March 23, 2022
The developer of 770 Don Mills Road & 805 Don Mills Road is CreateTO – a centralized real estate agency established by the City of Toronto, which provides Toronto residents with opportunities to live affordably near transit, places of work, and various services.
This project consists of two development sites, located at the southeast and southwest corners of Don Mills Road and Eglinton Avenue East, which are both proposed to be developed with mixed-use buildings. They will include affordable rental housing, units for larger households, new public spaces including new on-site public parks, a public road through the site, new public streets, alternative routes to Don Mills Road and Eglinton Avenue West; as well as two new non-profit childcare facilities, new TDSB elementary school and community use space.
A community meeting was held on September 14, 2021 to overviewed the concerns and preferences of the public. Approximately 50 public members have joined the meeting.
Some participants were concerned about height integration of the new developments. According to the project team and visual examples, “the proposed heights on these sites follow what is prescribed in the Don Mills Crossing Secondary Plan.” Moreover, Councillor Minnan-Wong added that “there are as many as 21 new buildings coming to the area because of transit-oriented development. Unlike other developments in the city, the developments in this area, including these two sites, will result in a new school and daycares.”
The public was also curious about the qualifications for the rental housing. The project team explained that in order to qualify for an affordable unit, there will be initial income testing. Average market rent is set by the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC), and for the affordable units, the income cannot be more than four times the annualized rent. The criteria is reviewed on an annual basis and takes into consideration inflation rate and other factors that affect affordability in the city.
Some raised the concern about already existing issues with traffic jams in the area and the project team responded that Ferrand Drive will be realigned and connect to Eglinton Avenue east as a full signalized intersection to improve and relieve some congestion in the area. There will be new streets within these developments that will also help with local traffic movement. The developer promised that the buildings will not be occupied by residents until the new roads are constructed. At the moment the project is still at Stage 2 and the developer did not present the prospect timelines of implementation.
Overall, the project seems promising and is going to make North York area more urban. Considering that the Metrolinx is planning to open The Crosstown as Line 5 Eglinton, in 2022 (according to the latest information, presumably in September), this will be a highly populated area and will develop greatly in the nearest years. More and more projects are getting proposed compromising detached homes for high-rise buildings in the GTA as the population grows and housing prices become unattainable for young professionals.
We will keep monitoring these two projects closely and will keep you updated as more information becomes available.
Ecko Jay Realty Ltd.
For more information about the projects, you can check the official sites of CreateTO:
https://createto.ca/housingnow/housing/770-don-mills-road/
https://createto.ca/housingnow/housing/805-don-mills-road/