery of the affordable housing building to the City of Toronto is end of 2025.
Bravo remarked, “I think it’s really exciting to see that coming up so fast, and I think it restores people’s faith that it is possible to do work in the city.”
The new affordable residence will be conveyed to the City of Toronto. The developers will also make a $12.5-million contribution to a community affordable housing trust to support other affordable housing initiatives.
The designated recipient of the funds is Community Affordable Housing Solutions, which is a collaboration between the developers, the City of Toronto, Habitat for Humanity GTA, St. Clare’s and the community group Build a Better Bloor Dufferin.
Reuse of Kent school
There is also a heritage reuse component to the project.
The former Kent School is over 100 years old and a notable Toronto landmark. The first two floors of the school and the original facade will be converted into the community hub and day care.
Krempulec acknowledged the current financial constraints on the broader multifamily sector and said Hazelview is taking a cautious approach to proceeding with projects.
“We continue to have high conviction in the Canadian multifamily sector,” she said. “Certainly the landscape has shifted post-COVID with the rising cost of materials, rising cost of labour, rising interest rates. But that doesn’t mean that our conviction in the multiresidential sector has wavered.
“We take a long-term view on that sort of thing, but we are being very prudent about which projects we are putting shovels in the ground on. We’re proud to be one of the few companies with shovels in the ground right now on multifamily development projects.”
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