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Following a vote at City Council in October, the City's real estate agency for municipal lands, CreateTO, is buying and selling adjacent parcels of land in the Entertainment District, and will relocate a fire station. The process will unlock prime Entertainment District land for new development opportunities.
The plan will see the existing fire station on City-owned land at 260 Adelaide Street West move to a new location at Metro Hall, freeing up its current site for sale, presumably to a developer for high-rise residential. The City will also acquire the property to the north at 229 Richmond Street West, currently a privately run surface parking lot, with CreateTO launching a study of what best to do with the site, and whether a some park space could be a part of a redevelopment there.
Described by the City as a “strategic acquisition of property,” the plan seeks to relocate the existing fire station approximately 300 metres south of its current location to the south side of Metro Hall along the complex's Wellington Street frontage. The replacement fire station would require current users of the space to be relocated, now occupied by Children's Services and Toronto Employment and Social Services.
On Wellington here now is a grassy lawn with a public art installation, also to be relocated to make way for the driveway serving emergency vehicles.
The City will pay $100,000,000 (plus a $2.5m provincial land transfer tax and $13m in HST) purchase price for the Richmond Street property, with the deal to close in January. Based on fair market appraisals, the 260 Adelaide site has an estimated land value of $130 million, the unlocking of which would fund the purchase of the Richmond site, leaving millions left over to fund modifications to Metro Hall needed to create the new fire station. The City expects to have money left over from the plan. A preliminary massing model (below) shows a potential concept for the Adelaide Street property.
As part of the City’s ongoing efforts to support affordable housing through the Open Door Program and Housing Now initiatives, the residential portion of the redevelopment being planned for the Richmond Street site is exploring options to include an affordable housing component. The City's Housing Secretariat will work with CreateTO to report on the feasibility of including affordable housing.
More details about plans for the two sites are expected in a report coming in the first quarter of 2020, along with accommodation plans for the Metro Hall departments that will be displaced by the fire station's relocation.
With redevelopment of the Richmond Street site still a good distance down the road, interim use is expected to be a Toronto Parking Authority surface lot, expected to generate $420,000 in annual gross revenue to the City until it is redeveloped.
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