Toronto 35 Bellevue Avenue | 12.5m | 4s | St. Clare's | Montgomery Sisam

AlbertC

AlbertC

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New Affordable Housing in Kensington Market

July 23, 2020

Next week, City Council will have an opportunity to take a big step towards creating brand new affordable housing on City-owned land in Kensington Market.

The need to protect and build affordable housing in Kensington Market, and across the City of Toronto, has been a pressing issue for many years and has been exacerbated by the ongoing pandemic. It is essential that City Council expedite the development of truly affordable rental housing to provide safe, secure and adequate homes for more people living in this neighbourhood.

I am excited to share that I will be introducing a Member’s Motion to the July City Council meeting, formally asking staff to declare the City-owned Green P parking lot at 25 Bellevue Avenue surplus, and to report back before the end 2020 with a plan to lease the land long-term to a non-profit organization to create new affordable rental housing.

This motion would give City staff the greenlight to begin a competitive call for proposals to identify a non-profit developer and operator, whose vision for the site would reflect the values of the neighbourhood.

If passed at Council next week, the City would be taking an exciting and monumental step towards making the vision for increased affordable housing in Kensington Market a reality. It is an important commitment to protecting the character and diversity of the Market by making sure it remains a neighbourhood that is affordable for everyone.

This parking lot in Kensington Market has long been identified as a potential site for critical city-building opportunities. On July 4, 2018, Toronto and East York Community Council directed staff to undertake a visioning process and consider city-building opportunities on the site, in consultation with the Ward Councillor, Kensington Market Land Trust, and the local community. Through this exercise, the Carpark site was identified as appropriate for 100% affordable rental housing.

You can read the original motion here.
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AlbertC said:

New Affordable Housing in Kensington Market

July 23, 2020



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I really like the idea that all Green P lots should be in play for either affordable housing or parks.

The spaces, if profitable, can be replaced within a new development on site, underground; or underneath any nearby development.

As an east ender, I nominate the lot at Queen/Lee for Housing; and the one on Pape north of Danforth for housing (though acquiring one more more adjacent low-rise properties here would really help w/functional floor plates).

The Green P behind Broadview Station should be green space; only because the area is moderately short of it; and because I expect Broadview Stn will need to be expanded, so no sense putting a building in the way.
 
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Northern Light said:
I really like the idea that all Green P lots should be in play for either affordable housing or parks.

The spaces, if profitable, can be replaced within a new development on site, underground; or underneath any nearby development.

As an east ender, I nominate the lot at Queen/Lee for Housing; and the one on Pape north of Danforth for housing (though acquiring one more more adjacent low-rise properties here would really help w/functional floor plates).

The Green P behind Broadview Station should be green space; only because the area is moderately short of it; and because I expect Broadview Stn will need to be expanded, so no sense putting a building in the way.
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Added bonus if parking lots marked for affordable housing are in urban areas that are walkable and close to public transit, making it easier for residents to access local retail, services, and potential employment. Such as the lot here along with the one recently brought up on Denison (just north of Queen).
 
Northern Light said:
I really like the idea that all Green P lots should be in play for either affordable housing or parks.

The spaces, if profitable, can be replaced within a new development on site, underground; or underneath any nearby development.

As an east ender, I nominate the lot at Queen/Lee for Housing; and the one on Pape north of Danforth for housing (though acquiring one more more adjacent low-rise properties here would really help w/functional floor plates).

The Green P behind Broadview Station should be green space; only because the area is moderately short of it; and because I expect Broadview Stn will need to be expanded, so no sense putting a building in the way.
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Every single Green P lot should be converted to densely designed affordable housing. No exceptions. There's no justification for surface lots anymore.
 
Towered said:
Every single Green P lot should be converted to densely designed affordable housing. No exceptions. There's no justification for surface lots anymore.
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Well, there are some lots that aren't in residential areas; but yes, they should still be redeveloped in some way.

Likewise, there are others that are too small to create a useful building, and if in an area short of greenspace would serve the community well as a park.

I'm for doing away w/all of them as surface parking lots.

But I picked the ones I did in my post because they were decently large and their repurposing was easy to imagine.

Others may require additional land assembly to exist as anything other than an afterthought.
 
Not so great, this site reportedly may only be planned for around 30 affordable housing units.

www.blogto.com

Toronto parking lot might become affordable housing but not everyone loves the plan

A parking lot in Kensington Market might soon become the site of a new affordable housing development. Councillor Mike Layton will introduce a mot...
www.blogto.com www.blogto.com


Councillor Mike Layton will introduce a motion next week that, if approved by City Council sometime, could see the Green P (Location #071) at 25 Bellevue Avenue become around 30 affordable housing units.

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If declared surplus land by the City next week, the Green P property would open up to bids from potential not-for-profit development partners and possibly lease the land out long-term by the end of the year.

"The need to protect and build affordable housing has been a pressing issue for many years and has been exacerbated by the ongoing pandemic," said Councillor Layton.

According to a July report from the City's real estate agency, CreateTO, this most recent proposal for 25 Bellevue comes as part of a land deal between the City and developer DevGreat Inc.

In exchange for allowing DevGreat Inc. to purchase parts of two Toronto-owned parking lots at Spadina and Adelaide (they have plans to turn it into a high-rise) the city has made demands from the company, including alotting the remaining project funds towards affordable housing — in this case, at 25 Bellevue.

The City has stated it's also looking at 15 Denison Avenue as an additional site for new housing as part of the deal.
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In comparison, this recently completed building in Kensington Market has 22 affordable units, but on a much smaller site:

25 Leonard Avenue | 12m | 3s | St. Clare's | LGA Architectural

25 LEONARD AVE Ward 20 - Tor & E.York District ►View All Properties Proposal to retain the existing 6 storey residential building and construct a new 3 storey affordable housing building containing 22 residental units on the north side of the property. No vehicular parking spaces will be...
urbantoronto.ca urbantoronto.ca
 
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I wish the City just gave CreateTO the mandate to behave like a private-sector developer when it comes to achieving highest-and-best-use on city-owned lands. Just adjust the HABU calculation to consider non-monetary objectives such as delivering affordable units.

That way we could intensify sites and get some real affordable housing built. It's not like CreateTO doesn't have the talent on staff.
 
I don't have any materiel developments for this project, so I apologize for bumping the thread, but I've ben thinking a lot about developing Green P lots these days and it got me thinking that a few of these locations would also be prime for public squares. There are very few intimate squares in Toronto and this site could tick a whole slew of boxes.
-Affordable housing
-Public space
-Midblock connection
-The ability to extend the ground level activation of Kensington market into the square
I even made a diagram of what I was thinking. It's a bit ugly but I was trying to visualize the concept and I thought forum members might appreciate the effort. The dark spot represents an affordable housing building while the green and blue are fountains/trees. Parking could be moved underground if they wanted to make it a mixed income building.
25Bellevue.jpg
 
This site along with the Green P parking lot at 15 Denison Ave (just north of Queen W) are very similar. Both can support affordable housing, along with public realm contributions such as parks or community gardens, and pedestrian mid-block connections. Although, my main concern is whether the initiative is there to provide enough affordable housing. An earlier report mentions only around 30 units here on Bellevue. It doesn't get anymore drop in the bucket than that. For parking lots of this size, I'd look towards seeing at least 100-120 units each.
 
New motion and timeline on this site passed at Council yesterday - "City Council authorize the Executive Director, Housing Secretariat to negotiate, enter into and execute, on behalf of the City, agreements or other documents with such environmental, engineering, planning and financial or other consultants, community agencies, professionals, private entities and/or individuals deemed necessary to conduct the pre-development investigations and due diligence considered necessary to ensure a successful, competitive affordable housing proposal call to identify a non-profit developer and operator with respect to the City-owned property at 25 Bellevue Avenue, or work with the Executive Director, CreateTO for CreateTO to procure these pre-development and due diligence services, on terms and conditions satisfactory to the Executive Director, Housing Secretariat, and in a form satisfactory to the City Solicitor."

MM30.19 - Support for New Non-Profit Affordable Housing on City Lands at 25 Bellevue Avenue - Section 37 Funds for Pre-Development Work

Stay tuned...
 
rdaner said:
Nothing on this since 2021.

www.thestar.com

Toronto unveils $36-billion housing plan, will act as public builder on five sites

The plan would come with significant financial requests of the provincial and federal governments: $500 million to $800 million in grants per year, in addition to low-cost loans.
www.thestar.com www.thestar.com
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I believe this will be a modular site, The City has it listed for completion in 2024; I don't see any other way that's feasible.

Even then, its highly ambitious.
 
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