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Spaces (former WE Charity HQs, 345 Queen St E, TriAxis, 3s, Kohn Partnership)

Wow. A nice land assembly at Queen and Parliament is now up for sale.

www.thestar.com

WE Charity closing operations in Canada

WE Charity will shut down its Canadian operations in the wake a political controversy over the federal government’s decision to outsource a multimilli...
www.thestar.com www.thestar.com
 
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The HQ at 345 Queen East and the building at the SE corner of Queen E & Berkeley have gone through substantial renovations/additions and have considerable value in its current structural format for office and commercial usage. While the two storey buildings throughout the Queen fronting mid-block should at least be façaded. There's a good chunk of parking space out back though which if developed will help complete the currently blank streetscape on Richmond.
 
ShonTron said:
Wow. A nice land assembly at Queen and Parliament is now up for sale.

www.thestar.com

WE Charity closing operations in Canada

WE Charity will shut down its Canadian operations in the wake a political controversy over the federal government’s decision to outsource a multimilli...
www.thestar.com www.thestar.com
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I expect some American IT firm will buy it, or perhaps Shopify. The Shoppers Drug Mart across the street is slated for demolition and yet another condo, so the employee pool is definitely growing in the area. I was pleased to see We restore that building. Let’s just hope the city or homeless industry doesn’t decide to put yet another downtown east shelter in that building.
 
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Lenser said:
A sad phrase, that: "homeless industry."
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True, but IDK what other term fits. It’s an economic activity run by large, usually non-profit corporations, headed by mid-high six figure salaried executives with thousands of paid employees, all organized to garner charitable donations and government funding to serve a captive market, or clientele. There are many whose careers depend on the perpetuation of that clientele. Shelters take a head count and submit that to the government for funding, fewer heads means less funding, fewer employees and less $$ for the executives. Sounds about the same as the healthcare industry.
 
Admiral Beez said:
True, but IDK what other term fits. It’s an economic activity run by large, usually non-profit corporations, headed by mid-high six figure salaried executives with thousands of paid employees, all organized to garner charitable donations and government funding to serve a captive market, or clientele. There are many whose careers depend on the perpetuation of that clientele. Shelters take a head count and submit that to the government for funding, fewer heads means less funding, fewer employees and less $$ for the executives. Sounds about the same as the healthcare industry.
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I want to phrase my disagreement with your post as courteously as possible. It happens that I served many years on the Board of a major charity that has reached out to the homeless and other folk in difficulty for many decades. You would likely recognize its name if you have lived long In Toronto. From my experience, I think that yours is an overly negative view of the people and organizations who do that kind of work. The charity with which I was involved is primarily funded by donations and careful management of a endowment almost entirely garnered from bequests, which are, of course, another form of donation.Any government funding is a small percentage of the whole. Executives are paid less than the managers of commercial concerns of similar size. Employees, for the most part, are genuinely dedicated to the people they serve. These are not saints, of course, and they experience many failures in their sometimes very difficult work. They demonstrate the failings common to other folk. But as I look back, I hold most of the people with whom I worked in high honour. This is not to make any statements about the finances of the We Charity, about which I know almost nothing, just a description of what I experienced in the “industry.”

A good thing about your post is that it reminds me to get off my financial butt and make another donation to the charity I have described. I know, once again from direct experience, that in hard times, the needs go up and the donations go down. I need to put my money where my mouth has been.

Edit, since writing this post, I saw the news about “We“ folding. Very sad, in my view.
 
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67Cup said:
I want to phrase my disagreement with your post as courteously as possible. It happens that I served many years on the Board of a major charity that has reached out to the homeless and other folk in difficulty for many decades. You would likely recognize its name if you have lived long In Toronto. From my experience, I think that yours is an overly negative view of the people and organizations who do that kind of work. The charity with which I was involved is primarily funded by donations and careful management of a endowment almost entirely garnered from bequests, which are, of course, another form of donation.Any government funding is a small percentage of the whole. Executives are paid less than the managers of commercial concerns of similar size. Employees, for the most part, are genuinely dedicated to the people they serve. These are not saints, of course, and they experience many failures in their sometimes very difficult work. They demonstrate the failings common to other folk. But as I look back, I hold most of the people with whom I worked in high honour. This is not to make any statements about the finances of the We Charity, about which I know almost nothing, just a description of what I experienced in the “industry.”

A good thing about your post is that it reminds me to get off my financial butt and make another donation to the charity I have described. I know, once again from direct experience, that in hard times, the needs go up and the donations go down. I need to put my money where my mouth has been.

Edit, since writing this post, I saw the news about “We“ folding. Very sad, in my view.
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A good summary and POV from the inside, thanks. I will remark that clearly the service or whatever term we use is essential, like nursing. I do not have a negative view of the people or the organizations involved. My only criticism is that the homeless service or whatever we call it is not shared across the city. Were a shelter planned for the WE building I would not be pleased, but not because it's not needed, but that it's yet another in the lower downtown east area. What I would wholeheartedly support at the WE location permanent, supportive housing where the residents actually have a room of their own, for the long-term, this is their permanent address. Anyway, I've taken us on a big tangent, let's see what happens there. My guess is a IT firm buys it for its trendy feel, or it becomes the lower part of a condo.
 
The elephant in the room of all this is better and more meaningful housing, and one that's not just temporary.

...but I digress, I really hope all this work put into to restoring this building doesn't go under a developers wrecking ball. Rather it remains with a dynamic charity sect. And hopefully one where the federal government properly recused themselves from it the next time around. Just saying.
 
Admiral Beez said:
I would have to think it would be designated heritage, even if it really wouldn't be if we'd saved more important buildings.
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345 Queen St E is a designated heritage property.

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JasonParis said:
If I had to pick a "downtown Corktown" it would be these four corners. Hopefully, this loss is an opportunity.
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Back in the late 1980s I was a member of Newsboys Boxing club, located at the northeast corner of Parliament and Queen, just above Ray’s Discount Convenience store. Back then this intersection was very sketchy, the Shoppers Drug Mart was a used car lot, the We building was the neglected Marty Millionaire warehouse store, graffiti, petty vandalism and litter, with to my 16 year old’s perspective some very rough sorts of folks walking about. I really liked that boxing club, the smells of canvas, leather and rope, the obese, liquor drinking, cigar smoking owner in the back office surrounded by boxing trophies, signed photos and memorabilia from decades earlier who always had a kind word for his customers or members. It’s where I first got punched in the face and realized it doesn’t kill you, you just shake it off (like Taylor Swift), block the next one, strike back and repeat until the bell goes. I loved the leather speed bags and skipping rope.... now at 49 my skipping rope skills are gone, but I’m still better at it than my inactive, device-addicted teenage daughters.

Anyway, that intersection has always been tough and rough, so I’m not sure I see it as downtown Corktown - to me that’s more River and King. Interestingly in these gentrifying times, a new boxing club has opened nearby.
 
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