Item - 2021.RA21.6

The Board of Directors of CreateTO:

1. Endorsed the business case for 2444 Eglinton Avenue East as presented in Confidential Attachment 2 to the report (February 22, 2021) from the Vice President, Development, CreateTO, and, subject to further approvals required by the Deputy City Manager, Corporate Services, the Chief Financial Officer and Treasurer and the Executive Director, Housing Secretariat, direct CreateTO management to:

-   Release to market 2444 Eglinton Avenue East in the second quarter of 2021, including entering into agreements conditional on approval by relevant City authorities;

-   Retain the services of a fairness monitor to oversee and ensure an open, fair and transparent market offering process;

-   Retain the services of a broker to engage the market and lead the market offering process with CreateTO staff.

2.  Authorized the public release of the information in Confidential Attachments 1 and 2 to the report (February 22, 2021) from the Vice President, Development, CreateTO following the execution of the agreements and at the discretion of the Chief Executive Officer, CreateTO.

The Board of Directors of CreateTO recessed its public session to meet in closed session to consider the item as it pertains to a plan to be applied to any negotiations carried on or to be carried on by or on behalf of the Board of Directors of CreateTO, and financial information that belongs to the Board of Directors of CreateTO and has monetary value or potential monetary value.

This report recommends that the CreateTO Board of Directors endorse the business case and market offering for the Phase 2 Housing Now site located at 2444 Eglinton Avenue East.

This 2.8 acre site is located on the north side of Eglinton Avenue East just east of Kennedy Road and is directly north of the Kennedy mobility hub, a significant hub of transit infrastructure investments.

Since December of 2020, CreateTO staff have been working with the consultant team on preparing a development concept for this site in order to advance the development and market offering process.

Throughout Q1 and Q2 of 2021 CreateTO staff will continue to work with City staff including the Housing Secretariat's office, the local Councillor, the community, and other key stakeholders in order to gain consensus on a development concept that can be brought to market. 

At the December 2020 CreateTO Board meeting, CreateTO staff brought forward a plan responding to a request made by the Board earlier in the year regarding initiating a pilot of an alternative approach to achieving planning approvals to support the development of Housing Now sites. The Board was informed that the Housing Secretariat, City Planning, and CreateTO staff had selected this site as the Housing Now pilot site that would be offered to the development community based on a City and CreateTO endorsed reference concept plan and would allow the successful proponent to go through their own zoning process and obtain planning approvals directly.  CreateTO will undertake sufficient due diligence prior to going to market to identify and mitigate potential risks and to provide more certainty to the development community regarding achievable thresholds for density and built-form for the developer proponents.

A current version of the draft reference concept plan with site statistics can be found in Confidential Attachment 1.

The intent is to bring this site to market in May of 2021.  Following the market offering process, CreateTO staff will report to the CreateTO Board on the proponent selection, prior to finalizing lease agreements. The CreateTO Board will review for approval, the terms and conditions for the proposed agreements with the successful proponent.  The lease agreements will be executed prior to the completion of the planning approvals process by the developer proponent.