City Council has approved a plan to include 80 units of affordable housing for artists in a new development by Hines and Tridel in the East Bayfront community. The units will be owned by the City but operated by non-profit developer Toronto Artscape Inc., which currently provides 105 units of affordable housing throughout its three rental buildings.

Preliminary rendering showing the southern view of Aquavista. Image courtesy of Waterfront Toronto.

The affordable one-, two- and three-bedroom units will be contained within eight floors along the north and west sides of the 15-storey building. They will have their own separate entrance, elevators, parking and amenity space. The new phase of Hines and Tridel's Bayside development, Aquavista, will also contain 225 market condominium units in addition to retail uses.

Preliminary rendering of Aquavista's north and east faces. Image courtesy of Waterfront Toronto.

With only 389 units or 0.5 percent of all non-profit housing stock earmarked for artists and about 1,000 people on the waiting list for one of Artscape's affordable housing units, the new project aims to relieve some of this pressure. The East Bayfront zoning by-law also includes a requirement that at least 20 percent of new units within the area must be affordable. This complements the 25 percent affordable rental housing goal as outlined in the Central Waterfront Secondary Plan. The $26 million cost of the units is being shared between all governments and the non-profit, with $12 million from the federal and provincial Investment in Affordable Housing program, $7 million from the City's development charge reserve fund and $7 million through Artscape.

Aerial rendering of the Bayside development. Image courtesy of Waterfront Toronto.

Designed by Arquitectonica, (the images included with this rendering are from a preliminary design), Aquavista is part of the 13-acre Bayside development located between Sherbourne and Parliament Streets. It will contain over two million square feet of retail, office, residential and cultural space across several buildings. Aquavista is expected to be completed by 2019. Hines and Tridel's first residential phase at Bayside, Aqualina, recently began construction.

Preliminary rendering depicting the southern face of Aquavista. Image courtesy of Waterfront Toronto.

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