The City of Toronto and CreateTO have announced the development partners for two Housing Now sites, as it moves ahead on its promise of building new affordable rental housing.
Following a competitive market offering process launched by CBRE Limited in the fall of 2019, the development of the Housing Now site at 50 Wilson Heights Blvd. has been awarded to Tridel Builders Inc. and Greenwin Holdings Inc. and the development of 705 Warden Ave. has been awarded to Greenwin Holdings Inc. and KingSett Affordable Housing LP. When complete, the two sites will offer over 2,000 new homes, including 1,600 rental homes, of which nearly 800 will be affordable.
“As a city, we are committed to creating more affordable housing in communities across Toronto,” said Mayor John Tory. “The Housing Now initiative will help us achieve this goal while also focusing on creating complete communities with access to transit, public and green space, child care facilities and much more.”
As part of Housing Now’s Phase One, 11 properties were approved by City Council in 2019 for the purpose of to creating an estimated 10,000 new homes, including 3,700 affordable rental homes. In May 2020, City Council approved six additional sites as part of Phase Two, with the potential to create up to 1,700 additional homes, including up to 620 affordable rental homes. Today 17 sites across Phases One and Two are in various stages of development, with an estimated 13,479 new homes, including 3,037 ownership homes and 10,142 purpose-built rental homes coming soon.
50 Wilson Heights Blvd.
The eight-acre site at 50 Wilson Heights Blvd. is directly adjacent to the Wilson Subway Station, and is planned to include 520 market rental homes, 520 affordable rental homes and 444 market condominiums. The development will include a new park, commercial/retail uses, a childcare centre, new public streets, improvements to the public realm and a community space for non-profit organizations.
705 Warden Ave.
The proposed development of the seven-acre site at 705 Warden Ave., at the northeast corner of Warden Avenue and St. Clair Avenue East, will include 275 affordable rental homes and 325 market rent homes. The development also includes the expansion of Warden Hilltop Park, the renaturalization of land adjacent to Taylor Massey Creek, new public streets, improvements to the public realm, additional retail space, and a new child care centre.
On both sites, 10 per cent of the affordable rental homes will be deeply affordable, having rents at no more than 40 per cent of the average market rent. Each site will also include a minimum of 20 per cent accessible affordable rental homes and 15 per cent accessible market rental homes.
The affordable homes created through Housing Now will be geared to households earning between $21,000 and $68,000 per year. The homes will be affordable to Toronto residents working in many front-line occupations. Many of these residents have been recognized as essential workers delivering critical services throughout the COVID-19 pandemic.
Construction at 50 Wilson Heights Blvd. is slated to begin in Q2 2022 and construction at 705 Warden Ave. is planned to start in Q4 2022.
More information about these Housing Now sites is available on the City’s website.
