\"our\") of the service provided by this web site (\"Service\") are not responsible for any user-generated content and accounts Content submitted express the views of their author only This Service is only available to users who are at least {age} years old you represent that you are this age or older or otherwise make available to the Service (\"Content\") may be reviewed by staff members All Content you submit or upload may be sent to third-party verification services (including Do not submit any Content that you consider to be private or confidential You agree to not use the Service to submit or link to any Content which is defamatory You are entirely responsible for the content of We may remove or modify any Content submitted at any time Requests for Content to be removed or modified will be undertaken only at our discretion We may terminate your access to all or any part of the Service at any time or re-publish your Content in connection with the Service These terms may be changed at any time without notice If you do not agree with these terms, please do not register or use the Service. Use of the Service constitutes acceptance of these terms. If you wish to close your account, please contact us You should review the Privacy Policy on a regular basis for any such changes You agree that your continued use of the Website after the revised Privacy Policy has been posted constitutes your consent to such revised Privacy Policy use and disclosure of your personal information as described in the revised Privacy Policy The Website may contain links to other non-Chart websites Chart is not responsible for the privacy practices or content of such other websites Chart may collect the following types of information about you: your name gender and any facts that Chart deems to be reasonably necessary for the purposes of completing a transaction with you or to otherwise communicate with you (for example Chart may also collect facts relevant to your participation in a contest or facts relevant to a complaint made by you) In addition to your agreement above to the collection use and disclosure of your personal information in accordance with this Privacy Policy Chart will obtain your consent to the collection use and disclosure of your personal information at the time personal information is collected Chart will make reasonable efforts to ensure that when personal information is collected that you understand why it is collected Chart will seek a form of consent that is appropriate to the sensitivity of the information collected.Limiting the Collection of the Personal Information Chart will limit the collection of personal information to that which is required to provide the necessary service or conduct the necessary activity and will only collect personal information through fair and lawful means You may withdraw your consent to the collection use or disclosure of personal information at any time subject to any specific contractual commitments that you have made with Chart in respect of your personal information and the requirement for you to provide reasonable notice to us A cookie is a message that is sent to your browser from a Web server and stored on your computer's hard drive You can set your browser preferences to reject all cookies but then you will not be able to participate in most customized services and you may be required to repeatedly log in to participate in various services Cookies make your experience easier by saving your preferences and passwords We also use cookies that contain no personal information at all These cookies help us estimate our audience size determine which areas of the Website are the most popular Third party advertisers and our ad server may set and access their cookies on your computer in accordance with their own privacy policies Some parts of the Website use cookies to collect information about visitors' use of the Website and to facilitate return visits Information collected about user activity may be done in partnership using a 3rd party tracking tool The information collected from cookies is tracked to enhance security and to improve the functionality of the Website by avoiding duplicate data entry Cookies on the site may collect the following information: a unique identifier user preferences and profile information used to personalize the content that is shown and membership information to access the Website services Some cookies used by the Website may remain on the user's computer after they leave the Web site Most browsers can be configured to reject cookies or alert you when cookies are being sent it is possible that some portions of the Website may not function exactly as intended Chart may also collect IP addresses for the purposes of systems administration or to report information in aggregate form to our advertisers (e.g how many visitors logged in to the Website) An IP address is a number that is assigned to your computer automatically when you use the Internet When you visit a particular the Website web page Your IP address is not linked to anything personally identifiable Chart understands the importance of protecting your personal information and will implement safeguards to protect personal information against unauthorized access including the use of the latest Internet security protocols to protect personal information collected through the Website you should be aware that the Internet is not a secure medium Chart does not represent or warrant the complete security of the personal information provided by you to Chart through the Website You understand that you are transmitting such information to Chart at your own risk.Employees of Chart who will be involved in the collection of personal information will be educated with respect to the importance of maintaining the confidentiality of personal information.Chart will use care in the disposal and destruction of personal information in order to prevent unauthorized parties from gaining access to the information Chart uses your personal information for one or more of the following purposes: service or information you requestedIf you are a customer of our publication we use your name and address (postal and/or e-mail) in order to deliver the product service or information you requested and to follow up with you about the transaction (i.e. notify you that your subscription is expiring If you enter into a contest offered through the Website or printed publications we use your personal information to administer the contest on our own behalf or on behalf of our sponsors (b) To process paymentYour credit card number for pre-authorized payments is used only for processing payments and for presenting you with payment options - not for marketing purposes (c) To send you informationFrom time to time we may send you further information about the Website or the publication (d) To respond to complaints from youWe may use your personal information to identify you and respond to any complaints that you may make to us we may use your personal information for the following purposes:· to detect and protect Chart and other third parties against error and to audit compliance with Chart policies and contractual obligations;· to understand your needs and preferences including to contact and communicate with you and to conduct surveys research and evaluations;· for any other purpose we may indicate to you from time to time We will provide you an opportunity to “opt out” of any such other purposes Your personal information will not be used to place you on any mailing lists Under no circumstances will we sell our customer lists or rent your personal information to third parties from time to time Chart may offer you the opportunity to respond to an “opt in” solicitation to receive marketing information from other carefully selected organisations and partners by email Chart will only pass on these details if you opt in Chart takes all measures possible to ensure that the contact you receive will be from reputable organisations Chart however cannot accept any responsibility for use of the data once it has been passed on and is no longer within Chart’s control Chart will take all reasonable steps to update or correct your personal information when necessary Chart will keep your personal information only as long as necessary for the identified purposes or as required by law Upon your written request and subject to the exemptions stipulated by law use and disclosure of your personal information and provide you with access to that information You may be required to provide sufficient information to permit Chart to provide an account of the existence Chart may charge a reasonable administration fee ($15) for providing access to the personal information in accordance with your request Chart will respond to the request for personal information within thirty (30) days of receipt of your request and if Chart is not able to produce the information within this time frame Chart will provide an explanation and will indicate when the information will be produced Chart is responsible for personal information under its control and has designated a Privacy Officer who is accountable for Chart’s compliance with this Privacy Policy and PIPEDA If at any time you have any questions or complaints about this Privacy Policy or your personal information and how it is being used collected or disclosed (including if you wish to request to update or correct any personally identifiable information you have provided) or you wish to withdraw your consent to “Use of Personal Information” Chart Communications Inc.5255 Yonge Street is proposed at 1464 King Street West.  the 138 Dowling Avenue site (above) is currently occupied by a 4-storey building that previously housed the Chartwell White Eagle Long Term Care Residence the Kagyu Monastery site at 1464 King Street West and 10-12 Maynard Avenue (below) is home to an unoccupied single detached dwelling a low-rise apartment building with 19 rental units which includes 4 living accommodations for Temple Lamas designed by High Park Architects for Karma Sonam Dargye Ling The surrounding area features a mix of single-family homes The neighbourhood offers several parks and community services within a 15-minute walk An aerial view of the sites for 138 Dowling Avenue (left) and Kagyu Monastery (right) images from submissions to City of Toronto For 138 Dowling Avenue, MHBC Planning has submitted a Zoning By-law Amendment application to the City of Toronto on behalf of the developer It would rise 54.9m and contain 147 purpose-built rental units including two townhouse-style three-bedroom units at grade The design’s Gross Floor Area (GFA) is 9,942m² resulting in a Floor Space Index (FSI) of 6.0 times coverage of the 1,652m² lot Indoor amenities are planned on the ground floor while outdoor amenities are planned on the ground floor and rooftop The proposal includes a one-level underground garage with 30 parking spaces divided into 25 resident spaces and 5 visitor spaces The project would provide 136 long-term and 30 short-term bicycle parking spaces The building would be served by two elevators For the monastery, Brutto Consulting has submitted Official Plan Amendment and Zoning By-law Amendment applications to the City of Toronto on behalf of the developer the proposed building would rise 48.82m and contain 80 residential units including 61 market-rate units and 19 rental replacement units The building would feature a 7-storey base with residential units and a 3-storey temple on top with a 5.48 FSI times coverage of the 1,683m² assembly The ground floor would accommodate 254m² of retail space and a 329m² daycare while the temple's primary functions would be housed on the 8th The 7th-floor mezzanine would include 19 temple visitor units designated as religious residences The proposal includes 292m² of indoor amenity space with 177m² dedicated to residents and 115m² for non-residential temple-related use providing a ratio of approximately one for every 40 units Parking would be located within a one-level underground garage offering 12 spaces for the temple The project would also provide 91 bicycle parking spaces including streetcar stops adjacent to 138 Dowling on King Street West and Queen Street West 450m to the north UrbanToronto will continue to follow progress on these developments you can learn more about them from our Database files you can join in on the conversation in the associated Project Forum thread or leave a comment in the space provided on this page UrbanToronto has a research service, UTPro, that provides comprehensive data on development projects in the Greater Golden Horseshoe — from proposal through to completion. We also offer Instant Reports, downloadable snapshots based on location, and a daily subscription newsletter, New Development Insider that tracks projects from initial application.​​​ the new building would sit in the centre of the rectangular-shaped 17,781-sq.-ft lot with frontage on Dowling Avenue Plans are proposing to demolish the existing building and replace it with new build which will have one level of underground parking two of which will be two-bedroom units and two of which will be three-bedrooms The rest of the rental units would be divided into 26 bachelor units and three three-bedroom units will be provided as barrier-free units In addition to the grade-level amenity space ft of indoor amenity space on the mezzanine level and rooftop ft of adjoining outdoor amenity space with 3,415 sq ft at ground level at the back of the building residents will be provided with 25 vehicle parking spaces for residents and five visitor spaces one will be a barrier-free space and all 25 resident spaces will have EV charging there would be 136 long-term spaces for residents and 30 short-term spaces for visitors Plans envision an attractive exterior with designs from Toronto-based architecture firm Superkül The design is similar to surrounding buildings though taller and with a "more refined building format" and "attractive architectural design" according to the Oben's planning rationale the purpose-built rental development will bring needed rental housing to the vibrant lakefront community WINNER OF A 2024 CANADIAN ARCHITECT STUDENT AWARD OF EXCELLENCE This project is a sober study of a current trend in church building reuse that is occurring across Canada The Parkdale People’s Palace illustrates multiple interventions in an existing church and residential building that elevate and expand the program possibilities while prioritizing food security and strengthening community The thorough study of “what could be” in the existing spaces is diagrammed in a manner that is visually convincing LOCATION Toronto the decline in use of Canada’s church buildings has highlighted the need for creative approaches to adaptive reuse This project builds on the existing needs of the South Parkdale community to propose the reinvention of a church slated for revitalization into a community food hub Designated a Neighbourhood Improvement Area South Parkdale demonstrates a commitment to social equity in the face of gentrification Bonar-Parkdale Presbyterian Church was selected for its signs of disrepair and intent for revitalization Inspired by key community directions and community-oriented design precedents this thesis proposes to add vital social infrastructure to the area The project aims to provide a relevant ensemble of spaces and programs that will revitalize the church property allowing it to become a common meeting ground for community members of diverse ages and socio-economic backgrounds and a commercial kitchen accommodates the preparation of meals for large events an extensive community garden includes raised beds for accessibility while a teaching kitchen and hydroponics area are tucked towards the back The existing sanctuary is transformed into a multipurpose atrium framed by a wood scaffold equipped with elements that maximize flexibility of use A set of retractable bleachers and stage allow for screenings and shutters can be used to adjust lighting and acoustics The space can also be used for celebrations The design proposal imagines the potential of a heritage asset in providing crucial social supports to communities—and As appeared in the December 2024 issue of Canadian Architect magazine See all the 2024 Awards of Excellence winners You can read our jury’s full comments here Confederation Centre of the Arts Revitalization Montreal Old Port Infill 11 Brock Warehouse Park Pavilion 07mayAll Day14sepGroundwork Exhibition - Canadian Centre for ArchitectureMontreal, Quebec Groundwork is a three-part film and exhibition series exploring the conceptual development and field research of contemporary architects cultivating alternative modes of engagement with new project sites the CCA will take a critical look at how designers across diverse geographies and contexts engage with their environments in preliminary phases of projects and stages of transformation will be highlighted as revelatory aspects of architectural work that help to deepen our understanding of new critical modes of practice and engagement the project questions how different architects situate themselves in relation to changing natural and disciplinary boundaries The exhibition is on from now until September 14 For more information, click here 13febAll Day11mayElana Herzog - ExhibitionToronto, Ontario This exhibition surveys the 35 year career of Toronto-born Brooklyn-based artist Elana Herzog and is curated by internationally Canadian artist Jessica Stockholder It features a new site-responsive installation made This exhibition surveys the 35 year career of Toronto-born Brooklyn-based artist Elana Herzog and is curated by internationally Canadian artist Jessica Stockholder It features a new site-responsive installation made using wallpaper designed by the artist Part of Herzog’s process is to encrust textiles onto – and into – different surfaces explains “while working in the building trades I became intimately acquainted with the built environment and how it is constructed On a very personal level I learned about how systems interact and are installed in buildings – what’s behind the walls and under the floors.” Her work can be described as a form of domestic archeology often engaging architecture and other more intimate forms of material culture For more information, click here 01mayAll Day30Arthur Erickson: Design in MindVancouver, British Columbia The Arthur Erickson Foundation has announced the world premiere of ArthurErickson: Design in Mind The immersive pop-up exhibition will run from now until May 30 This experience marks the culmination of the AE100 Centennial Celebration a year-long series of events honouring the life and work of architect Arthur Erickson For more information, click here 08mayAll DayTMU Department of Architectural Science Year End Show 2025Toronto, Ontario Toronto Metropolitan University's Department of Architectural Science encourages its students to test boundaries and apply their skill to prevailing issues present within their evolving surroundings Toronto Metropolitan University’s Department of Architectural Science encourages its students to test boundaries The annual Year End Show presents the culmination of the 2024-25 academic term showcasing the impressive and cutting-edge works of our top students in all four years of study and at the graduate level For more information, click here To view this year’s thesis booklet, click here 08mayAll Day14University of Montreal - Cohort 2025Montreal, Quebec The annual exhibition of graduates from the Faculty of Planning at UdeM will soon be back for an extended 2025 edition A full week to admire the innovative projects of future architects For more information, click here 09mayAll Day11housed…[un]housed...[re]housed… 2025 SymposiumToronto, Ontario The housed…[un]housed...[re]housed… symposium will shine its academic light on our affordable housing and unhoused crisis in Toronto Given our recent pressing issues and experiences with affordability issues The housed…[un]housed…[re]housed… symposium will shine its academic light on our affordable housing and unhoused crisis in Toronto the symposium will probe and discuss precedents with a critical and multi-disciplinary lens and expand on the Fair Housing Act discourse which prohibits discrimination and the Ontario Human Rights Commission that housing is a human right For more information, click here 09may7:00 pm10:00 pmPresence roma XLV exhibition - CambridgeCambridge, Ontario The University of Waterloo School of Architecture class of 2025 is proud to reaffirm its  long-standing Presence in Rome with an exhibit of our design projects For more information, click here 13mayAll DayUniversité de Montréal School of Architecture's 60th anniversaryMontreal, Quebec Come and celebrate the 60th anniversary of the Université de Montréal School of Architecture on Tuesday the school is preparing a commemorative catalog and visuals to reminisce on the school’s 60-year history since joining the Université de Montréal To register for the event, click here 14mayAll Day24City Building 2025 - Call for SubmissionsToronto, Ontario This is an exhibition of contemporary works by artists who explore our changing urban environment while looking at local architecture and urban issues Artists interested in participating are being asked to send a image list, current CV /artist statement, and 4 to 6 jpegs to [email protected] Selected artists will pay $40 per selected work The exhibition will be on display from May 14 to 24 For more information, click here 24mayAll Day25Doors Open TorontoToronto, Ontario Doors Open Toronto invites the public to explore the city’s most-loved buildings and sites The event provides rare access to buildings that are not usually The event provides rare access to buildings that are not usually open to the public and free access to sites that would usually charge an admission fee it has attracted more than two million visits to nearly 700 unique locations and remains the largest event of its kind in Canada For more information, click here The City of Calgary is preparing to begin phase three of repairs to the Bearspaw South Feeder Main Construction is expected to continue until late November These repairs are much smaller in scope and will not require city-wide water restrictions because these sections can be isolated while keeping the feeder main running.  Phase three of the feeder main repairs are taking place now given the results provided by the pipe diver assessment following the feeder main burst in June The information provided about the condition of the feeder main identified specific areas reaching the threshold for immediate repairs We are proactively addressing the segments identified as most compromised based on this data Performing this work now will help to lower the risk of another unplanned failure in the feeder main crews will be in the repair areas to begin pre-construction work which involves median removal on Crowchild Trail N.W removal of sound barrier walls and pathway closures These steps are required before removing sections of the pavement as part of the excavation process to expose the pipe for repairs Draining and excavation of the pipe are anticipated to begin the week of Oct Minor detours and traffic impacts will be in place while pre-work begins Larger traffic impacts and detours listed below start when construction begins next week The length of detours and traffic impacts in place will vary dependent on the work and we will provide updates when there are changes or updates These repairs will take place in three locations: There will be significant impacts for vehicle traffic as well as pathway detours for pedestrian and wheeling users as a result of these repairs Please refer to the repair site impacts below with corresponding maps to understand the detours and impacts in place.  Anticipate traffic congestion along Parkdale Blvd N.W. off-ramp and along northbound Crowchild Trail N.W Please use extra caution and patience while driving along these routes Repair Site Two: Memorial Dr westbound off-ramp connecting to Crowchild Trail northbound at the bottom of the Bev Longstaff Pedestrian Bridge ramp During construction, sections of Parkdale Blvd N.W. and the westbound Memorial Dr. N.W. off-ramp onto to northbound Crowchild Trail N.W. will be impacted with traffic and pathway detours will be in place. Updated traffic information can be found at Calgary.ca/trafficinfo and updated pathway detour information can be found at maps.calgary.ca/pathwaysandbikeways We will provide regular updates on construction planning, road closures and detours. Project updates can also be found at Calgary.ca/watermainbreak.  Parkdale People’s Palace is a recipient of the 2024 Canadian Architect Student Award of Excellence Designated a Neighbourhood Improvement Area, South Parkdale demonstrates a commitment to social equity in the face of gentrification. Within the neighbourhood, Bonar-Parkdale Presbyterian Church was selected for its signs of disrepair and intent for revitalization. Inspired by key community directions and community-oriented design precedents, this thesis proposes to add vital social infrastructure to the area Aims to provide a relevant ensemble of spaces and programs that will revitalize the church property The full thesis can be viewed on UWSpace Canadian Architect has sponsored an annual national awards program since 1967 recognizing future projects judging takes place in October and the winning schemes are published in a special issue every December Student Awards of Excellence are also awarded for final-year projects by Canadian architecture students Contact Waterloo ArchitectureSupport Waterloo ArchitectureTours and directions Provide Website FeedbackMusagetes LibraryEngineering Website Help In Toronto’s South Parkdale neighbourhood The community in Toronto’s west end is a connection point to not only the Lake Shore Boulevard and Gardiner Expressway (including the unusually short Jameson on-ramp) but three other neighbourhoods: King West residents say side streets are slammed by drivers looking for a shortcut Not to mention the havoc wrought by the almost three-week-long Canadian National Exhibition construction has at least one lane of traffic blocked on the best of days “We live with it,” Ric Amis of the Parkdale Residents Association told CityNews While the traffic demand already exceeds capacity the gridlock will only get worse once major work on the future Ontario Line BMO Field expansion and the Ontario Place transformation gets underway The neighbourhood is a minefield of orange cones and Amis said those living in the line of fire are desperate for a fix or “It should be a location that has a lot of viable alternatives,” Matti Siemiatycki of the Infrastructure Institute at the University of Toronto told CityNews Siemiatycki said taking transit through South Parkdale is not more convenient than cars He blamed the deterioration of the King Street transit corridor screeching 504 streetcar bearable for some time viable alternative for people to get into the downtown core much quicker and because it’s not being enforced Development putting ‘a lot of pressure on the community’ is a concern about increasing density and how it affects working-class people who live along the lively streetscape Towers are sprouting like weeds with community hubs like the McDonald’s and Burger King at Dufferin and King Streets already lost to luxury condos Eighty-six per cent of South Parkdale’s residents are renters versus less than half for the broader city and about a third of those people live below the poverty line every development through an equity lens and making sure that it’s contributing something back to the community so that we’re not spurring gentrification and displacement,” explained Siemiatycki Amis acknowledged developers are engaging more often with the community to ensure residents also benefit from building projects developers will promise community assets like daycare centres on the ground level of their massive towers “But it’s surprising how tokenistic it is,” said Amis “What happens when you don’t get your 30-storeys I guess we’re not having a daycare centre.” Amis added developers keep looking across the street at Liberty Village which 20 years ago was nothing but a brown field “[South Parkdale] is an established neighbourhood Challenges residents hope eventually build opportunity A Canadian man arrested on vacation has been proven innocent Melissa Nakhavoly with why he is still being held in the Dominican Republic Warmer temperatures but showers are expected on-and-off for the next few days Meteorologist Natasha Ramsahai has your seven-day forecast Ontario Premier Doug Ford calls on Prime Minister Mark Carney to prioritize a list of projects including the proposed Highway 401 tunnel a mentally ill man who was killed in an Ontario prison is calling out the provincial government over the lack of correctional reform listen to NewsRadio Toronto live anytime and get up-to-the-minute breaking-news alerts weather and video from CityNews Toronto anywhere you are – across all Android and iOS devices You will also start receiving the Star's free morning newsletter Staff and residents of Elm Grove Living Centre in south Parkdale were told last week by management that the home will be closing down according to sources with knowledge of the situation becomes the third Toronto long-term-care home this year alone to announce it’s shutting down At a time when the supply of long-term-care beds in Toronto is nowhere close to keeping up with demand another nursing home in the city is closing its doors Staff and residents of Elm Grove Living Centre were told last week by management that the home will be closing down With its closure, Elm Grove becomes the third Toronto long-term-care home this year alone to announce its closure and the sixth facility in the city to shut down in less than three years Elm Grove administrator Raquel Legaspi-Labuntog said the more than 50-year-old privately owned facility is run by a small number of families many of whom are in their seventies and eighties and facing their own health issues She added that the aging building does not meet the province’s new design standards for long-term-care homes and to upgrade the facility “would require us to relocate every resident and essentially rebuild the home from the ground up.”  “With the limited land on which the home is built and with neighbouring homes surrounding our building it is not feasible to upgrade Elm Grove’s infrastructure and layout to operate as a modern long-term-care home,” Legaspi-Labuntog said we have made the incredibly difficult decision not to renew our operating license and Elm Grove Living Centre will close its doors in the spring of 2025.” The announcement comes just weeks after another Parkdale nursing home, White Eagle Long-Term Care Residence a 56-bed facility just a few blocks from Elm Grove in addition to four others announced within the past three years brings the number of long-term-care beds lost in the city to 650 by the Star’s tally Their losses are part of a trend that is seeing long-term-care home operators confronted with the prospect of paying tens of millions of dollars to upgrade their facilities to meet modern design requirements The pattern is alarming enough to have prompted Toronto Mayor Olivia Chow to weigh in last week saying a possible solution would be for the city to assume operation of facilities that are closing — a job Toronto has the willingness to do but not without additional provincial funding the Ministry of Long-Term Care says it has invested $6.4 billion into long-term-care capital development “more than any other jurisdiction in Canada.” Ministry spokesperson Rubab Sarwar told the Star that a construction-funding subsidy top-up has resulted in more than 11,000 new long-term-care spaces being approved for construction while the most recent provincial budget further increased the top-up by $155 million “which will get more homes built faster.”  Sarwar said the province will continue to make investments to build Ontario’s long-term-care capacity “which will more than offset the natural attrition of aging infrastructure.” a lawyer with the Advocacy Centre for the Elderly “I think that Toronto seniors are going to have an increasingly difficult time in applying for long-term care,” she said adding that she believes the province could lose hundreds of beds in the coming months because many homes have not made required updates or may not be able to “We have been asking (the province) for many years about these closures and they assured us they had it all in hand Elm Grove’s Legaspi-Labuntog stressed that the facility working with the province and Home and Community Care Support Services Toronto Central has developed a transition plan to support residents and will not close its doors until all have been settled into a new home She also said the home will facilitate introductions provide letters of recommendation and host opportunities for skill-building workshops “The health and safety of our residents and the trust we have built with our families has always come first,” she said “and that will remain true throughout this process.” Your browser is out of date and potentially vulnerable to security risks.We recommend switching to one of the following browsers: Account processing issue - the email address may already exist Invalid password or account does not exist Submitting this form below will send a message to your email with a link to change your password An email message containing instructions on how to reset your password has been sent to the email address listed on your account Long an outlier in Toronto’s feverish property wars Parkdale’s deep-seated problems were being turned around by its Tibetan community – but then the huge global real estate firms rolled in Michael Nguyen expects them: every month or so someone representing one international real estate investment firm or another crosses the threshold of the Parkdale Intercultural Association a non-profit immigrant settlement agency he runs on a busy stretch of Toronto’s Queen Street West “It’s the same every time: Who owns the building whose centre has been helping new immigrants adjust to Canadian life for decades “We’re fortunate — the owner believes in what we do But you know the same questions are being asked of everyone all around here Toronto’s much-vaunted international brand – the poster-child for extreme diversity a global social experiment done right – has become a faded myth in many of its inner-city neighbourhoods Property values have soared beyond the most fevered speculators’ imagination mostly relegating those representing Toronto’s vast swaths of difference to the suburbs an inner-city neighbourhood just six kilometres west of downtown along Lake Ontario’s shore runny-nosed toddlers fiddled with coloured blocks tried to focus on an English as a second language class Queen Street bustled with an almost fairy-tale version of multicultural Toronto: Tibetan monks in flowing orange robes slipping into a flow of South Asian Caribbean and African immigrants; a mom-and-pop grocer sells roasted barley a favourite Tibetan snack; other restaurants offer roti a Jamaican/Indian wrap that fuses the spicy flavours of both cultures But the lively streetscape here masks a threat to what could very well be the last island of diversity in a city swamped by the flood waters of global capital Huge international real estate investment firms have embedded themselves in Parkdale’s urban fabric buying dozens of apartment towers and thousands of rental units rampant eviction notices and strategic neglect have become common So too have tenant protests and rent strikes where slick corporate offices find themselves occupied by hundreds of angry tenants demanding redress A proposal for a new 19-storey condo development Photograph: Steve Russell/Toronto Star via Getty ImagesThose protesting In a city famous as a landing pad for immigrants often without either English or an understanding of Canadian legal protections around tenancy “Gone are the days of the mom-and-pop slumlord which was the dominant make-up of the rental housing market in Parkdale for years,” says Cole Webber a legal aid worker with the Parkdale Community Legal Services (PCLS) a provincially-funded agency for free legal services (which was itself evicted from its long-time Parkdale offices last year) “The fact of it is that the primary impediment for these corporations increasing their profits is the ongoing tenancy of working-class people who live in Parkdale The only reason these companies bought these properties is so they can turn over the units Parkdale has become one of those neighbourhoods who lend it a certain zeitgeisty sheen; property speculators follow; rent and property value increase; condos sprout like weeds; neighbourhood becomes a whitewashed nowhere like so many before it: Brooklyn’s Williamsburg the Swedish investment firm that now owns many thousands of apartment units throughout Europe made that exact comparison about Parkdale in its most recent annual report “There goes another community center,” quipped the Instagram account @parkdalelife about an infamous all-night McDonald’s being demolished to make way for a 700-plus unit luxury condo building leeringly named “XO.” It was just the kind of hipster fatalism that infects neighbourhoods in the grips of late-stage gentrification at Parkdale’s nexus of Dufferin and King Streets had served as an informal refuge for Parkdale’s legions of homeless and mentally ill for decade And by the time blasé youth in search of urban grit arrive just in time to become cheekily indignant about displacement I lived in Parkdale’s orbit for almost 20 years first in the late 1990s on its eastern boundary The neighbourhood’s infamous liquor store at Queen and Brock Streets was the only one I knew with a full-time police detail you could see a scuffle in the whiskey aisle or a fistfight or overdose in its parking lot; often there would be a solicitation for a low-priced trick from one of the prostitutes who routinely patrolled its perimeter I was witness to a tooth being knocked out (In one of the few good news stories to come out of Parkdale recently the city is trying to acquire the site of the store In a country like Canada where we speak smugly of social safety nets and institutionalized humanity here was a place that made it feel like that was all talk Parkdale could be chilling: group homes housed hundreds battling mental health and addiction issues; the less fortunate were left to the precarious realm of government rent subsidies and dilapidated Along a deadened streetscape of mostly empty storefronts It’s not hard to see Parkdale as doomed from the start It was built in the late 19th century as a summer refuge for the city’s wealthy with opulent brick mansions on a small bluff overlooking the water Six kilometres from the smoky and bustling downtown it was close enough for those with means to easily reach – and to keep those without away Rapid industrialization meant that many of Parkdale’s elegant mansions were hastily sold and repurposed as multiple single-room dwellings Photograph: Boris Spremo/Toronto Star via Getty ImagesIn less than two decades rapid industrialization clustering along the water’s edge changed all that Apartment houses were built to accommodate workers for the nearby factories and abattoirs; hastily-sold grand Victorian homes were repurposed into multiple single-room dwellings The decline of industry across North America in the 70s and 80s dealt Parkdale another blow leaving the spartan workers’ housing to rot The nearby lake – now toxic – and the six-lane expressway the province of Ontario deregulated mental health care and shut down psychiatric hospitals releasing psychiatric patients to seek refuge in privately-run care homes; they found Parkdale’s chopped-up manses ready to receive them It’s not going to be Little Tibet much longer We’re losing the community we built over yearsTenzin Tekan Parkdale Community Legal ServicesOver the years poverty and marginalization became deeply embedded Social service agencies clustered in Parkdale to serve a disempowered population Addiction made Parkdale a hotbed of a predatory illegal drug trade; prostitution became rampant built as slum-remediation in the “urban renewal” zeitgeist in the 50s and 60s became vertical manifestations of the social ills they had been intended to erase Drugs and crime settled into their concrete walls seemed less of a threat than an impossibility As the rest of Toronto surged upward in the early 2000s Parkdale was forever “up and coming” – real estate code for a litany of social ills – and a target for only the heartiest of speculators but Toronto’s real estate boom left Parkdale’s intractable poverty largely intact The people who did come were new immigrants and refugees heading to the last inner-city refuge of low rent the tide of crime and drugs began to recede Tibetan refugees fleeing persecution in China took particularly strong root through the 2000s and 2010s opening restaurants and grocery stores along Queen Street Loga and Dolma Yangchen in the kitchen of their Tibetan restaurant Photograph: Anne-Marie Jackson/Toronto Star via Getty ImagesImmigrant groups had always filtered through Parkdale finding their feet in a new country before moving on slowly transforming the broken and neglected district into a bright Look at Google maps and you’ll see “Little Tibet” in the crook where Queen Street and Jameson meet “Tibetans really broke the mould here,” Webber said “They turned the neighbourhood into their social and cultural hub Approximately 8,000 Tibetans call Canada home That makes the neighbourhood the largest Tibetan community outside the country’s borders though for how much longer is anyone’s guess “All my family and friends who are in Parkdale they tell me about people coming to Canada and not able to find a place in their budget in Parkdale anymore,” said Tenzin Tekan who came to Canada in 2006 with her family “It’s not going to be Little Tibet much longer We’re losing the community we built over years.” Parkdale’s burgeoning crisis isn’t unique. Working class neighbourhoods in cosmopolitan cities all over the world have been transformed into urbane playgrounds for the moneyed set. And global investors muscling into the rental housing market is no Toronto phenomenon. After the sub-prime mortgage crisis in the US cratered the property market there note Canadian professors Martine August and Allan Walks huge swaths of rental housing were acquired by investment firms willing and able to wait out the market dip to recapitalize on the rent gap as the economy recovered Last year, one of them, Blackstone, an international private equity firm that the UN recently accused of “wreaking havoc” on the global affordable housing market with “aggressive evictions” of low and middle income tenants recently entered an acquisition deal with the Toronto-based firm Starlight Investments Starlight bought a $1.72bn (£1bn) portfolio of apartment towers; one of the largest is in Parkdale Kreuzberg Berlin another district in a ‘desirable’ city that has faced gentrification Photograph: AlamyIt’s a narrative of numbing sameness from which no city – no desirable city But things were supposed to be different here As Manhattan became a mall for the global elite and as San Francisco’s homeless population climbed into the thousands Torontonians like me were smug civic boosters of our anomaly status where different kinds of people could choose – and afford – to live shoulder to shoulder and be better for it then quadrupled: the average price of a single-family home went from $251,267 in January 2000 to $1,044,527 in late 2018 Whole immigrant communities who had gained a toehold in the city’s core were selling high and decamping for the suburbs which is where the city’s vaunted diversity now lives It became an emblematic tale of the city’s escalating class war Rising property values have brought about a full-blown housing crisis on all fronts 8,700 people in Toronto are homeless; 100 now die on the streets each year The waiting list for social housing sits at 98,000 And Parkdale is the last chapter of an urban narrative fast fading into myth that I gave up on the inner city years ago,” says Deborah Cowen a professor of geography who studies cities and social justice at the University of Toronto you could see subtle pressures of gentrification building corporate and maybe even securitized — that certainly seems like the fate of Toronto the city announced a $24bn affordable housing strategy with provincial and federal support “I’m not convinced even that is enough to effect the change we need,” she says while capital sprints: by the time anything gets built – eight to 10 years from now or more – “what kind of city will be left to save?” Nerupa Somasale doesn’t need academic studies or government statistics to understand what she’s lost bright and articulate with an engaging laugh in many ways epitomises Toronto’s global brand of harmonious multiculturalism landed in Parkdale where she met Somasale’s father when I ask her about the city’s rosy reputation diversity – it’s still used as something we should be proud of It’s branding for politicians and for tourists Los Angeles vegan restaurant Doomie’s opened on Queen Street in 2016 swiftly followed by a non-dairy ice cream shop and a lifestyle boutique Photograph: Vince Talotta/Toronto Star via Getty ImagesSomasale an undergraduate student in her final year of history and curatorial studies at Ryerson University was born on the 19th floor of the building at 103 West Lodge Avenue in Parkdale – where recently the elevators stopped working prompting raucous protest at the landlord’s offices over its alleged mass-eviction campaign Parkdale has always been her home: through the 90s when the crack trade was brisk and relentless; through the 2000s when adventurous urbanites were drawn further westward to a growing array of nightclubs and late-night restaurants; and finally the last decade where change was inflicted most visibly by a particularly aggressive corporate newcomer that saw the opportunity to craft a new identity for Parkdale entirely It had that feeling: ‘There’s nothing here so let’s just make it into whatever we want'Nerupa Somasale when an outpost of the Los Angeles vegan restaurant Doomie’s opened on Queen Street announced it was “rebranding” the neighbourhood “Vegandale,” with a slate of international food events under that banner was the same brutal invasion at street-level that was happening in the towers just a few blocks away like everything that had been happening here the past few years just burst out on to the street,” Somasale said She became more engaged in activist efforts “They wanted to change a chunk of the neighbourhood in a way that didn’t benefit anybody that had lived here for years so let’s just make it into whatever we want.’” which makes Parkdale’s quick transformation so alarming whether they were my age or they were family members that were much older who had lived there for decades “Because they can’t afford it – me included.” The Vegandale Brewery one of a number of businesses billed as part of a ‘rebranding’ of Parkdale Photograph: Randy Risling/Toronto Star via Getty ImagesOn a bright Somasale asked that we meet in Kensington Market ramshackle cluster of Victorian houses converted into cafes fruit stands and vintage shops on the western fringe of Toronto’s downtown finally broken by non-functional elevators floods and the enveloping chaos of the landlord-tenant war she shares a one bedroom apartment with two friends – there is no escaping Toronto’s merciless rental rates But they’d get away with it because someone would be desperate.” “I have a weird relationship to this feeling of home because I can’t even live there,” she says the last time the Canadian government collected census data Parkdale had changed little: Almost 90% of its residents were renters versus less than half for the city as a whole making its 35,000 people more vulnerable to rental market swings than anywhere else More than a third lived below the poverty line While the immigrant population had grown to almost 50% the data still showed that Parkdale was very much what it had always been: A haven for the vulnerable reliant on the density of social services that had long clustered there Nearly half of Parkdale’s residents were seniors often in the rooming houses now under threat of reinvestment and renovation What the data didn’t pick up was how the neighbourhood had changed on street level and the three-year gap between then and now might as well be a lifetime the Swedish real estate juggernaut with some $8bn in global assets settled its gaze on Toronto in 2011 Parkdale was a low-income immigrant neighbourhood But it was no longer a bleak urban sinkhole and the hipster incursion that the Tibetans’ stabilising presence had drawn the firm started acquiring mid and high rise concrete slab apartment buildings in Toronto; by 2016 which links Parkdale to the Gardiner Expressway shuttling commuters to and from the city’s core Community anger is strong and has resulted in a number of protests and campaigns Photograph: Rene Johnston/Toronto Star via Getty ImagesAkelius had already developed a successful business model in Sweden Germany and the UK: identify neighbourhoods adjacent to fully gentrified districts – like Kreuzberg a longstanding haven for Berlin’s Turkish population – and exploit the undercapitalization of its rental housing The company had identified a weakness in the city’s rent control regulations which typically tie annual rent increases to inflation In its most recent annual report to investors Akelius demonstrated its loophole: “When properties are modernized the rent for existing tenants can be increased by up to 9% above the guideline over a period of three years.” By 2014 Akelius was improving things like lobbies and balconies and serving large rent increases or eviction notices en masse complained of back-to-back annual rent increases as much as five times higher than the provincial guideline explained that the increases were intended to subsidize costs to the company from taxes It’s ‘how do we capture some of the benefits of the changes for people who live here now?'Joshua Barndt Parkdale land trustOther landlords took Akelius as a model Parkdale’s biggest landlord with more than 20 apartment buildings was accused of starving out tenants in 2017 on unheeded maintenance requests and issuing heavy rent increases in an effort to drive out low income tenants and attract new ones Current rents on new units are said to often be double those paid by longtime tenants said he had made every effort to manage maintenance requests Tenants pushed back with a rent strike at 12 buildings The conflict peaked when a video emerged of Merrill narrowly missing a protester with his pickup truck Merrill told the Toronto Star he was rescuing a terrified property manager from an angry mob When the strike stretched out over two months the company agreed to reduce its above-guideline rent increases to the provincially-mandated levels bought several Parkdale buildings in the fall of 2018 including the two hulking towers on West Lodge Avenue where Somasale grew up Tenants there had endured semi-functional heat and hot water for years Elevators in the two 19-storey towers were often out of service for weeks Colleen Krempulec, Timbercreek’s executive director of marketing told the Guardian that the company had evicted some tenants, usually for non-payment of rent, but the number was small: 17, in a property with more than 700 units. “And we’re not talking about a few weeks of arrears —we’re talking about months and months,” she said. In the months that followed Timbercreek’s acquistion, Krempulec said, the enormity of the maintenance challenge emerged. “These buildings were neglected for decades,” she said. “I would say West Lodge was in the worst state of repair we’ve ever seen.” Since taking ownership, Krempulec said the company had worked through more than 2,500 tenant maintenance requests, and had replaced all eight of the buildings’ elevators, as well as the heat and hot water systems. “The accusation that we’re deferring maintenance to encourage people to leave – nothing could be further from the truth,” she said. “It’s been a challenging project, there is no doubt – more challenging than we had originally bargained for. But we’re a long-term investor. We’re not coming in to flip the property. We have a long-term horizon.” but Parkdale’s built-in buffers – the towers dilapidated housing stock – made the pace seem manageable When the trust finally secured seed funding and undertook a community-based planning initiative and the landscape in Parkdale had shifted intensely Akelius was ensconced; others had followed and were applying its techniques with ruthless efficiency And no fewer than a dozen new luxury condo developments were on the horizon “Big corporate investors were suddenly everywhere – how could we even start to grapple with that?” and can claim some small victories: a community garden; 15 refreshed apartments it rents to vulnerable tenants at rates well below the market rate is clear-eyed about what the trust can achieve in this climate In the face of multi-billion dollar acquisitions “It’s ‘how do we capture some of the benefits of the changes for people who live here now?’ How are we intentionally a part of it Many others are struggling to simply leave the river behind Somasale is haunted by a past to which she can no longer connect I don’t feel like I can make it here in Toronto any more,” she says but it doesn’t look like any home I ever knew anymore the loss is absolute – a place knit into your psyche the loss is more abstract: of a city we were foolish enough to believe was different that was more than land values and profit margins – that the long-time art critic at the Toronto Star Follow Guardian Cities on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram to join the discussion or catch up on our best stories The Masaryk Cowan Community Recreation Centre the Parkdale Branch of the Toronto Public Library the Kababayan Community Centre and an Artscape building which houses artists a not-for-profit art gallery known as Gallery 1313 as well as the area business improvement office and an economic development group all reside on a single corner Queen Street West and Cowan Avenue in South Parkdale and the information within may be out of date Parkdale-High Park Councillor Gord Perks points to an array of services and community investment that surround the corner of Queen Street West and Cowan Avenue in south Parkdale: The Masaryk Cowan Community Recreation Centre; the Parkdale library; the Parkdale Community Information Centre; the HOPE Garden; and a playground buzzing with children “This is why we aren’t a priority neighbourhood,” said Perks There is also the Kababayan Community Centre and a not-for-profit art gallery known as Gallery 1313 as well as the area business improvement office and an economic development group Parkdale has had its struggles with housing The construction of the Gardiner Expressway cut wealthy residents off from the water and led to large Victorian homes being re-purposed as bachelorettes and rooming houses That led to an influx of people with greater needs services were developed to respond to immigrants adults living with disabilities and a larger single adult population some refer to Parkdale as a model of community investment but it’s at risk in an age of budget cuts and tightening of purse strings “The difference between a neighbourhood and a bunch of houses is people having the opportunity to dream together and work together to make those dreams come true,” Perks said Parkdale was a “priority neighbourhood” before that designation existed the executive director of the Parkdale Activity Recreation Centre (PARC) a social agency operating a drop-in centre in Parkdale for survivors of mental health ailments “In the 1970s and ‘80s there were numerous investments at all levels of government which helped to build a healthy community when it was acknowledged that this was actually a community in need,” Willis said At the time there was a lack of access to services volunteers and all levels of government acknowledged that and helped to develop a vibrant and healthy community by making an investment “Those were the seeds for places like Parkdale Community Legal Service and the Parkdale Community Health Centre and the Parkdale Activity Recreation Centre the Parkdale Community Intercultural Centre,” said Willis who added PARC was started in 1980 with two people and a stove in south Parkdale recognized there was a need and started to write grants and establish themselves “This is what you get when you make investments over time You get a healthier and healthier community,” Willis said but it is going in the right direction and if we don’t continue to support those investments and make sure that they continue to be here then we will start to see a negative impact on the health of this community.” The loss of social and physical infrastructure makes for a weaker community fabric and a poorer quality of life “Parkdale-High Park is probably the only neighbourhood in the city where we have people from right across the income spectrum living in the same neighbourhood,” Perks said All programming in Masaryk Cowan Community Centre was free because the City of Toronto had identified it as a Priority Recreation Centre which is defined as one where more than 30 per cent of the population is below the low-income cut off free adult programming at priority centres was cut “The result is that so many people dropped out of the programs that those programs have been cancelled altogether,” Perks explained the Parkdale Intercultural Centre and Parkdale Project Read both began in the basement of the library but staffing continues to go down so the library isn’t able to offer as many services “A lot of community agencies that continue today to provide great service happened because the library staff had extra capacity to support the development of that work,” Perks said “That extra capacity is shrinking.” which features photos of community members on the planter boxes “The little investments that improve public spaces are being frustrated because we have a government that is cutting spending all over the place,” he said Parkdale is a vigorous and strong community and Perks said he has no doubt it will remain that way for some time but it will take continued commitment from the community “If you don’t have a local investment strategy and people come to the city with great ideas and we tell them no then people stop dreaming together and they stop working together and the neighbourhood becomes less of a neighbourhood.” A character-rich multiplex has hit the market in South Parkdale over the weekend If you have dreams of owning and managing a property in the rapidly changing Parkdale neighbourhood you may want to move the whole extended family into one home Inspired by Queen Anne Revival architecture the sprawling property at 143 Dowling Avenue is over 100 years old and is currently listed at $2,695,000 Notable features include a charming turret and multiple terraces to take advantage of the tree-lined street "Parkdale originally had nobility living in the area, so the homes are truly the most exquisite in Toronto," said realtor Luke Dalinda "The Queen Anne Revival-inspired architecture offers an explosion of jaw-dropping artistry in the woodwork and stained glass windows It was only when the Gardiner cut off access to the lake that the area that the purpose of these homes changed This is a fantastic investment and/or multi-generational opportunity." Making for a convenient and colourful place to call home for everyone from small families to single young professionals and students the property contains a total of five self-contained units and four additional bachelor units in the basement 713-square-foot coach house at the rear of the main property the 1,900-square-foot main floor features three bedrooms and two bathrooms The second floor houses a two-bedroom unit with a balcony and a one-bedroom unit you’ll find a two-bedroom unit with a family room Our favourite feature of this property is the living room in unit 3 and turret offer an old-school regal yet warm feel that is increasingly rare in Toronto It’s the type of room where you want to spend a winter’s day The regal-feeling unit 3 (the owner’s unit) features impressive interior wood panelling on the soaring ceilings and the floors another features vintage parquet flooring and a very basic kitchen (perhaps perfect for a student who’s just happy to have their own place) One of its biggest draws is its location. The home sits a close walk to the lake, Liberty Village, and West Queen West. Known for its grit and large population of artists, the historically underserved Parkdale community is evolving with each fresh application for a shiny new condo development The property’s gross income is currently $106,860 per year If it makes it through executive committee the Dufferin-King Parkette could double in size If a motion to buy a parcel of land in south Parkdale makes it through the city’s Executive Committee and then city council it would mean the size of a small parkette would double A motion for the acquisition of the Salvation Army property at 248-250 Dufferin St. for parkland was unanimously adopted by the City of Toronto Government Management Committee and by the city’s budget committee it will go to executive committee at the end of October for consideration and if approved it will be before city council in November a community meeting will be scheduled for residents to attend and voice opinions “We would do a whole lot of work in the community around designing the park,” Perks said There is a limited budget to bring the park up to a base condition and Perks said he may be able to unlock some additional resources should the community want to do something a little more fancy Consultations around what the new expanded park should look like would take place in time for construction to begin next spring and summer Perks said local parkland assessment shows the area has some of the lowest levels of parkland in the city but if the city were to purchase the land it would mean the expansion of the King-Dufferin Parkette southward increasing its size and services for both the south Parkdale and Liberty Village communities which is approximately 1,724 square metres but has limited programming opportunities due to its small size consists of approximately 2,233 square metres or 0.552 acres The property has been owned by the Salvation Army since 1938 It was most recently used for shelter and support services as a short-term transitional residence providing support for healthy and safe living teaching of life skills and assistance in finding appropriate long-term housing the Salvation Army restructured its shelter and support services The property was declared surplus and placed up for sale closed suddenly for roof repairs in December forcing some South Parkdale residents to take long walks for basic groceries Vi’s No Frills closed suddenly for repairs in December leaving some residents without a nearby grocery store Residents in South Parkdale are happily breathing a sigh of relief after learning that Vi’s No Frills will reopen on April 20 after being shut for nearly five months closed suddenly in early December for roof repairs Barb Livesay said she is on a tight budget and has been walking about a kilometre to buy groceries at a Metro store — and spending twice as much — so she was thrilled to hear about the reopening There was concern amongst residents about when — and if — the store would reopen. Linda’s No Frills in the Port Credit neighbourhood of Mississauga permanently shut down in late December and Rocca’s No Frills in Toronto’s east end closed last May for major renovations has said it would reopen the Toronto locations The stores are in densely populated communities that include low-income residents, seniors and those with mobility issues. Their closures left some residents living in a food desert having to travel more than a kilometre to access healthy and affordable food Loblaw has been running free shuttle buses to take shoppers to other No Frills locations though some customers have complained of long waits in the cold not being able to get their foldable shopping carts on the buses and various other challenges faced by those with mobility issues who’s on the board of the Parkdale Residents Association said he’s “excited and happy” Vi’s No Frills is reopening He said many in this gentrifying neighbourhood were worried it wouldn’t “We know developers are moving in — they have plans and are putting together proposals,” he said “We were all suspect that it would not reopen so we’re happy it’s officially reopening.” the Parkdale Community Food Bank has seen an increase in the number of daily clients which staff attributes in part to the store’s closure But operations manager Hazel Perkins said the store’s reopening likely won’t affect their numbers because the food bank recently relocated to 1499 Queen St “Lots of people had been complaining so they’ll be happy.” Loblaw said on Tuesday that repairs at Rocca’s No Frills The company said it doesn’t have a date for its reopening “We have received the required City permits and have begun renovations to Rocca’s No Frills,” Kevin Groh “Our goal is to open a much improved store as soon as possible to provide our customers with a better shopping experience.” Children raised in food-insecure households grow up with increased risk of asthma depression and suicidal thoughts later in life “Food insecurity puts a financial strain on the Ontario health-care system as health-care costs for those most food insecure are up to 121 per cent higher than for those who are food secure,” it says and Danielle Sequeira work at a table of fruits and vegetables during the first South Parkdale Good Food Market on Aug The market aims to bring healthy affordable food to the people of south Parkdale and it will run for the next four to six weeks It was just a few tents and tables laden with fresh fruits and vegetables set up on the east side of Masaryk-Cowan Park in South Parkdale for the inaugural South Parkdale Good Food Market it is a microcosm of the greater goal of the Parkdale Food Network — helping make connections and get good food into people’s hands brings together a number of Parkdale-based organizations and service agencies Toronto Youth Food Policy Council in cooperation with the West End Food Co-op (WEFC) and Greenest City are spearheading the new Good Food market in south Parkdale affordable fruits and vegetables and brings healthy produce to neighbourhoods where it might not otherwise be available It is a designation given to a market by FoodShare Toronto a non-profit community organization founded in 1985 to address hunger in Toronto Ayal Dinner of the WEFC explained the market is an offshoot of the Parkdale Food Network (PFN) which focuses on building food connections among community organizations and community members It is a network of more than 20 organizations and individuals working together to address food security challenges in Parkdale Forestry and Recreation arranged to store the tents and provided the tables Meanwhile Toronto Public Health was on site with information about dental care and representatives from Greenest City also manned an information table there was local chocolate and Tibetan momos “You have action in improving people’s access to good healthy food connections made and communities built,” Dinner said a community development worker for Toronto’s Parks has lived in Parkdale for nearly 30 years and said she believes the market shows the true community spirit of Parkdale “Whenever we do anything this is how it works We bring the different agencies and different people together and we do it together,” Kennedy said “That is why I love the neighbourhood so much The market will run for four to six weeks on Wednesday afternoons from 3 to 7 p.m “We want to make sure there are a couple more vendors and more people coming,” Dinner said “I would like to see some activity or entertainment as well to give people extra reasons to be in the park.” Zayneb Hatam and Jasmune Sheikhe at the Parkdale Community Health Centre’s winter celebration on Dec 15 at the Masaryk Cowan Community Centre in South Parkdale Parkdale Community Health Centre’s Winter Celebration is all about reflecting the diversity of the clients it serves “We call it a seasonal event or a winter celebration to respect people’s diversity,” said Susan Clancy the director of population health and community engagement at Parkdale Community Health Centre (PCHC) brings together elements of the clientele’s different cultures works with the community to address its health-related needs through the delivery of primary health care the centre works with groups that traditionally encounter barriers to quality health-care services including marginalized or vulnerable populations such as newcomers people who are homeless or living near the street people with mental health challenges and addictions people living with visible and invisible disabilities transexual or queer communities and people living in poverty 15 at the Masaryk-Cowan Community Centre in South Parkdale the nearly 200 people in attendance represented the diverse population of the community “If you scan the room you will notice that we serve a diverse population of marginalized folks who live in Parkdale so we have to make sure the food is sensitive to their cultures,” Clancy said Organizers served a hot lunch with halal and vegetarian options and they also secured local talent from Parkdale to perform at the event “They may be clients of the centre or they are just folks from the community,” Clancy said “But we try to give opportunities to people who don’t necessarily get opportunities to perform.” She said they again try to represent their clientele by offering a diverse lineup of entrainment At this year’s party a group of Tibetan seniors performed traditional folk dancing and singing while two female singers performed Nearly a year after being selected as Toronto's first City-led development site building plans have been filed for 11 Brock Avenue — a four-storey affordable housing development in Parkdale The plans, which were filed in late-September, were submitted by SvN Architects + Planners on behalf of Govan Brown Building Group and Corporate Real Estate Management at the City of Toronto As a Rapid Rehousing Initiative (RHI) project the application is being assessed via the City's Priority Development Review Stream and is projected to break ground before the end of the year The property was originally acquired in 2019 from the Province and is being funded by a $21.6 million commitment from the federal government's Rapid Housing Initiative as well as $3.4M in financial incentives from the City of Toronto which will come in the form of waivers of development charges and planning and building fees "The City of Toronto is faced with multiple overlapping housing problems we have over 10,000 people who are homeless," Councillor Gord Perks (Parkdale-High Park) tells STOREYS develop health and mental health problems that over-burden our healthcare systems So we solve multiple problems simultaneously by building housing for people who otherwise would be struggling to maintain a household." the development would deliver 42 rent-geared-to-income apartments with rents not exceeding 30% of each resident’s income The private apartments would contain a kitchen and bathroom and shared amongst the residents would be a laundry room Affordable housing applicants will be able to choose from a proposed mix of 22 studio apartments The building itself will sit on an 11,345 sq ft square-shaped lot with frontage on Brock Avenue and Noble Street and feature wood siding and floor-to-ceiling windows along the ground floor the wood siding sweeps inwards to frame the doors which are encompassed by an eye-catching blue-coloured portion of the facade the structure has an elevated and welcoming quality to it regardless of who it's for," Councillor Perks tells STOREYS of the development's design it's been a problem that housing for people with low incomes is inadequate so I'm glad they've been able to achieve a really good design." ft south-facing courtyard with trees and seating areas ft of outdoor amenity space on two elevated tiers above the courtyard ft of indoor amenity space and a total of 50 bicycle parking spaces for residents to use and enjoy Once completed, the development will be leased and operated by Parkdale Activity Recreation Centre (PARC) an operator of supportive homes in Toronto for adults experiencing mental health and substance use challenges government funding is imperative to the success of these projects and the affordable housing plan as a whole designed by BDP Quadrangle for 2600546 Ontario Inc and in addition would designate eight units as rental replacements The building’s design features a six-storey podium topped by a 15-storey residential tower combining for a Gross Floor Area of approximately 16,126m² while a modest 213m² at ground level would enhance the retail offerings of the neighbourhood. According to current design plans with two elevators allocated to the high-rise there would be approximately one elevator for every 132 units the podium's design steps down from six to three storeys as it transitions towards the adjoining low-rise residential area situating most of its mass close to King Street The development is set to include 947m² and 105m² of indoor and outdoor amenities respectively This includes a terrace at the northeast corner of the building on the second floor with amenities located on levels 2 through 6 Looking northeast to 1304 King Street West The City's push for buildings that encourage sustainable modes of transportation is evident with only five residential parking spaces included in one level of underground garage They are all set to be EV-ready in compliance with Toronto Green Standard Version 4 The building meets City requirements for the provision of 303 bicycle parking spaces designed to encourage cycling as a primary mode of transit An aerial view of the site and surrounding area is set to offer enhanced connectivity through the addition of an Ontario Line station A map of the planned future transit for the area UrbanToronto will continue to follow progress on this development you can learn more about it from our Database file that tracks projects from initial application A row of detached and semi-detached houses located in Toronto's South Parkdale neighbourhood could eventually face demolition and be replaced by a 16-storey apartment building, according to a proposal from developer Curated Properties The developer recently submitted a Zoning By-law Amendment application to the City of Toronto with the goal of building the apartment complex on the land between 2 and 24 Temple Ave While the stretch is mostly occupied by several two- and three-storey houses the area does already have a number of low- and mid-rise apartment buildings similar in size to the one being proposed A plan for the apartment building, created by RAW Design proposes a 16-storey complex with 273 residential units including 14 bachelors The proposal outlines a building with five-storey base frontages along Dufferin as well as three-storey townhouse units along Temple and the 22 rental units currently located at the site would also be replaced with newer Rendering looking northwest to 2 Temple Ave "The proposed development contemplates a higher density residential building to support the existing Exhibition GO Station planned future King-Liberty SmartTrack Station and pedestrian and public realm," reads the development's planning rationale "The redevelopment of the Subject Lands will allow for an appropriately designed intensification within the south Parkdale Apartment Neighbourhood The increased density being sought will support the existing transit infrastructure and is supportive of the intensification goals of the policies of the Province and City." The preliminary design for the development meanwhile includes both outdoor and indoor amenity spaces located on the ground and sixth floors and indoor bicycle parking facilities and storage lockers would also be available to residents a ramp would lead to a total of 109 vehicle and 262 bicycle below-grade parking spaces spread out on two levels in order to facilitate a pedestrian-centred environment the proposal also includes a number of street-beautifying features urban street trees and coordinated light fixtures "The proposal will establish a connected pedestrian network through enhancing the streetscape along Dufferin Street and Temple Avenue that will support active transportation and be universally accessible to ensure pedestrian movement of all ages is prioritized," reads the planning rationale and the use of public transit through providing a transit supportive density that also supports nearby commercial and offices." Google Street View Parkdale Activity-Recreation Centre has acquired a 39-unit apartment building in Parkdale at 1501 Queen St One of west Toronto’s longest-running social service agencies has achieved its 2020 goal of operating at least 100 supportive housing units Parkdale Activity-Recreation Centre (PARC) has purchased a 39-unit low-rise apartment building at 1501 Queen St The deal was finalized exactly one week ago PARC then advised those living in the circa 1912 building of the news before sharing it publicly late Friday afternoon the charitable organization’s executive director said he believes this acquisition was meant to be as all the pieces came together perfectly “You could call it kismet,” he shared during a recent interview Willis said it all began back in the fall when a water leak was discovered in the basement of PARC’s main building at 1499 Queen St While investigating this maintenance issue PARC staff bumped into the owners of the neighbouring property at 1501 Queen St who mentioned they were exploring selling their building “We asked if they’d consider selling it to PARC,” Willis said the City’s Affordable Housing Office had a call out for proposals for housing With the help of the team from the Parkdale Neighbourhood Land Trust a not-for-profit that works to preserve the community’s diversity and culture PARC submitted a proposal and was granted a 49-year forgivable loan of $5 million to purchase 1501 Queen St The Affordable Housing Office also provided the social service agency with an extra $500,000 for much-needed capital repairs like the roof A $200,00 grant from the Sheila Koffman fund a roughly $2.5 million loan from the ECHO Foundation as well as contributions from individual donors made those ends meet This latest acquisition means PARC now owns three consecutive properties on Queen Street West It also means those who live at 1501 Queen St most of whom live at or below the poverty line and rely on PARC’s many programs and services to get by but it’s 39 units (of affordable housing stock in Toronto) we haven’t lost,” Willis said “If this property were sold to anyone else for sure the rents would go up tenants might be ‘renovicted’ or any version of that.” which this year is celebrating its 40th anniversary started operating units of affordable housing in south Parkdale for low-income adults experiencing challenges with mental health and/or addictions the organization has purchased/developed five buildings and now operates a portfolio of 110 affordable the acquisition of more housing carries profound meaning as our goals are set with the purpose of ensuring safe dignified homes for the people in our community,” Willis said in a May 22 release “Since we served our first cups of coffee in 1980 but our vision for the health and well-being of those who live here remains constant.” Gord Perks said his job is to get out of PARC’s way and lend his support when needed so the south Parkdale-based charity can do the good work it has been doing for four decades “This is the third or fourth project I’ve done with PARC,” he said Monday afternoon “They’ve built up a wonderful network of support Perks said the “single most important thing on the path to success” for vulnerable people is “the path to affordable “PARC is a guiding light for how a community can work together to solve that bigger problem,” he said A core member of the Parkdale People’s Economy a network of more than 30 organizations working towards just and fair local economies PARC is also currently working to launch a building fund so it can continue its efforts to preserve and protect affordable housing in Parkdale each one has two distinct neighbourhoods with different demographics of the area the key issue of affordability is weighing on everyone’s mind in the Ontario election the area is broken down into the main areas of South Parkdale and High-Park Swansea but also include Bloor West Village and Lambton-Baby Point Parkwoods-O’Connor Hills and Fenside-Parkwoods make up the riding The residents who make up these neighbourhoods are starkly different from one another despite voting for the same representation visible minorities make up 48.1 per cent of those who live in the neighbourhood A total of 86.6 per cent of people rent in the area while the median family income is $61,000 Just a few blocks away in High Park-Swansea only 19.1 per cent of the population is a visible minority and renters make up just over 43 per cent The median family income is double what it is in South Parkdale at $123,000 But how does this affect how voters cast their ballot with Bhutila Karpoche collecting almost 60 per cent of the vote South Parkdale voted overwhelmingly for the NDP candidate according to approximate numbers based on random polling sites in these areas with 66 per cent voting for Karpoche while 14 per cent went to the Liberals and 12.5 per cent went to the PC Party well below the province’s voter turnout at 58 per cent saw 49.5 per cent of their vote go for the NDP the PC Party finished second with 23 per cent and the Liberals collected 20 per cent Karpoche will be running as the incumbent once again and will be facing off against two new faces Karpoche said when she speaks with people in both neighbourhoods a lot of the ideas they’re focused on are similar People want to see our health-care system fixed People want to fix people want us to address affordability issues People want to see us taking better care of seniors.” She adds they may have different priorities has remained top of mind for all demographics despite whether they rent or own “People understand that when it comes to And while a homeowner might not be in a situation where rents are increasing they may have children who are renting in the city who are experiencing the skyrocketing rents whose dream of home ownership is getting further and further away.” Liberal candidate Bardeesy said affordability has been a big issue in all areas “People are touched by it in different ways People on the ends of the income spectrum are struggling to make ends meet.” Don Valley East has been a Liberal stronghold since its creation in 1999 but just two points and just over 1,000 votes separated the winner from PC candidate Denzil Minnan-Wong in 2018 The seat has been left vacant for the 2022 election after Coteau resigned to run for the federal seat Coteau also ran for the Ontario Liberal leadership prior to leaving his seat and finished second behind Steven Del Duca visible minorities account for 80.9 per cent of those who live in Flemingdon Park versus 44.3 per cent in Parkwoods-O’Connor Hills The vast majority of those in Flemingdon Park live in 5+-storey apartment buildings at 78.2 per cent compared to 32.9 per cent in Parkwoods While the median family income in $91,000 in Parkwoods according to random polling sites in these areas voters were split down the middle with the Liberal and NDP candidate each capturing 38 per cent of the vote with the PC candidate receiving 22 per cent Parkwoods-O’Connor Hills tipped the scales in favour of the Liberals but they were also divided between the Liberals and the PC party Fresh faces fill the ballot for 2022 with Dr Mara-Elena Nagy for the NDP and Sam Moini for the PCs affordability and the rising cost of living is the main issue most voters are concerned and affected by people may think of affordability in terms of the cost of a metro pass and further north in the riding they are worried about affordability and those things don’t need to be mutually exclusive,” said Shamji [affordability] might be making their rent payment month-to-month but for some folks that also means they’re worried their kids or their grand-kids aren’t going to be able to break into the housing market,” NDP candidate Nagy tells CityNews “The interesting thing is that everybody on some level has the same concern Everybody is inherently worried about everybody.” CityNews reached out to the Progressive Conservative candidate in each riding tells CityNews these different priorities may dictate how a candidate might approach different voters you look at who’s in the house and based on the conversation that you have with them you figure out what they’re going to be most likely interested in and speak to them about what they’re going to be find most value to them.” A strategy Shamhi said he has adopted: “I approach different parts of the writing by listening to what their concerns are and then responding to them on a very personal and tailored level.” Kaur says the bottom line is that some parties will end up avoiding areas they believe they don’t have a chance in “Most parties do the number-crunching They understand where their existing support is and where the most of their potential support is limited resources so they need to focus on where they think they can keep those seats at a riding level “Within the riding if you have to make a tough choice about which community or which demographic or part of that world is known to come out for your party or is known to be very active on election day people definitely will target especially as time goes on.” Advanced voting has already begun in Ontario and election day is fast approaching on June 2. To read more on each of the party’s promises on key issues, click here. has submitted a Site Plan Approval application for this mixed-use site Looking southeast to 1437 Queen Street West Located on the south side of Queen Street West just west of Jameson Avenue the properties are addressed from 1437 through 1455 Queen Street West with the assembly spanning an area of approximately 3,209m² The proposed redevelopment consists of a 12-storey mixed-use building standing 45.15m high  It would consist of 17,576m² of total gross floor area (GFA) resulting in a total Floor Space Index (FSI) of 5.48 The new building will bring 249 new residential units to the neighbourhood The building would be well-serviced by elevators which is well under the threshold of 1 elevator per 100 units The development plans, prepared by RAW Design reveal a design that aims to integrate seamlessly with the existing urban fabric and its evolving community The stepped mid-rise structure would feature retail space along the Queen Street frontage totalling 789m² in area The first 4 storeys are designed to be partially recessed featuring a setback of 5.87m at the residential lobby There would be a step-back of 5.87m of a larger portion of the site fronting Queen Street at the fifth floor The building is set to feature a variety of step-backs from floors 6 to 12 intended to complement the streetscape of the Queen Street West and Jameson Avenue corridors The taller portion is articulated on its east side The west elevation of the site demonstrating the series of setbacks The plans call for 499m² of indoor amenity space on the ground floor and 865m² of outdoor amenity space on the ninth floor a single level of underground parking is planned to include 73 parking spaces A diagram of surrounding developments in the neighbourhood The 501 Queen streetcar — which stops at the Queen and Osgoode subway stations to the east — runs past the building. Additionally, the 504 King streetcar is less than 400m south, and the 47 Lansdowne bus runs in a north-south direction. The site is about a 2.5km walk of Exhibition GO Station, which will also include the western terminus of Ontario Line 3 once it opens in the early 2030s Calgarians won’t need to deal with water restrictions this time around but there may be some traffic headaches in the future for motorists in the city’s northwest as the next round of feeder main repairs gets underway the City of Calgary says its already starting pre-work at three sites (see below) to begin phase three of repairs on the Bearspaw South feeder main that is expected to last until late November The excavation of the pipe is expected to begin on Oct The city expects significant traffic disruptions in and around the three repair sites once construction starts next “Phase three of the feeder main repairs are taking place now given the results provided by the pipe diver assessment following the feeder main burst in June,” reads the release “Performing this work now will help to lower the risk of another unplanned failure in the feeder main.” Repairs will take place in three locations: Repair site two: Memorial Drive westbound off-ramp that connects to Crowchild Trail northbound at the bottom of the Bev Longstaff West Hillhurst Pedestrian Bridge Increased congestion is expected along Crowchild Trail NW and Parkdale Blvd NW during the duration of the construction Premier Danielle Smith says she will address Albertans Monday on a "path forward with the federal government" after a meeting with her caucus Calgary police have laid charges in the stabbing death of a young man outside a downtown bar last month A condo complex in Calgary's Beltline community is increasingly concerned with the increasing number of calls they are making to emergency services Rayn Rashid speaks with the condo board president A major gap in sports field space is being tackled in Calgary’s NW with the launch of Rocky Ridge Athletic Park The $25m project brings more room to play for growing communities On the same day as the Alberta Rally for Independence Alberta Premier Danielle Smith appeared on her radio show is facing numerous charges after fleeing a traffic stop and crashing into a house in Calgary’s Radisson area late Friday night The annual Calgary Bike Swap filled downtown Calgary with bike buzz on Saturday listen to NewsRadio Calgary live anytime and get up-to-the-minute breaking-news alerts weather and video from CityNews Calgary anywhere you are – across all Android and iOS devices Looking northwest to 2 Temple Avenue massing concept The assembled site is located a block south of King Street West The lot measures 68.5 metres along Temple and 35.5 metres on Dufferin and is currently occupied by 2 and 3-storey detached and semi-detached houses The residential neighbourhood’s surroundings include: low-rise to the south; 9-14 storey apartment buildings immediately to the north; a combination of low-rise and 6-18 storey apartment buildings to the west; and converted warehouse and former manufacturing buildings across Dufferin Street to the east Existing single and semi-detached houses currently on the north side of Temple Avenue RAW Design has devised a 16-storey residential complex with base frontages of 5-storeys along Dufferin and 3-storey townhouse units along Temple with step-backs towards the upper floors to reinforce a pedestrian scaled environment and transition to the surrounding uses The proposal’s total gross floor area (GFA) is 19,696 m² resulting in a Floor Space Index (FSI) of 8.09 on the 0.6-acre site The max building height is 56.45 m measured from the established grade to top of roof parapet The development would introduce 273 new residential units to the neighbourhood’s housing supply The existing 22 rental dwelling units now onsite would be replaced as part of the ZBA applications with modern and more efficient units “The proposed development contemplates a higher density residential building to support the existing Exhibition GO Station Landscape Context Plan by Alexander Budrevics & Associates Ltd The design provides outdoor and indoor amenity spaces at the ground level and the 6th floor Residents would also have access to secured indoor bicycle parking facilities and storage lockers A total of 109 vehicle and 262 bicycle parking spaces are proposed on two below-grade levels accessible via a ramp along the west side of the building The proposal would introduce street furniture and coordinated light fixtures to promote an attractive pedestrian oriented environment It also plans to preserve and maintain all healthy trees on or within 6 metres of the project You can learn more from our Database file for the project you can join in on the conversation in the associated Project Forum thread or leave a comment in the space provided on this page UrbanToronto has a new way you can track projects through the planning process on a daily basis. Sign up for a free trial of our New Development Insider here These incidents were reported by police in the past week and reportedly occurred in the past two weeks There were 15 residential break and enters reported in the district from Nov Toronto Police Service received 40 reports of a break-in at a home between Nov including 15 in the district of Old Toronto In total 1,817 residential break and enters have been reported in the City of Toronto since Jan 1 – down 47.9 per cent compared to the same period in 2023 A break-in was reported at a house near Hawarden Crescent and Russell Hill Road on Sunday There have been 25 residential break and enters reported in Forest Hill South in 2024 A break-in was reported at an apartment near Queen Street East and Woodfield Road on Thursday There have been seven residential break and enters reported in Greenwood-Coxwell in 2024 Two break-ins were reported at these locations: a house near Glenlake Avenue and Oakmount Road on Thursday a house near Clendenan Avenue and Parkview Gardens on Saturday There have been 21 residential break and enters reported in High Park North in 2024 A break-in was reported at a house near Golfdale Road and Yonge Street on Friday There have been 10 residential break and enters reported in Lawrence Park North in 2024 A break-in was reported at a house near Duplex Avenue and Lytton Boulevard on Saturday There have been 18 residential break and enters reported in Lawrence Park South in 2024 Three break-ins were reported at these locations: an apartment near Dundas Street East and Jarvis Street on Wednesday an apartment near Sherbourne Street and Shuter Street on Saturday an apartment near King Street East and Sumach Street on Monday There have been 37 residential break and enters reported in Moss Park in 2024 A break-in was reported at an apartment near Helendale Avenue and Yonge Street on Saturday There have been 21 residential break and enters reported in Mount Pleasant West in 2024 A break-in was reported at an apartment near Sumach Street and Wascana Avenue on Saturday There have been 13 residential break and enters reported in Regent Park in 2024 A break-in was reported at an apartment near Elm Grove Avenue and King Street West on Thursday There have been 18 residential break and enters reported in South Parkdale in 2024 A break-in was reported at an apartment near Bloor Street West and Huron Street on Wednesday There have been 10 residential break and enters reported in University in 2024 an apartment near Deer Park Crescent and St There have been 12 residential break and enters reported in Yonge-St Find out where residential break and enters were reported in East York, Etobicoke, North York, Scarborough and York This story was automatically generated using open data collected and maintained by Toronto Police Service. The incidents were reported by police in the past week and reportedly occurred in the past two weeks, but recent crime data is preliminary and subject to change upon further police investigation The locations have been offset to the nearest intersection and no personal information has been included for privacy reasons For a Parkdale visual artist who goes by the name Tyde living in the substandard conditions of an illegal rooming house in south Parkdale was stressful and at times left her feeling desolate and scared Tyde was drawn to Parkdale by the services and supports in place to help a single woman living on ODSP (Ontario Disability Support Program) But she found herself living in the basement of a two-story home that had at least 15 tiny units crammed into it cramped into too small a place and feeling desperate in a building that wasn’t safe,” Tyde said “No one was checking to see if the plugs were safe or if the alarms would go off if there was a fire,” Tyde said but the experience wasn’t lost on her and when she was asked to sit on the Parkdale Housing Committee The committee formed after three decades of contention over illegal bachelorette apartments came to a boil at a public meeting in 1998 The committee was involved in extensive community consultation out of which grew the Parkdale Pilot Project The project was intended to offer landlords an opportunity to regularize and legalize their buildings while retaining the affordable housing stock and improving the safety of the buildings The pilot project wasn’t perfect and took eight years longer than expected but when it was over Tyde said there was a marked difference in the boarding homes that were regulated through the process “People are happier and the vibe is better,” Tyde said “There were inspections making sure there were fire alarms maintenance was being done and the garbage was being picked up You could see the difference just walking down the street.” It has been about five years since the PPP came to an end and now many who were involved in the process say it could and should be a model applied across the city Rooming houses are illegal across two-thirds of Toronto; in Scarborough North York and East York they are banned altogether “It is an unmitigated civil failure that we don’t have a single policy to cover housing for the disadvantaged from one end of the city to the other,” said Nora McCabe who for more than 15 years was a mental health and housing activist who sat on a number of incarnations of committees intended to address rooming houses and illegal bachelorettes in Toronto through the 80s and 90s In addition she has a son who has lived in boarding homes in the Parkdale area since the late 1980s “But not only do they have to harmonize the rules around housing you also need to preserve the existing stock and you need to make sure the services needed by those living in boarding homes are accessible to them.” McCabe said she isn’t sure if the PPP is the model for the rest of the city but she did say that Toronto can’t afford not to harmonize its rules around housing The former chair of the Parkdale Housing Committee also said the city needs to harmonize rooming house rules and that it should be looking to the PPP as the example “This model is one of Toronto’s best kept secrets in terms of affordable housing,” Voogd said “If it could be replicated across the city it would be amazing.” Not all the owners of illegal rooming houses who were invited took part in the PPP and Voogd said he suspects there are still some illegal rooming houses in Parkdale but the buildings that went through the process of legalizing now provide more stable housing and he said the PPP helped to protect Parkdale’s stock of affordable housing it made them safer and made a way for the city to check up on them,” Voogd said “The Parkdale Pilot Project put some benchmarks and standards in place.” Ray Van Eenooghe owns seven buildings that went through the PPP He also sat on the Parkdale Housing Committee Van Eenooghe said the PPP didn’t just benefit the landlords and lower income people living in the buildings but it also benefited the middle and upper class living in the neighbourhood and there was a tremendous social benefit to the program “The old acrimony between the classes has dissipated to a large degree,” Van Eenooghe said “The bachelorettes had to be brought up to a certain standard – to look like the rest of the neighbourhood and do some landscaping.” Van Eenooghe said he strongly believes the city should look at implementing a similar project across the city “There are a lot of areas in the city that put up a social wall around their areas but that sort of attitude creates despondency crime and a whole gamut of problems,” Van Eenooghe said “We need all different kinds of rental units and owner-occupied units everywhere.” Not every aspect of the PPP worked and not everyone was left pleased with the results In fact there is a civil lawsuit in the works related to the notice tenants should have received letting them know of rent reductions they were entitled to as a result of the PPP As negotiated through the mediation process licensed bachelorette apartments would be taxed at a residential rate and that savings should have funneled down to the tenants Last December the Court of Appeal decided to permit a class action lawsuit on behalf of Parkdale rooming house tenants whom the City failed to send notice of their entitled rent reductions following the PPP said he expects it will go before a superior court judge in a month or so the pilot project was sold to the community on the basis that it would financially benefit all parties including tenants through rent reductions that they would be notified of,” Van Niejenhuis said the City dropped the ball and failed to notify tenants of the rent reductions.” if the City were to attempt something like the PPP in other areas it will be important to get the details right when following through on implementation in fact receive the benefits they’re promised “It’s been unfortunate that in the Parkdale example the most vulnerable people in the equation are the ones who were overlooked.” Looking southwest at demonstration plan for new Parkdale Hub community the Parkdale Hub project has contemplated the injection of gentle density in an area that is home to a unique collection of City-owned heritage buildings: a cultural centre at 1313 Queen Street West the Masaryk-Cowan Community Centre at 220 Cowan Avenue we now have a more clear understanding of how these buildings create opportunities for non-residential programming as well as how the residential components fit into the vision for the community.  The site of the proposed Parkdale Hub enjoys an extensive frontage along the south side of Queen Street West and is partially bordered on the south by Masaryk Park The site is divided into three blocks — East and West. Existing uses include the Parkdale branch of the Toronto Public Library the Masaryk-Cowan community recreation centre nine existing apartments (all to be replaced) all of the public services would be reinstated in the redevelopment.  Map view shows site boundaries and existing land uses While the design of the project is meant to be understood as a placeholder at this stage the proposal puts forward a complete model of the community to demonstrate the proposed massing and the locations for the various programs Both the East and West Blocks are slated for full scale redevelopment seeing the demolition of the existing buildings and the construction of a pair of mid-rise residential buildings while the Centre Block would become entirely non-residential.  Preliminary drawing shows programming of the three blocks at Parkdale Hub The East Block is being zoned to stand six storeys tall with the grade level offering additional community space The defining formal element appears to be an angled northwest corner strategically situated to increase the depth of the already prominent Cowan Avenue sidewalk so as to draw people down to the community programming to the south.  shows chamfered corner of East Block building Looking at the preliminary elevation drawings we can see that the massing seeks to limit the impact of the building’s height through setbacks towards the south situating the tallest volumes as far from the Queen Street frontage as possible.  North and east elevation drawings of West Block residential mid-rise building effectively managing the heritage buildings is arguably the top architectural priority The zoning diagram below shows the extent of the built additions proposed for the Centre Block pictured in red with the heritage buildings depicted in purple The exteriors are to be fully retained while the interiors will see some updates to facilitate the activation of the new programming.  Zoning model for Parkdale Hub shows new build volumes in red around heritage buildings in blue With the East Block being redeveloped for residential uses the current library branch will be relocated and integrated into the new Parkdale Branch Public Library and Community Centre in the Centre Block that joins the three heritage buildings into one volume Highlights of the preliminary design include a four-storey addition with a rooftop track and a striking indoor basketball court repurposing the Masaryk-Cowan Community Centre building Section drawing shows grade level programming of community centre in blue The Parkdale Hub proposal is currently its way working through the third phase of its activation plan which will conclude with a decision on the application for rezoning The fourth and final phase of the process will see a finalized design before permits are sought to allow construction to begin The tentative target for completion is 2029.  Parkdale was one of the most desirable places to live in Toronto the village was incorporated in 1878 before being annexed by the city of Toronto in 1889 During its short-lived term as a town unto itself its relationship with the city proper was defined by a sort of urban/suburban tension whereby commuters were criticized for the daily use of city services and infrastructure that they ultimately had no hand in paying for The neighbourhood retains a certain independent character from those days Despite the arrival of high-rise apartment housing in the 1970s Victorian homes once occupied by the city's elite still dot the area even if many of them have been repurposed to accommodate multiple dwellings it's sometimes difficult to imagine Parkdale as the affluent place that it once was Part of the reason for that is the degree to which the neighbourhood is now cut off from the lake. As much as Sunnyside is affiliated with Roncesvalles Parkdale's geographic orientation made the presence of the amusement park (and the water in general) a major draw for well-to-do families looking to get settled That relationship with the lake would end in the 1950s when Sunnyside closed and the Gardiner Expressway was built The presence of the latter serves as both a physical and mental barrier to the lake and altered the nature of the neighbourhood in a profound manner Although the exodus of wealthy residents from the area can't be pinned solely on the rise of the Gardiner and the lost connection to the water — post-war economic struggles certainly also played a role — the neighbourhood was never the same Various reasons are given for Parkdale's acquisition of a sketchy reputation back in the 1970s and '80s Now vacant mansions were converted into rooming houses and multi-unit dwellings which attracted a lower income demographic Outpatient programs at what is now referred to as CAMH in the 1970s have also been highlighted as a potential reason for Parkdale's decline In the absence of community support networks many of these patients were left to fend for themselves and lived in poverty While the Parkdale's current reputation still bears the mark of this recent history, it's obvious that much has changed in the last decade or so. Condo-central the neighbourhood has yet to become, but other signs of gentrification — be it the indie cafes, trendy restaurants, art galleries (there's even a moratorium on new bars and restaurants!) — continue to pile up One need only travel by Queen and Dufferin to see that the condo push is moving westward Will all of this amount to a return of Parkdale's glory days Assuming it's even fair to call them that — the area is a hell of a lot more diverse today than it was back then — it's obvious that the quiet leisurely qualities that once wooed residents are long gone is a vibrant community that's certainly on the rise Looking east toward the Queen Street Subway Queen Street Subway construction (Gladstone Hotel in the distance) Queen Street Subway looking west (south side) Queen Street Subway looking west (north side) Photos from the Toronto Archives / Maps and postcards from the Toronto Public Library This website is using a security service to protect itself from online attacks The action you just performed triggered the security solution There are several actions that could trigger this block including submitting a certain word or phrase You can email the site owner to let them know you were blocked Please include what you were doing when this page came up and the Cloudflare Ray ID found at the bottom of this page past president of the Parkdale Residents Association in their fourth year of an Undergraduate degree in Urban Planning It’s an exercise in urban planning and it has the potential to incite change in Parkdale Led by the Parkdale Liberty Economic Development Corporation (PLEDC) and the Parkdale Residents Association (PRA) “They are taking us on a tour today to see what kind of housing there is here and what kind of renewal is going on because a lot of people haven’t seen the area,” explained student Andrij Bablak it was more than just sightseeing for these students who herself is a graduate of the bachelor in urban planning program at Ryerson University explained the exercise is a study in community based planning in Parkdale “The students are really doing a job that we couldn’t really do,” Hum said PRA is volunteer driven and PLEDC has a set of staff that have their tasks outlined for the year based on funding agreements and they can’t really go above and beyond those projects Over the semester students will work on a work plan and come up with a series of reports and there will be a final report that goes before PLEDC and PRA at the end of November “It’s community based planning it’s involving your community from the grass roots “Planning is never done by the federal government It is done at the municipal level and here in Parkdale I think a lot of it is done through volunteer driven groups.” They have collaborated with Ryerson in the past like with a study students did last year on managing gentrification in Parkdale that it lead to the creation of Parkdale Visioning a series of community visioning sessions in Parkdale “We put the students in front of a group of about 250 community members and they presented to them and then we had a panel discussion and it turned out to be a great success,” Hum said “That is why we are doing it again.” Urban planning is a huge challenge for the future who offered the group his prospective on the neighbourhood “Everywhere you go we are suffering from poor planning whether it be the suburbs or downtown,” Peskett said He explained the PRA grew out of a neighbourhood watch program he was involved with “We were dealing with a lot of safety issues in south Parkdale and it became apparent that a lot of those issues had to do with urban design and community planning,” Peskett said “So we then started to tackle issues like housing and have public meetings to address those issues.” He told the students the real challenges in Parkdale are often only addressed with lip service and because of that he suffers from an enormous amount of frustration The inability to get beyond the talk and the public meetings and actually get into some real initiatives with a little bit of money behind it to get things done is what lead to his stepping back from leading the PRA “We have been enormously unsuccessful over and over again at really changing direction in terms of the community planning significantly on all three levels (of government),” Peskett said Parkdale suffers from a great deal of apathy There is a division between a large number of people who are homeowners and have stake in the community and those who rent and don’t have a sense of ownership designing new spaces and new policies to try and get people to integrate better is a great idea,” he said When he got involved with the residents’ association he said one of his main concerns was the division “I didn’t want to see an enormously divided culture,” he said “I think the big irritation in terms of some kind of coherence in Parkdale.. One of the initiatives the PRA tried to put forward to people in power was to bring in some kind of affordable ownership initiative in South Parkdale “If Parkdale could have a larger base of affordable housing that was ownership based you might see a different sense of ownership there,” he said the main streets running through Parkdale are tremendously underdeveloped “You walk down to King Street or Queen Street at 8 p.m “People don’t occupy the streets and one of the main reasons is because it is only two stories with very little residential the businesses aren’t vibrant.” “It would completely alter the feel of Jameson Avenue and probably bring the kind of multicultural sense we are all searching for in Parkdale,” Peskett said who started her own consulting company with a focus on community consultation for urban planning related issues with a specialization in youth engagement said she was struck by the different socioeconomic backgrounds and the fact that there is a mix of incomes and it is getting to be such a large gap between the higher level and the lower level “One thing I find really interesting is the juxtaposition of the two different types of housing,” Peebles said “How it is very high density south of Queen Street and north of Queen Street you have single family detached houses.” as gentrification happens and the whole process starts to change what is happening on the other side of Dufferin and heading west she said it will be interesting to see the changes “That is what I am taking away from it,” Peebles said “What changes have already happened and what change is to come.” Four multifamily properties in South Parkdale have just gone up for sale for a whopping $18,750,000 So what would you be getting for almost $19 million Well, according to the Colliers Canada listing it "presents investors with an opportunity to acquire four separate properties 2 Laxton Ave. is a mid-rise apartment building with 52-units that was built in the early 1970s. Its claim to fame is a long history of bed bugs and roach infestations the other buildings are old Victorian homes that have been chopped up into apartments and are currently rented out What condition these places are in is a mystery since there are no photos of the interiors but from the little bits of information that have been left on the internet don't get your hopes up For example, just last month there was a major fire at 4 Laxton Ave. and it's unclear how much damage there was whoever buys this is likely going to be a developer or investor who's interested in the prime location (Queen St W and Jameson Ave.) and the half an acre of land these buildings take up so it probably doesn't matter too much if the properties are salvageable Even the listing notes: "this is a unique opportunity to reposition an apartment building in downtown Toronto." Let's just hope whatever they do they at least get rid of the bed bugs and cockroaches.. Colliers Canada Madre de Lobo is a lively Mexican restaurant on King St traditional Mexican dishes courtesy of chefs who bring their expertise and authentic flavours from all over Mexico Some of their must-try dishes include chapulines A post shared by blogTO (@blogto) If you live in Melbourne’s south east suburbs it’s likely you’ll have seen our crews working on road and rail upgrades to ease congestion Read on for a progress update as of mid 2024 Crews have been testing equipment and systems in the Metro Tunnel to ensure they’re ready for the tunnel to open to passengers a year ahead of schedule Pakenham and Gippsland lines will be closed while we carry out testing with buses replacing trains at times until June the Metro Tunnel will connect the Cranbourne and Pakenham lines to the Sunbury Line For passengers coming from Melbourne’s south east there’ll be a direct connection through to the western suburbs via the Sunbury Line We’re continuing work to remove the level crossings in Pakenham at McGregor Road, Main Street and Racecourse Road along the Pakenham Line The Cranbourne Line is a step closer to being level crossing-free by 2025, with the boom gates now gone at Camms Road in Cranbourne On the Frankston Line, level crossings at Parkers Road, Parkdale, and Warrigal Road, Mentone will also be removed in winter with a construction blitz starting in mid July The Cranbourne Line Upgrade has progressed with 8km of duplicated track installed between Cranbourne and Dandenong and the new Merinda Park Station in Cranbourne North complete Work will continue this year to build a new plaza and community open space and 400 new and upgraded commuter car parks for Cranbourne Station We’re also adding new pedestrian and cyclist connections In Melbourne’s bayside, the new Parkdale Station will open to passengers by spring with the car park nearly complete and the pedestrian underpass underway We’re getting closer to opening new lanes on Healesville-Koo Wee Rup Road from Manks Road through to Southeast Boulevard All lanes will open by July – 18 months ahead of schedule Major works have finished to widen the outbound McGregor Road exit ramp and roundabout off Princes Freeway Work to build a new lane on McGregor Road will start soon We’re also building extra lanes, upgrading intersections and building new walking and cycling paths on Narre Warren-Cranbourne Road Narre Warren-Cranbourne Road will be closed between New Holland Drive and Berwick-Cranbourne Road until mid-2024 provide better access to public transport and make it easier and safer to walk and cycle in the area.