Toronto malls once dominated the local retail scene, but are facing unprecedented challenges amid the rise of online shopping and same-day delivery.
Once-mighty establishments like Fairview Mall are now dealing with the reality of declining traffic and soaring land values, leading to a rethink of how these shopping centres utilize their vast expanses of land.
Cadillac Fairview (CF) and development partner SHAPE have been refining plans to build a new community surrounding the mall that they hope will bring a critical mass of new residents to support the shopping centre generations into the future.
A development application was submitted to Toronto city planners back in April 2022, outlining plans to surround CF Fairview Mall with a new community that will replace existing surface parking, driveways, and an above-ground parking garage, bringing thousands of residential units in its place.
Following over a year of public consultation and feedback from city planners, a revised plan was tabled in early September, incorporating several changes to refine the Hariri Pontarini Architects-designed redevelopment plan.
The initial 2022 proposal detailed the initial phase in what will ultimately be a four-phase redevelopment bringing approximately 4,700 residential units in 310,000 square metres of residential, and up to 40,000 square metres of commercial and office space to the site.
That plan called for rental and condo towers proposed at heights of 58, 48, and 38 storeys, though following feedback from City staff, both of the taller towers in the proposed first phase have been whittled down in the updated Sept. 2023 submission, which proposes towers of 52, 45, and 38 storeys.
The revised plan for the first phase comes with reductions in the total floor area (dropping by 7,622 square metres down to 97,209 square metres), and residential space (reduced by 7,345 square metres to a new total of 96,947 square metres). The retail component has been slashed in half, dropping from 539 square metres down to 262 square metres.
All of these changes impact the loadout of the complex, including a reduction in the proposed unit count from 1,416 to 1,323, and the axing of 172 parking spaces for a new total of 1,062. The bicycle parking component has also been reduced to reflect the drop in units, losing 60 spaces for a new plan of 1,009.
Several smaller refinements have been incorporated based on feedback from City staff that aim to enhance the community’s interaction with its surroundings.
One notable revision that characterizes the type of smaller changes being implemented is the addition of an architectural canopy over a forecourt framing two of the towers, which planners state will “create an element of architectural interest, and define the relationship between the building.”
The City’s feedback places much of its focus on the buildings’ ground realm, hoping to improve the towers’ integration with the three new public parks totalling 7,840 square metres of parkland dedication, and approximately 8,780 square metres of private open space planned across the site.
TORONTO – One expert predicts Ottawa‘s changes to mortgage rules will help spur demand among potential homebuyers but says policies aimed at driving new supply are needed to address the “core issues” facing the market.
The federal government’s changes, set to come into force mid-December, include a higher price cap for insured mortgages to allow more people to qualify for a mortgage with less than a 20 per cent down payment.
The government will also expand its 30-year mortgage amortization to include first-time homebuyers buying any type of home, as well as anybody buying a newly built home.
CIBC Capital Markets deputy chief economist Benjamin Tal calls it a “significant” move likely to accelerate the recovery of the housing market, a process already underway as interest rates have begun to fall.
However, he says in a note that policymakers should aim to “prevent that from becoming too much of a good thing” through policies geared toward the supply side.
Tal says the main issue is the lack of supply available to respond to Canada’s rapidly increasing population, particularly in major cities.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 17,2024.
OTTAWA – The Canadian Real Estate Association says the number of homes sold in August fell compared with a year ago as the market remained largely stuck in a holding pattern despite borrowing costs beginning to come down.
The association says the number of homes sold in August fell 2.1 per cent compared with the same month last year.
On a seasonally adjusted month-over-month basis, national home sales edged up 1.3 per cent from July.
CREA senior economist Shaun Cathcart says that with forecasts of lower interest rates throughout the rest of this year and into 2025, “it makes sense that prospective buyers might continue to hold off for improved affordability, especially since prices are still well behaved in most of the country.”
The national average sale price for August amounted to $649,100, a 0.1 per cent increase compared with a year earlier.
The number of newly listed properties was up 1.1 per cent month-over-month.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 16, 2024.
MONTREAL – Two Quebec real estate brokers are facing fines and years-long suspensions for submitting bogus offers on homes to drive up prices during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Christine Girouard has been suspended for 14 years and her business partner, Jonathan Dauphinais-Fortin, has been suspended for nine years after Quebec’s authority of real estate brokerage found they used fake bids to get buyers to raise their offers.
Girouard is a well-known broker who previously starred on a Quebec reality show that follows top real estate agents in the province.
She is facing a fine of $50,000, while Dauphinais-Fortin has been fined $10,000.
The two brokers were suspended in May 2023 after La Presse published an article about their practices.
One buyer ended up paying $40,000 more than his initial offer in 2022 after Girouard and Dauphinais-Fortin concocted a second bid on the house he wanted to buy.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 11, 2024.
