At 500 PSF, you need to have the government build housing. Developers are private businesses who are in the business to make a profit. The math doesn't math.
Yes, build quality is meh. Most of the builders here are pretty mediocre at best. You have a few really good ones and then the rest are disappointing. And the buyer pays a premium for crap.
This "groundbreaking" article was from 5 years ago.
https://urbantoronto.ca/news/2019/07/ground-breaking-kicks-construction-birchcliff-urban-towns.37938
Is it just one guy doing all the work? It's almost finished. Sad to see it stalled now. Anyone been by lately?