sunnyraytoronto
Senior Member
Can you provide a real-world example, in The City of Toronto of the transfer of 'air rights' entirely off-site?
I searched for anything similar to the above, in Toronto and couldn't find it. The only examples I could find involved either:
- Selling strata rights directly over a given parcel, to still build on said parcel, but a different owner than the underlying building/land. (railway lands)
- In theory, in the above scenario, a cantilever (self-evidently, this would be from a development on an adjacent site)
- Finally, the transfer of air rights within a contiguous or adjacent parcel from one portion of said lands to another. The example given here was ROCP (Residences of College Park)
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In summary of the above, I'm unaware of the wholesale transfer of 'air rights' from one free-standing parcel of land to another, non-abutting parcel in Toronto.
References:
Explainer: Air Rights and Density Transfers | UrbanToronto
This week, Explainer looks at air rights and density transfers, a practice in some cities like New York, that some people believe happen in other cities, like Toronto. It doesn't happen in Toronto, but we take a look at how it works in New York.urbantoronto.ca
In the 1980s, Marathon.HR Development land-assembled a large lot - Yonge to Frizzel, Sheppard to Bogert,... to construct Phase 1 Nestle Canada Building, conveyed land for Beecroft south extension and land for Albert Standing Park,... Phase 2 Office Building never proceeded due to Office market tanking in 1990s. Eventually Phase 2 site was sold to Menkes about 10 years ago,... during Menkes argument for more density at 4800 Yonge, they cited they should be entitled to Density Transfer from Albert Standing Park - retroactively, renegotiating 30 year old deals that they were never a part of originally, and when air-rights didn't exist! Anyways, olt decision doesn't mention this when granting Menkes 4800 Yonge 12.07FSI Double Density
4800 Yonge Street | 168.24m | 49s | Menkes | Arquitectonica
Hmm?..168.4 meters tall will be North Yorks tallest, unbelievable, looking at the 100m list there are 107 buildings ( planned, under construction, built) in the GTA that will be taller than that
Going back to my "favourite" project,... Bazis Emerald Park got 8.6FSI on-site, which is over the 4.5FSI maximum allowable within North York Centre Secondary Plan and above the 5.98FSI maximum allowable for site with direct Subway connection (Tridel HullmarkCentre & Menkes GibsonSquare). On the other side of Beecroft Ave is 1-2-storey old Lansing United Church built in 1951,... which is within the North York Centre Secondary Plan which allows up to 15-storey on their site, but they like the area and don't plan to relocate,... so the church sold their Air-Rights (Density Transfer) to Bazis Emerald Park in exchange for about $6.7m to rebuild their Church Community Centre (which became 1/2 City owned since Section 37 Community Benefit involved). And of course, Bazis being Bazis,... screwed over the church by later trying to overcharge for Construction by $1m; so Church found different Project Manager and Construction companies,... since the City protected the Church by ensuring Bazis deposited the $6.7m as a condition of getting their Building Permits for Emerald Park
Emerald Park Condos | 128.92m | 40s | Bazis | Rosario Varacalli
I've always suspected that it's a parking lot issue. I think one of the biggest failures of Bazis is the fact that they built their public garage to the min specifics, which doesn't leave a lot of room to maneuver. I can't imagine how that parking lot will look like with shopping carts, people...
Final Report for Emerald Park and Lansing United Church - search for "Transfer"
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... there's still more restaurant variety in the area than there was a few years back so I'm hopeful.