Toronto Beacon Condos | 124.66m | 35s | Sorbara | Wallman

About 10 years ago,.. the previous long time Councillor for the area John Filion - fresh after his failed A-La-Cart fiasco ($30K per cart, many vendors lost their life savings https://torontolife.com/food/filion...ne-thing-the-city-messed-up-on-was-the-carts/ ) - decided it would be great to have a St.Lawence Market venture up here in Willowdale,... and to utilize Section 37 Community Benefit money to create the space (namely ground floor retail along north-side of this Sorbara Beacon and adjacent south-side of Centrium - now G-Group's Ellie Condo with open outdoor space in between for to act as Mew to host outdoor events/gatherings). A St.Lawrence Market with Cheese Counter, Butcher shop, Bakery, Fish counter, Deli shop - hey, they just invented the perimeter of a supermarket without the core goods!!!

After they failed to secure such vendors and realizing area Supermarkets already provide such services,... the FLIP Kitchen Food Incubator was started - operators from equity seeking groups providing food type not found in the area (while there's many restaurants along Yonge St, they mostly centre around Asian noodle, Korean and Bubble Tea to serve the local demographic - here, that's not allowed, these dishes are unfamiliar to most locals),.... then the original non-profit operator bailed.

A new non-profit operator brought in, but FLIP Kitchen tenants choose not to continue,... so evictions,...

Meanwhile adjacent G-Group's Ellie Condo is finishing up,... with their ground-floor retail space along south-side about to be conveyed to City as Section 37 Community Benefit,.... a FLIP Kitchen2 would be another failure,... so movement is to convert to Non-Profit Childcare space but likely EarlyON,...

This is a good example of the City and previous City Councillor wasting Section 37 Community Benefit money!
 
This is built...........why exactly did Sorbara renew lobbying on it?
 
B!gz said:
Are you sure it’s this site? They have other properties on Yonge street
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Yup, I'm sure.

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Note the recent approval date.
 
B!gz said:
Maybe it has to do with that failed food court?
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err,... that "failed food court" aka: "Flip Kitchen Food Hall" retail space actually belongs to the City of Toronto,... via Section 37 Community Benefits! So it's the City's problem not Sorbara's! The previous Cllr originally conceived this to be a St.Lawrence Market north type of establishment with the adjacent retail space to the north at Ellie Condo,... with Cafe, Bakery, Fruit/Veggie, Deli/Butcher, Fish Stalls, etc,... oh, but wait a minute, they already have this at nearby super-markets - one-stop food shopping,... so why anyone come here??? So without vendors, City pivot to Food Incubator/Training Food Hall,...

Northern Light said:
This is built...........why exactly did Sorbara renew lobbying on it?
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Sorbara likely renewing lobbying,... to get some of their unsellable/empty Office Space converted to more sellable/lease-able Retail Space or at least more liberal Office usage like International Private Schools, Massage Parlours, etc,...

Whereas the previous Cllr John Filion would have screamed and yelled "a contract is a contract!" "It's Office Space and we fought for what little Office Space we can get in this North York Centre" (this keeps the area Mixed-Usage with some decent local Office gigs),... the current Cllr Lily Cheng is a pushover/sell-out, she already allowed renegotiation of significant portion of the required Office Space to be converted to Retail Space and/or more liberal Office Space usage at Conservatory Group's Pearl Place, Menkes 4800 Yonge, Aoyuan/Winnet's M2M Phase 1, etc,...

Also, Sorbara's 5200 Yonge still need to deliver the underground passage connecting P1 Parking level of 5200 Yonge to that of Ellie Condo to the north,... but that's "a contract is a contract!"
 
This wasted St.Lawrence Market North,... err,.. I mean FLIP Kitchen - Food Court/Hall Incubator,... is a total waste of Section 37 Community Benefit money (BTW, the adjacent Development to the North, Ellie Condo, will also have another Retail Strip conveyed to City,... to be wasted again! To provide office space to the Cllr's associated non-profit organizations,... Yonge St ground floor retail space!). What benefit is this to the surrounding Community? Sub-Par beginner Food Stalls in an area full of Sub-Par Asian restaurants,... these Food Stalls are generally non-Chinese, non-Korean, non-Japanese,... so they introduce food items different from most of the surrounding restaurants - that the locals don't eat! Something different to try,... but every time I walk in FLIP Kitchen, it's empty! I rarely see 1 or 2 customers in there, and there's 5 Food Stalls! And so many of these Food Stalls actually belly-up before their lease expires,....

This waste of Section 37 Community Benefit money is exactly why Premier Doug Ford got rid of Section 37 Community Benefit,... water it down and lowered it to Community Benefit Charges,...

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Hmmm,.... it seems Suman Roy - who is in charge of #Willowdale Cllr Lily Cheng's Food Incubator FLIP Kitchen / FoodHallTO at this site,.... is also the founder and CEO of Feed Scarborough (Food Bank in SouthWest Scarborough) and is now being investigated for Fraud over $100K. Allegations initiated by DailyBreadFoodBank against Suman Roy:
- "It’s alleged that Daily Bread received multiple vendor invoices totalling over $18,000 from Feed Scarborough that the vendor has no record of, which led to the discovery of “irregularities” with those invoices."
- "Another alleged discrepancy was the purchasing of food from a construction company that was installing shelving at Feed Scarborough’s warehouse. Irregularities were noted with those invoices as well, the documents state."
- "It’s also claimed that Daily Bread received a $10,000 invoice from a vendor without a web presence, leading Daily Bread to hire an external company to conduct a background check. That background check reportedly found evidence that Roy was involved with the vendor in an ownership capacity."
- "It’s also alleged that Roy was reimbursed for over $110,000 in expense claims for items, including gift cards and rent, through cheques that Roy signed as payable to himself."
* "None of the allegations have been tested in court and Toronto police have not laid any criminal charges." (there's a Special Place in Hell for people who rip off non-profit charities)
Updated: January 12, 2026 at 2:56PM EST: "Daily Bread files police report alleging misuse of funds by Scarborough food bank"
link: www.cp24.com/local/toronto/2026/01/12/daily-bread-files-police-report-alleging-misuse-of-funds-by-scarborough-food-bank/

Another news article mentions Suman Roy's Gourmet Alchemy:
- "Another $10,000 invoice for emergency food hampers provided to Daily Bread in support of grant spending was paid to a vendor called Gourmet Alchemy in 2023. The accounting firm Daily Bread hired to conduct a forensic audit of Feed Scarborough discovered that Roy was the sole director of the company and had incorporated Gourmet Alchemy a month before the date of the invoice."
- "The main business address listed on the vendor’s corporation record is a residential property owned by the charity’s CEO and the address listed on Gourmet Alchemy’s invoice is a property owned by Roy’s relatives, according to the police report. Roy had also previously incorporated another business with a very similar name in 2013."

Very interesting that Suman Roy's Gourmet Alchemy was created in 2023,..... the year when Suman Roy started to get involved with Willowdale's FLIP Kitchen / FoodHallTO food incubator,... soon after, the vendors in this City of Toronto Food Incubator program were evicted,... one of the reason cited for refusal to pay increased rent! err,.. these retail space along north side of Beacon Condo are City Community Space rented at $2 per year to FeedScarborough/Suman Roy's FLIP-Kitchen / FoodHallTO,....
Dec 1, 2023: "Vendors evicted from city-led food hall file complaint citing mismanagement",.. "The complaint, filed with Ombudsman Toronto, alleges insufficient marketing, lack of support and operational problems for the FLIP Kitchens venture."
link: thestar.com/news/gta/vendors-evicted-from-city-led-food-hall-file-complaint-citing-mismanagement/article_0e5ab86d-d65b-541b-a339-fd737ae308e5.html

Weird since a few weeks later due to Negative Press,... Cllr Lily's motion to refund the Rent to original vendors,...
Dec 13-15 2023: "MM13.12 - Refunding Rent Paid and Relieving Rent Owed by Flip Kitchen Vendors Previously at City-owned Site on 5200 Yonge Street in Response to Termination of Contract - by Councillor Lily Cheng, seconded by Councillor Jamaal Myers"

Question: Did FeedScarborough Suman Roy use increased rent to force out vendors of previous FLIP-Kitchen Food Incubator,... to bring in his own Vendors? With new contracts,... subjecting his new FoodHallTO Food Incubator vendors to buy supplies from Suman Roy's Gourmet Alchemy???

Also,... how much of this $60,000 Section 37 Community Benefit money ended up at Suman Roy's Gourmet Alchemy
July 19, 20 2023: Cllr Lily Cheng's motion "MM8.19 - Allocate Section 37 Funds for City-owned site at 5200 Yonge Street to allow Scarborough Food Security Initiatives (Feed Scarborough) to Support Success of City-initiated Food Incubator Program - by Councillor Lily Cheng, seconded by Councillor Vincent Crisanti",.. "City Council increase the 2023 Operating Budget for Non-Program, on a one-time basis, by $60,000 gross, $0 net, fully funded by Section 37 (Planning Act Reserve Funds) from the development at 75 Canterbury Place, secured for constructing and furnishing a social facility (Source Account XR3026-3700882) for transfer to Feed Scarborough for capital improvements to the City-owned retail space at 5200 Yonge Street (Cost Centre NP2161)."


Given the seriousness of these allegations and on-going Police Investigation,... shouldn't Cllr Lily Cheng request/force Suman Roy to step-down from Willowdale Food Incubator FLIP Kitchen / FoodHallTO and from Toronto Public Health Board (where both Suman Roy and Cllr Lily Cheng sit),... until the investigation is completed?


BTW,.... a simple search on Suman Roy seems to show most of his credentials are from Diploma Mills from non-recognized institutions,...
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Gee,... and people wonder why Premier Doug Ford eliminated Section 37 Community Benefit charges for Developers,.... and replaced it with lower rate Community Benefit Charge
 
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