San Francisco by the Bay
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Building with Intensity
By: Mark Wessel
How one development group collaborated with city planners to create an ambitious new Place To Grow
This month, two years after the project was initially conceived, construction will begin on the San Francisco by the Bay development, one of the first high-density projects in the 905 area and one directly complementing the City of Pickering's official plan and the province's Places to Grow strategy. But if not for the persistence of all parties to make the site "work" for competing interests, it could have experienced costly delays or even faltered.
Partners Steve Warsh and Richard Borchiver of Toronto-based S&R Development Group faced multiple challenges on this project, ranging from obtaining financing for a high density project so far from downtown Toronto (and one with existing tenants) to finding a builder capable of addressing Pickering's demands.
Originally a non descript 1960s-era plaza with a large grocery store as the commercial anchor, about 40 kilometres from downtown Toronto near the intersection of Bayly Street and Liverpool Road, to the untrained eye there was nothing special about the future site for San Francisco by the Bay.
But Warsh liked the site's close proximity to major transportation arteries, including the GO Transit rail line, Highway 401, and Bayly Street, a regional Type A road for east-west travel. It was also close to Pickering's downtown, the waterfront and adjacent to the scenic Douglas Ravine. In other words, a perfect complement to the province's Places to Grow Act, which champions such concepts as intensification, the establishment of town centers, and strategic use of transit to address urban growth needs while helping to protect designated greenfield areas.
But in talking to prospective partners, Warsh discovered this potential was overshadowed by the fact that it was a dated commercial plaza with leased tenants. "The common response was 'come back and see us once the tenants are gone,'" recalls Warsh. It wasn't until Warsh met the financial team at Rose Corporation, a Toronto-based merchant bank specializing in early-stage funding for residential developments, that he received positive feedback. "Rose immediately bought into the idea of a high-density residential project and understood the challenges and risks associated with this kind of redevelopment," Warsh says.
Rose Corporation's Noah Mintz, associate director of real estate finance says they understood why the location had been a hard sell for S&R Developments and knew of other failed projects nearby. "But the timing was better for this project," explains Mintz. "People were starting to accept the idea of living in the 905, and they had a more marketable product in part because their price point was more affordable than competing projects."
As for the existing commercial tenants, Mintz says Rose wasn't fazed by what others considered a non-starter. "With any joint venture project we fund, we always consider possible delays," says Mintz. "If the project has merit, we're not afraid to share the risk, including the time required to complete the project and the possibility of having to inject additional capital due to future delays."
It was at this juncture that Rose introduced Warsh and Borchiver to Chestnut Hill homes, a company specializing in high-density, low-rise townhouses on small parcels of land in the Greater Toronto Area. With this introduction and the resulting partnership that transpired, a vision for San Francisco by the Bay was established: 235 townhouses on a 10.7 acre site.
In responding to the original submission from the group, the City of Pickering surprised everyone by asking for considerably higher density than what was proposed, and asked that it be a mixed-use development, not just residential. "The city acted more like the developer than the planner," recalls Dave Friedman, president of Chestnut Hill Homes. "They saw this as an opportunity to redevelop a significant property south of the 401 and create a vibrant mixed-used project."
"Over the years, there had been other interested development groups coming to our doors with ideas on how to redevelop this location, including an affordable housing project that never got off the ground," explains Neil Carroll, the City of Pickering's planning and development director, but adds "it was very important the site be mixed-use versus just residential, and retain a retail component in order to serve the needs of both new residents and the surrounding community."
From this initial exchange unfolded a six-month period of dialogue and planning during which time the development group bought into the merit of a mixed-use project, the result of which is the San Francisco by the Bay project now underway, comprised of 121 town homes, 350 condominium suites in 16 and 18 floor towers, 25,500-sq.-ft. of retail space and 12,500-sq.-ft. of amenity areas, with an expected LEED certification.
Even with the consensus achieved after a lengthy and involved process, the Pickering East Shore Community Association still opposed the project at the Ontario Municipal Board (OMB), challenging the proposed densities and the height of the condo towers. But last April the challenge was struck down, with the OMB ruling the project conformed to the city's official plan, thus removing the project's last serious obstacle.
When residents begin to fill up San Francisco by the Bay sometime in late 2008, it will be the successful culmination of effort between a development team that embraced the ideals of Places to Grow, a financial partner that shared in this vision, notwithstanding the underlying risks, and a municipality that saw the opportunity to create something special for their community.