Once it has been appealed to the OMB, the City cannot approve it on its own. They might be negotiating in advance of the hearing in December, but they might not be, it depends upon if the City thinks Ghods' proposal is even in the ballpark of acceptability in the first place.

If the City and Ghods do not reach a settlement, or if Ghods does not win at the hearing, then Ghods has to decide whether or not to modify their proposal enough to make it acceptable to the City. They could decide to modify it, or yes, they could decide to cancel.

42

Actually, this isn't a simple case of OMB deciding Developer VS City; here there's a much stronger factor. You see, 5959 Yonge Street development proposal is north of Cummer/Drewry,... its (currently) technically NOT within any secondary plan area; so there's really no set guideline to simply rubber-stamp it.

As you can see the current northern half of the North York Centre Secondary Plan area extends up to Cummer/Drewry,.... 5959 Yonge is north of it!
https://www1.toronto.ca/planning/35-secondary-plans.pdf

And those development proposal just south of Cummer/Drewry that are now technically within the northern segment of North York Centre Secondary Plan area are being "stalled" (well, there's really no urgency on the City's part),... NewtonBrook Plaza redevelopment already has Settlement with City,... but no hurry on Final Report from City Planning,....

Currently, City Planning is in process of creating the Yonge Street North Secondary Plan area (this proposal triggered it) with 2 component:
- South - Yonge Corridor from Cummer/Drewry to Finch Hydro Corridor (currently part of northern segment of North York Secondary Plan area)
- North - Yonge Corridor from Cummer/Drewry to Steeles (this 5959 Yonge site falls within this segment)
https://www1.toronto.ca/City Of Toronto/City Planning/Community Planning/Files/pdf/N/North Yonge Planning Study/Yonge Street North Secondary Plan May 21 2014 draft for publi.pdf

Yonge Street North Secondary Plan was originally to start in about 30 years from now when City would expect Yonge Subway to be extended north to at least Steeles. There is NO real desire within City to extend Yonge Subway line! All the development proposal near Yonge-Cummer/Drewry will not have subway service for 30 years,... if they even get a subway station (really just a carrot being dangled by York Region). Yonge Street North Secondary Plan will now likely start sooner than 30 years due to all the development applications in this area,.... but the initial focus will be the South segment of the Yonge Street North Secondary Plan south of Cummer/Drewry.

Plus, 5959 Yonge site would need to be serviced by the Service Roads, which will be dependent on:
- Doris Ave extension north to service this site which is currently too challenging so now relying on Beecroft Rd extension north
- But Beecroft Road extension north up to Drewry/Cummer (planned but no Environmental Assessment yet) also relies on new service road behind NewtonBrook Plaza redevelopment which won't even line up properly with this Service Road!!!

Bottom-line,.... 5959 Yonge Street will be a long wait!
 
Last edited:
Hi,
Is there an approximate completion date. I would just like to know how many years i'm looking at before this project is completed
 
Completion date? Sorry, but if you read the previous posts, which you should, you'll see that we don't even know how long it will take to get zoning approval.

42
 
Hi,
Is there an approximate completion date. I would just like to know how many years i'm looking at before this project is completed

"Years" likely wouldn't be the best measurement of time here,...

Hypothetically, even if this development application got City Council approval today, it'll take:
- 1 year for building permits & ground breaking
- 1 year of digging
- 1 year to build up to ground level
- about 3 years construction to occupancy
Thus, about 6 years once City Council approval is in place; but likely closer to 7-8 years for a mom&pop type builder like Ghods (based on Bazis type changes-redesign during construction and being at mercy of outside contractors). See this stuff, you could measure in "years". BTW, this is just for Phase 1,...

Problem is, this development application is no where near City Council approval,... not just getting Settlement and City Planning Final Report stage,.... it's really, fundamentally NOT having the basic infrastructure to support this large development at this site,... currently! You can't just plop down 4 condo towers with 1,542 residential units without providing proper infrastructures for them! One of which is a road network to support all these new residents (approximately 4,000).

In North York Centre, that road infrastructure include "service road" that protects existing (house) neighbourhoods. Here the proposed Service Road does NOT line up with the proposed Service Road to the south, behind the NewtonBrook Plaza redevelopment,.. which BTW is dependent on Beecroft Road extension north to Drewry Ave,... which is dependent on Conservatory Groups' Ruby Condo for which Conservatory Group has been stalling for years,...

And here's the real kicker,... Beecroft Road extension to Drewry is dependant on the agreed upon settlement with Conservatory Groups Ruby Condo,... which gives up some land for the Beecroft Road extension,... but City only gets that land if Ruby Condo gets built,.... All I can say is Conservatory Group have been playing hard ball with City Planning,... to get more height, density and any little thing they can squeeze out,... Ruby Condo isn't dead even though some posters think it's dead based on its thread being dead for years,.... anyways, it's really just Conservatory Group being the real PITA they are,.... they're starting to make Bazis look good!
http://urbantoronto.ca/forum/thread...34s-richmond-zeidler.8350/page-5#post-1142245
http://urbantoronto.ca/forum/thread...34s-richmond-zeidler.8350/page-5#post-1142601

City also has option to expropriate the required land but that really doesn't always speed things up,...

But don't worry,... service road extensions get built quickly,... like Doris Ave extension south of Sheppard first proposed about 25 years ago,... and we're still waiting,.. maybe another 3-4 more years,... oh, City still haven't expropriated all the land required,...

BTW, the Yonge corridor proposals south of Drewry/Cummer are technically within northern segment of current North York Centre Secondary Plan (don't need to wait for new Yonge Street North Secondary Plan like 5959 Yonge does) but Newtonbrook Plaza redevelopment seems stalled,... likely due to stalling of Beecroft Road extension!

Bottom line,... Conservatory Group (aka Yolanda Flanders) Ruby Condo has everyone by the balls,... and they keep on squeezing hard!

Conservatory Group march to the beat of a different drummer,... their Pearl Place site on Yonge between SpringGarden & Hollywood Ave have been empty for 30 years!!!

So now we could be looking at decades!!!!
 
Last edited:
The master plan for the block, and the application itself:

zyxPrcv.png


wx4f3wd.png
http://urbantoronto.ca/forum/thread...s-kirkor-architects.15020/page-3#post-1092750

From developer's "MasterPlan", the site for Building E (which is NOT part of this development application),... at southeast corner of Yonge & Wedgewood (site of former LCBO store) is now for sale
IMG_7868.JPG
 

Attachments

  • IMG_7868.JPG
    IMG_7868.JPG
    251.2 KB · Views: 1,551
A quick update here on one of the longest-brewing developments in town: in the time since @sunnyraytoronto laid out the station above, Ghods and the City opted for OMB-led mediation, and that began that on December 7, 2017. A continuation was needed, which took place starting on the second of this month. A further continuation has been scheduled for March 6 now. I assume everyone involved wants to be able to schedule a settlement hearing and get going on whatever the City and OMB will accept here, size-wise.

In the meantime, the official website for this project remains active and taking registrations. I have no idea if any sales contracts have already been written a couple years ago now, and/or if deposits were returned or anything of that nature.

Either way, here's hoping something is settled planning-wise for this development this Spring.

42
 
Ghods Builder is actually a very highly respected townhouse - condo developer within the local Persian community.

As some of my previous posts here address, the real problem with this development proposal is 5959 Yonge is on the wrong side of the Cummer/Drewry boundary of the current North York Centre Secondary Plan area and would require the new Yonge Street North Secondary Plan to be implemented by the City - who really have no desire to do so until the Yonge subway is extended north to at least Steeles.

And it’ll need a Service Road system which is now dependent on other developments further south to happen first!

As for this being another Cosmos,..... Menkes Cosmos may have helped extend the North York Centre Secondary Plan to second block east of Yonge since Doris extension not done,... this should not extend North York Center Secondary Plan northward since that’s why City got Yonge Street North Secondary Plan to handle this development and any other north of Cummer/Drewry.

As for the more recent Cosmos in Vaughan,.... 5959 Yonge started selling in 2014,... since then condo prices have increased dramatically,.....
 
Ghods Builder is actually a very highly respected townhouse - condo developer within the local Persian community.

As some of my previous posts here address, the real problem with this development proposal is 5959 Yonge is on the wrong side of the Cummer/Drewry boundary of the current North York Centre Secondary Plan area and would require the new Yonge Street North Secondary Plan to be implemented by the City - who really have no desire to do so until the Yonge subway is extended north to at least Steeles.

And it’ll need a Service Road system which is now dependent on other developments further south to happen first!

As for this being another Cosmos,..... Menkes Cosmos may have helped extend the North York Centre Secondary Plan to second block east of Yonge since Doris extension not done,... this should not extend North York Ceer Secondary Plan northward since that’s why City got Yonge Street North Secondary Plan to handle this development and any other north of Cummer/Drewry.

As for the more recent Cosmos in Vaughan,.... 5959 Yonge started selling in 2014,... since then condo prices have increased dramatically,.....

what's your point then? Will the developer quit this project? because the developer tried to change the zoning plan several times, i do not think the developer acted in good faith if the project is terminated now.
 
what's your point then? Will the developer quit this project? because the developer tried to change the zoning plan several times, i do not think the developer acted in good faith if the project is terminated now.

First of all this 5959 Yonge project by Ghod has NOT been “terminated”. It’s on-going,... at OMB and in City’s best interest to “stall” the zoning.

Secondly, when it comes to contracts it’s not a matter of acting in good faith or not,.... it’s a matter of what in the fine prints,.... and the developer is always going to cover their @ss,.... as we’ve seen at Cosmos in Vaughan.

As for controveral big projects, this 5959 Yonge is really just a baby starting out 6 years ago,..... it took Newtonbrook Plaza redevelopment 10 years to get final approval they just got, Tridel HullmarkCentre really took about 20+ years, Conservatory Groups Pearl Place seems to be about 30 years stalled,.... ConservatoryGroup’s Ruby seem to be about 15 years stalled,.... and they’re within the North York Centre Secondary Plan.
 
Last edited:
Can I summarize the current situation of the three projects around the corner (Cummer/Yonge)?
1) 5959 Yonge Street Condos: units sell starting from 2014 until now, not been “terminated”, the zoning is "stalled", long wait for zoning approval.
2) Ruby Condos (52 Drewry Ave): No zoning approval, not selling yet, Conservatory Group sits back.
3) M2M Condos: Zoning approval done, units sell will start soon.

Is it correct?
 
I would add, M2M Phase 1 (southern 2 towers) is good to go with demo starting year end or early next year.

Don’t forget PlazaCorp’s 5840/5870 (5888) Yonge, appeal at OMB - City doesn’t like the Yonge St driveways but there’s no Beecroft Service Road (*cough* ConservatoryGroup Ruby *cough*)
https://urbantoronto.ca/forum/threa...street-108m-32s-plaza-quadrangle.25011/page-2

BuildToronto recently sold off the Toronto (North York) Hydro lands directly south,... 4-5 tower development proposal (similar in scope to Newtonbrook M2M) - nothing officially submitted yet,.... really just a sparkle in a developer’s eye now,... but I’ll bet occupancy will be ready before 5959 Yonge (not just simple zoning requirement but whole issue with new secondary plan).
 
A quick update here on one of the longest-brewing developments in town: in the time since @sunnyraytoronto laid out the station above, Ghods and the City opted for OMB-led mediation, and that began that on December 7, 2017. A continuation was needed, which took place starting on the second of this month. A further continuation has been scheduled for March 6 now. I assume everyone involved wants to be able to schedule a settlement hearing and get going on whatever the City and OMB will accept here, size-wise.

In the meantime, the official website for this project remains active and taking registrations. I have no idea if any sales contracts have already been written a couple years ago now, and/or if deposits were returned or anything of that nature.

Either way, here's hoping something is settled planning-wise for this development this Spring.

42
The two mediation continuations took place in February and March. There is no report on a settlement or other results yet. The developer may have been selling here prematurely, having expected a zoning amendment sooner, so maybe they were naïve, but they are trying to get zoning so they can proceed. No, there is no indication they have acted in bad faith here.

42
 

Back
Top