Laura has covered real estate in Toronto, New York City, Miami, and Los Angeles. Before coming to STOREYS as a staff writer, she worked as the Toronto Urbanized Editor for Daily Hive.
Apart from the seasonal pop-up shop, the property is best known for sitting eerily vacant the rest of the year, which begs the question: How can such a prime piece of real estate afford to sit there boarded up and unused?In the later weeks of October, the southeast corner of Toronto's King West and Spadina intersection is bustling with fervid shoppers trying to secure this year's Halloween costume, often standing in a painfully long line to do so.
Cut to 2019. TerraCap, along with developer Great Gulf, submitted plans to the City of Toronto to redevelop the site into a glossy 45-storey tower with 435 condo units, a luxury hotel, and a whole slew of high-end amenities from expansive green roofs to a fitness club and a rooftop bar. It's the kind of place that would attract well-off young professionals wanting to experience the pinnacle of downtown condo living.
This isn't the first time the developers have wanted to change their plans for the site. An initial application was submitted nearly a decade earlier, back in 2010, by TerraCap and then-development partner Tridel. Thosecalled for a 39-storey tower with 443 residential units and retail space on the first two floors.
"The active developers in the city that make up the majority of the units being built are what are called syndicated developers," Shamess explained. "That means that the minute that they buy a site, they have investors that are counting on a return for their money.
"That means that the builder has to come up with somewhere around $30M of equity at a minimum just to get that project off the ground, so that's the biggest setback.
Canada Latest News, Canada Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
North Nechako residents get into the spirit of HalloweenPrince George Halloween weather forecast calls for above-zero temperatures, no rain or snow
Read more »
Getting into the Halloween spirit with the Global News Morning Calgary teamGlobal News' Dallas Flexhaug, Blake Lough, Tiffany Lizee, Leslie Horton and Michael King took some time away from the daily grind to try on different hats: Halloween hats, that is.
Read more »
Scary good: Here are the winners of Sault's first-ever Halloween Spirit AwardsProgram encourages community involvement and recognizes the efforts of residents who light up their homes and businesses in the spirit of the season
Read more »
What is Toronto's Halloween weather forecast?Trick-or-treaters in Toronto are in for a chilly, but mostly dry Halloween.
Read more »