AlbertC

AlbertC

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Scarborough gets nearly $40 million for affordable housing. Now the 'tougher work' begins

Non-profits are getting $39.5 million in municipal tax exemptions, grants and other incentives to build nearly 500 affordable homes in Scarborough.
www.toronto.com www.toronto.com


In Malvern, Brenyon Way Charitable Foundation, a non-profit developer, was pledged $2 million, just shy of $10 million in fee waivers and $5.6 million in property tax exemptions to build 202 apartments on the former site of Malvern Emmanuel United Church at 25 Sewells Rd.

The group has maintained affordable apartments next door for decades and is opening a 188-unit building, the Ridgeford Community Homes, not far away.

Thomas Burns, a Brenyon Way board member, said it’s hard to say when construction of the Sewells Road tower could start — perhaps in fall 2022, he said, “but that’s if everything lines up nicely.”

Even if selected for supports, affordable housing providers require zoning approvals, which can drag on for years, said Mark Richardson, technical lead of @HousingNOWTO.

The city’s planners, Richardson said, grind down the size of Open Door projects before they’re built, often after neighbours object, and prolonged delays can lead to failure.

If the city cannot deliver more dollars to get affordable units built, it should deliver speed instead, he suggested.
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More details in this older article:

Developer buys a Scarborough United Church, but not to build condos

A developer which bought a Malvern Emmanuel United Church wants to build affordable housing there, and is also building affordable apartments at a Scarborough location.
www.toronto.com www.toronto.com
 
ZBA application submitted:

Development Applications

Project description:
A proposal for two 9-storey rental apartment buildings with 320 units total. Building A has a proposed GFA of 14,019 square metres and Building B has a proposed GFA of 8,326 (total GFA 22,345 square metres). The property at 25 Sewells is currently vacant (a former place of worship). Parking is proposed in an underground structure which will be connected to the existing underground garage of the existing rental apartment building at 250 Brenyon Way. Vehicular access would be provided through the existing ramps. No existing residential units are proposed to be demolished or removed. City Council approved Open Door funding for this proposal on March 10, 2021.
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ferusian said:
ZBA application submitted:

Development Applications

Project description:
Click to expand...

Updated project description:
A proposal for two 9-storey rental apartment buildings with 320 units total. Building A has a proposed GFA of 14,019 square metres and Building B has a proposed GFA of 8,326 (total GFA 22,345 square metres). The property at 25 Sewells is currently vacant (a former place of worship). Parking is proposed in an underground structure which will be connected to the existing underground garage of the existing rental apartment building at 250 Brenyon Way. Vehicular access would be provided through the existing ramps. No existing residential units are proposed to be demolished or removed. City Council approved Open Door funding for this proposal on March 10, 2021.
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SvN: 9 storeys

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Close-ups:

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Axometric diagram:

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Landscape plan:

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Rendered site plan:

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This project will be at Scarborough Council on September 17th...

SC26.9 - Preliminary Report - 25 Sewells Road and 182 to 250 Brenyon Way - Zoning By-law Amendment Application
 
Slab buildings done nicely. And I'll take these over what's being erected at Time and Space any day.
 
Unfortunately, first impression was "university dorms".
Which is fine for students. But for long term residents?
Aren't there any successors to Safdie's Habitat?
 
ADRM said:
I think they look lovely, are a welcome departure from the prevailing aesthetic, and would gladly welcome more of the type.
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Amen, will take a boxy, chonky floorplate any day over the painful 750 m2 floorplates of the "Tower Guidelines", etc

If Toronto wants Affordable-Housing, Green-Buildings, Accessible-Units and Family-Sized Units, etc - we need to allow (and encourage) simple, boxy built-forms everywhere.
 
HousingNowTO said:
- we need to allow (and encourage) simple, boxy built-forms everywhere
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It's not like this city is afraid of box forms with all the glass ones they're allowing to put up of late. Just saying.
 
I'm sorry but this looks like it might belong in the old Regent Park -- the one that was recently torn down -- or the current Lawrence Heights neighbourhood. Affordable housing does not always have to look like "warehousing for the poor". It seems like minimal effort was given to this design when it could have been at least a little more imaginative.
 
No...this looks way better than the crud that was ole Reagent Park by a mile and an opinion. And in comparison to premium buildings such as "Design" Haus and Eek2 at E Place, this looks like a masterpiece.
 
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Tramways said:
I'm sorry but this looks like it might belong in the old Regent Park -- the one that was recently torn down -- or the current Lawrence Heights neighbourhood. Affordable housing does not always have to look like "warehousing for the poor". It seems like minimal effort was given to this design when it could have been at least a little more imaginative.
Click to expand...
I suspect this will age better and will be more environmentally friendly and easier to maintain than the vast majority of condos being put up today.
 
TBH this is like, the most current and in style building proposal I have seen in Toronto in ages. This look (opaque, bricky, saturated) is more in line with most european housing developments than anything we've seen pop up in the city in quite a while.
 
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