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322-330 Geary Ave (?, ?s, ?)

Northern Light

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According to the Lobbyist Registry, the owners here are seeking an MCR designation for the above property.

Details for Subject Matter Registration: SM32449​

Decision(s) or issue(s) to be lobbied

o To provide support and information regarding an MCR application for property located at 322-330 Geary Ave.


Client: C3 Toronto

Aerial Pic:

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Streetview:

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Site Size: ~ 0.28ha/0.45ac
 


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View attachment 358306View attachment 358307

Can we please remove property tax exemptions for religious institutions? All of them, in fairness.........

Just asking.
 
“we need to go through two stages of approvals including a Municipal Comprehensive Review to change the Official Plan, after which we would go through a Zoning By-Law Amendment request”


Is that like conversion therapy?
 

In the summer, the sale to C3 was still unconfirmed. Petitions and concerned citizen groups formed to oppose the entry of C3 into the neighbourhood, citing issues with the evangelical church’s values, which have included opposition to same-sex marriage. While saying they could not stop a private sale, the city said that they would not allow a church to be built in the Geary neighbourhood.

In a September sermon, C3 Toronto pastor Sam Picken announced that “we have the keys to this building” – 322 & 330 Geary Avenue – and planned to make it their new permanent headquarters.

But what will happen to the Rehearsal Factory? Will it remain open under new ownership or close like many of its siblings? And what will C3 actually build there?

As those questions are asked among musicians in the city, a bigger conversation continues to grow more urgent about access to rehearsal space in general. The Rehearsal Factory is one private company, but even with just the buildings that remain open, it accounts for approximately half of all available rehearsal rooms in Toronto.

That comes from a report discussed at a meeting of the Toronto Music Advisory Committee (TMAC) last week. The report was commissioned by the Toronto Music Office to review the current inventory of music rehearsal space and discern how the city can help protect current spaces while encouraging new ones to develop.

“What we’ve seen with Rehearsal Factory shows how important it is to shift the way we look at rehearsal spaces,” says city councillor Brad Bradford, the chair of TMAC. “We need to take an ecosystem approach to the music section and include rehearsal spaces in the work we’re doing to support live music recovery. These spaces need to be recognized for what they are – incubators for strong music culture in Toronto.”

The city is one of a few different groups exploring solutions to the problem. A growing coterie of stakeholders that includes unions, future non-profits and cooperative musician groups are starting to explore solutions. But the Rehearsal Factory situation has highlighted the urgency of the issue, and with the year winding down and many leases set to expire, there are soon to be a lot of people without a place to play.

What are C3 Toronto’s plans for Rehearsal Factory?​

Just because C3 Toronto now owns the space that houses the Rehearsal Factory on Geary does not mean the rehearsal space will necessarily close – or at least not all of it.

In a fundraising brochure called Vision Builders 2021, C3 goes into more detail about the sale.

“We have closed the sale at $12,800,000 for 322 and 330 Geary Ave,” the booklet states. “The property is in a core employment zone, which means as it is currently zoned, we cannot function there for Sunday services. Although the conversion process can be a lengthy one, we have a plan! In the meantime, we have submitted an application for Municipal Comprehensive Review (MCR) to add a place of worship to the space. This is the first step in the conversion process, so please pray with us that this process goes through smoothly!

“Regardless of the response to the MCR process, after an initial lease back period (early next year), we plan to begin renovations to 322 to make it our own space. During this time, we will continue leasing 330 Geary Avenue as a means of offsetting the cost of the spaces during this phase of work.”

Prior to the sale, the city was already undergoing the Geary Works Planning Study, which deputy mayor Ana Bailão told NOW was initiated “to preserve and incentivize Geary as a cultural corridor” and protect it from developmental pressures. A church, she was clear, does not fit the neighbourhood. Neither residential nor religious development is allowed. Several Geary addresses were also recently given heritage designation, which will limit what can go there. Rehearsal Factory, however, was not one of them.

Now that the sale has gone through, Nicholas Gallant, the senior advisor of community planning & policy in Bailão’s office, says their stance is unchanged. “Regardless of any change in ownership, the zoning remains unchanged and does not permit places of worship,” he writes in an email to NOW.

Gallant says their office has communicated directly with C3 Toronto’s leaders as well as members of the church who have emailed about a potential conversion.

“Deputy Mayor Bailão has been very clear with C3 Church representatives and supporters that areas such as Geary Avenue – which are zoned as employment areas – are not areas where she supports a place of worship,” the office told them. “Places of worship are permitted in both residential and mixed-use areas of the city and there are plenty of areas like these within Davenport where C3 could locate [instead].

“The reason for keeping places of worship out of employment areas is that as soon as employment areas are opened up to other uses (be they places of worship or residences) the economics and the preferences of these users to not be around stinky, noisy, smelly uses will begin to make it untenable for employment uses to exist in the area.”

Greg Fry, the business director and campus pastor at C3 Toronto, tells NOW that they’re familiar with the city’s Geary Works study and plan to protect the area as a cultural hub with breweries, restaurants and art spaces.

“We are confident that our thoughts and vision for the space are aligned,” he says in an emailed statement. “We don’t have firm details or timing as of yet, but our working plans revolve around the idea of these spaces operating as a community hub with things like daycare spaces, creative studios, training facilities and offices, as well as a flexible multi-use auditorium.”
 
Ongoing interior deconstruction is underway. Magcor Demolition have some videos of their work on IG:

 

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