A major intersection considered a gateway to downtown Toronto could soon be transformed with the addition of a new public park.
The City of Toronto plans to tear down a three-storey office building on the southeast corner of Yonge and Church and create a new park at the intersection.
The current building at 819 Yonge Street, home to a handful of businesses like a dental clinic and a dance studio, would be replaced by a public space as part of a deal between the City and developers of a nearby condominium project.
Owners of an ambitious development underway at 33 Avenue Road/148 Yorkville Avenue have entered into a conditional agreement of purchase and sale for the property as part of an off-site parkland dedication agreement made with the City during the project’s approval process.
The project in question from developers Cityzen Group, Greybrook Realty Partners and First Capital will rise 31 storeys from the corner of Avenue Road and Yorkville, with just 70 condominium units.
However, the development’s constrained site posed a challenge in meeting the City’s on-site park requirements.
A cash-in-lieu of parkland option laid out in Section 42 of the Planning Act allows the developers to work around the City’s requirements to build parkland into a development by providing funds to acquire alternative nearby land which can fulfill the same purpose.
Complicating matters slightly, it has been determined by City staff that the value of the property in question is expected to exceed the total required parkland dedication value owed to City Hall. This means that additional funds are needed to complete the purchase.
A motion filed by City Councillor Dianne Saxe and seconded by Councillor Jamaal Myers recommends that council reimburse the owner of 148 Yorkville Avenue to allow the acquisition to move forward.
The motion explains how additional costs for the park property would be secured through a similar cash-in-lieu of parkland payment for a nearby development at 717 Church Street.
Among the recommendations, the motion suggests that city council authorize the General Manager of Parks and Recreation to enter an agreement with the developers of the 148 Yorkville project “for securing, designing and constructing 819 Yonge Street.”
The report states that “this off-site parkland dedication will expand the existing public open space network in the Bloor-Yorkville neighbourhood,” but notes that “the matter is urgent because opportunities to acquire off-site parkland are limited and time-sensitive.”
