Land Sales
DEREK RAYMAKER
From Friday's Globe and Mail
For decades, the corner of Sheppard Avenue and Leslie Street was a drab intersection dominated by the din of the automobile and the grim pavement of parking lots the size of lakes.
North of Sheppard, off the main arteries, were the cul-de-sacs from the first wave of postwar housing expansion nestled among schools and parks. The intersection itself was notable only because it was near Toronto's only IKEA store, until another mammoth store opened in Etobicoke eight years ago.
About that time, the Sheppard subway line was under construction. When it was completed in 2002, the line was roundly criticized as an expensive white elephant rammed down the throat of Toronto taxpayers by the North York-centric Toronto mayor, Mel Lastman. Ridership numbers were weak and the North York commuters remained tied to their cars.
But behind the scenes, land-assembly teams had been quietly building up their holdings on behalf of developers aiming to populate the subway line with shiny new condo towers. It started west of Bayview Avenue, with New York Towers, a six-phase development by Daniels Corp. across the street from the upscale Bayview Village shopping centre. The last of these buildings, the Rockefeller, was completed in 2006.
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But it hasn't stopped there. In fact, the Bayview projects are small potatoes compared with those planned for Sheppard and Leslie.
In October, Concord Adex Investments Ltd. of Vancouver, part of Hong Kong billionaire Li Ka-shing's property empire, purchased about 40 acres of land from Canadian Tire Corp., which operated a distribution centre near the southwestern corner of Sheppard and Leslie, for $149.7-million.
Concord — developer of the ring of high-rises along Vancouver's False Creek as well as CityPlace on Toronto's railway lands — is planning to build 20 towers with nearly 4,000 units at the new site.
“It's very significant that this developer would make their next big move here,†said Barry Lyon, president of the marketing firm N. Barry Lyon Consultants. Mr. Lyon suggested that the massive development will tap into the growing Asian market.
It's no secret that subway lines beget high-density housing developments, especially in Toronto, but the Sheppard corridor is in for a complete transformation since most of its current structures consist of two- or three-storey commercial buildings or strip malls, abutted by neighbourhoods with detached homes.
Mr. Lyon says 9,995 new condominium suites along the Sheppard corridor will be put on the market this year.
The Sheppard and Leslie land purchase certainly brought attention to the area as a future condo canyon, but there were other significant land purchases in the last half of 2006 that serve as portents of new development to come.
In the 905 district, Daniels purchased 12 acres of land in an area of Newmarket called Madeline Heights, for $4-million last August. The company intends to develop a medium-density community within two years.
In November, Galnova Developments and Bragal Developments purchased 139 acres on McGillivray Road, west of Highway 27, for $19-million. The type of development the two purchasers intend to pursue isn't known yet, but it will likely have a large low-rise component.
Also in Vaughan, Fernbrook Homes purchased 16 acres near Rutherford Road and Bathurst Street for slightly more than $16.6-million in July. It plans to launch a new low-rise community within the next three years.
On the east side of Toronto, Fallingbrook Homes purchased two adjacent properties at 1208 and 1210 Kingston Road in May for $2,180,000, intending to build a high-rise development.
Downtown, Aspen Ridge Homes bought two addresses on Richmond Street at University Avenue for $27-million in July, which will be the home of an as-yet-unnamed high-rise. It will be the second major urban high-rise for Aspen Ridge, which has traditionally focused on suburban low-rise projects. It launched Vu at Adelaide at Jarvis street last year.
In July, Cresford Developments bought 1815 Yonge St., at Eglinton Avenue, for $7.4-million. It intends to build a high-rise there.
draymaker@globeandmail.com
