- What GreenStreet Flats plans to develop a 42-unit rental building in downtown Toronto
- Why The developer is looking to add missing middle housing
- What next Toronto City Council is reviewing the application
A Toronto developer is looking to build a midrise rental building in downtown Toronto near one of the city’s universities.
GreenStreet Flats submitted a development application to the city last week calling for six storeys and 42 rental units at 14 Grange Avenue, less than 100 m from Grange Park, which connects to the Art Gallery of Ontario and Ontario College of Art & Design University.
GreenStreet Flats purchased the property in August 2023 for $1.98m – well below its $2.7m asking price. It’s a corner lot occupied by a detached residential bungalow, a typical built form in this pocket of downtown.
But being downtown and near two subway stations and a streetcar line along Dundas Street, the developer wants to add more transit-oriented density while addressing the need for rental housing, particularly affordable rentals. Of the 42 units, four will be dedicated as affordable housing.
“Within established neighborhoods, if you don’t want to be on a major street, there really aren’t any new rental options available where there’s a park nearby or school nearby, but yet still walkable to the subway,” Leonid Kotov, founder of GreenStreet Flats, told Green Street News.
“That’s what we focus on: walkable neighborhoods where people really want to live but they’ve been priced out because it’s largely single-family homes. So we go in there and we add density to create new housing for people.”
The units would comprise 22 studios, 17 one-bedrooms and three two-bedrooms. Most would have a balcony. Plans call for a rooftop terrace but no indoor amenities due to size constraints.
Although the units are not explicitly student-housing units, a possible partnership with OCAD is being explored.
Construction financing has not been finalized, though a loan through Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp. is being considered. GreenStreet Flats hopes to have shovels in the ground by next summer and to finish construction before the 2026 school year.
“It takes a while, both for the approvals and construction, when you’re doing a high-rise with this kind of product,” Kotov said. “We’re hoping to deliver a lot faster in terms of construction because we’re going to be at six stories.”
