AlbertC
Superstar
‘Rent trapped’ tenants caught up in growing pains on Raglan Avenue
Tenants, many of them seniors, at a lowrise near Bathurst and St. Clair have been told they’ll be relocated to make way for a 28-storey rental apartment building — one of many towers going up in the area.
www.thestar.com
Ann Eyerman has lived in her affordable one-bedroom apartment on Raglan Avenue in the Bathurst and St. Clair area for nearly four years.
She pays $1,500 a month for her unit in the aging seven-storey multiplex, and was disappointed to receive a letter last month from owner Hazelview Properties informing tenants, many of them seniors, they’ll have to move out in a couple years to make way for the demolition of the lowrise.
The owners are planning to build a new 28-storey apartment building with 280 units, most of them market rentals. Hazelview will soon submit a zoning bylaw amendment application to the city regarding the property, seeking a change to the zoned height, density, setback and parking.
--------
As required under the City of Toronto Act, the landowner is required to build replacement units in the new building — the same number of suites, 62, that 40 Raglan Ave. has.
The company says residents will likely have to begin leaving the building in about two years.
Residents who’ve received the move-out notifications will have the right to return to the new highrise and occupy similar-sized units for similar rents, and the replacement units won’t be exempt from rent control.
The owners have also promised tenants an unspecified amount of financial assistance toward relocation costs and rent for units they move into before demolition begins. Construction is slated to run from about 2024 to 2028, the company says.
Current apartment building on site:
Last edited: