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<\/a>Photo: Sasaran<\/a> \/ Adobe Stock<\/em><\/p>\nWith Canadian housing inventory at its lowest level in history<\/a>, there\u2019s been a lot of talk about building new home supply. One boutique-sized developer recently took on six new projects that will bring upwards of 2,700 units to Toronto.<\/p>\n Republic Developments<\/a> filed five mid- to high-rise project applications in late December 2021. This includes plans to redevelop the Novotel Toronto Centre at 45 The Esplanade<\/a>, and the integration of a revitalized 1870s building into a new mid-rise at 111 Strachan Avenue<\/a>. A sixth application, which is currently in the works, is planned for submission in late January. These projects mark a significant milestone for the growing six-person developer, taking the company from a single-project firm to one that now has several applications in tow.<\/p>\n Matt Young, president and CEO of Republic Developments, created the company two years ago. Young previously worked at Lifetime Developments and is the former vice-president of development at Capital Developments. The company kicked off its first project in collaboration with Harlo Capital<\/a> in late 2020 with Scarborough Junction<\/a>, a 26-acre, master-planned community at the Scarborough GO station.<\/p>\n Livabl<\/em> spoke with Young to learn more about the six development applications Republic Developments has been working on, as well as his thoughts on Greater Toronto\u2019s new construction market.<\/p>\n Parts of this interview have been edited or removed for clarity and brevity.<\/em><\/p>\n We formed a partnership with Silver Hotel Group in the summertime, and we really got started on the projects probably around July or August. The reason they all went in at once was because it was a portfolio deal and the goal \u2014 through the partnership \u2014 was to submit applications before the end of the year.<\/p>\n At the time, there were multiple changes happening in the city, like the foundation drainage policy, for example, that was changing as of Jan. 1, 2022. Our mandate was to get as many applications as we could in before those changes happened. Coincidentally, we had one of our other projects at 111 Strachan Avenue happening simultaneously, which rounded out the six.<\/p>\n In hindsight, it was probably a challenge that I might have underestimated, but our team really worked hard. Our guys were working until midnight most nights in order to get it done and we got five out of six in, which is great. We\u2019re pretty happy about that, but it did cause us to rush a number of things.<\/p>\n In terms of the architectural design of the buildings, those are first drafts that we didn\u2019t even have time to properly critique and work through. They will evolve, and I think all of the projects are going to continue to get a lot better as we move through the process.<\/p>\n It\u2019s located just south of Steeles Avenue on Yonge Street. It\u2019s a two-building project. It will be mid-rise in nature. The renderings and the project details will come out shortly, but I think we\u2019re probably going to have the submission in by the end of January. There\u2019s just a couple of little things we\u2019re wrapping up on that. It should be public very soon.<\/p>\n A lot of it is just following city policy. Every neighbourhood has a different policy context and different requirements. Whenever we\u2019re looking at a new project, we\u2019re looking at those policies and trying to understand what the city is looking for and make sure that we\u2019re proposing something that is consistent with what the city is trying to achieve.<\/p>\n In the case of 15 Charles Street East<\/a>, there is an angled top which I think is beautiful and it\u2019s a really incredible design, but it\u2019s actually formed because of city policy. There\u2019s a 75-degree angular plane coming off of Yonge Street and the city wants buildings to fall underneath. So as a result of that policy, you have to taper the top of the building. In that case, the outcome is a really beautiful, interesting-looking skyscraper that I think will be very striking and dynamic in the skyline when it\u2019s built.<\/p>\n In cases like 2451 Dufferin Street<\/a>, there are neighbourhoods and other uses around the property, so we\u2019re trying to be sensitive to those. That\u2019s the reason our podium looks the way that it does or why the top of the tower tapers in a little bit. It\u2019s really just trying to follow the existing planning framework, and then in some cases, looking at what the future could be or should be given the needs of our city, where infrastructure exists, and where a higher and better use just makes sense.<\/p>\n In the case of 3 Swift Drive<\/a>, we\u2019re proposing two towers in a low- to mid-rise rental apartment neighbourhood, but the Crosstown LRT is in the midst of being completed right now so there\u2019s a huge amount of infrastructure that\u2019s just been invested in along this stretch. Our view is if we\u2019re going to invest in building housing, we should be trying to build it on infrastructure that\u2019s available, not waiting for infrastructure that may come 10 to 20 years from now. We\u2019re proposing a much more dense and ambitious vision for this area, but we think that as the area starts to take shape and other landowners start to look at what\u2019s possible, the whole area is going to change and we might be the catalyst for that. Ultimately, it\u2019s going to be this great community that\u2019s going to be connected to transit.<\/p>\n It doesn\u2019t have heritage designation, but we did think it was a beautiful character building. We just felt that it would make a lot of sense to include it as part of the application and it would help frame the project and create a transition to the neighbourhood to the north.<\/p>\n It\u2019s sitting on the north corner of the property. It\u2019s home right now to Pennies, which is a very successful establishment in the neighbourhood. The idea of keeping a use like that in a nice character building, we thought, would enhance the project. If you look at the rest of the architecture, we\u2019re trying to create a sense of transition from the north side of the property \u2014 where you\u2019d have predominantly low-rise housing and townhouses \u2014 towards the south end where you now have a 14-storey tower nearing approval. We are trying to create a sense of transition from the south end down to the north end. Keeping the existing building there was a good way to do that.<\/p>\n That one I\u2019d say, of all of the projects, we had the least amount of time to finish that one off. We really think that\u2019s a super-important location. It\u2019s so close to the centre of downtown. The Esplanade is a really beautiful street. So that\u2019s a project that we\u2019re going to spend a lot more energy trying to really get right.<\/p>\n We conveyed to the architects from the beginning that there is a project on the east side of the building that does not have a colonnade. It steps back and creates an open sidewalk condition. On the west side of the property, we have an existing tall building with a colonnade that was built when this hotel was built.<\/p>\n In designing our property, we thought it was important to create a transition between these two conditions. And so, what we did was remove the colonnade component, but maintain a covered walkway connection that will help make this side of The Esplanade more inviting to pedestrians. The design will evolve but that\u2019s the idea.<\/p>\n<\/a>Photo: Matt Young, Republic Developments<\/em><\/p>\nIn a recent post<\/a> to social media, you announced that Republic Developments has taken on six new developments, with five of those applications having been filed in the final weeks of December 2021. Why did you take on so many developments at once?<\/h3>\n
Can you give us some hints on what the sixth development application will entail?<\/h3>\n
Of the five property applications that have since gone public, they are pretty distinct in design. How do you decide what each project should look like and how they fit into the context of their neighbourhood?<\/h3>\n
<\/a>Rendering: 15 Charles Street East, Republic Developments<\/em><\/p>\nThe proposal for 111 Strachan Avenue has been getting a lot of attention. Why did you opt to keep the 1870s building in design, even though it\u2019s not designated as a heritage building?<\/h3>\n
The project proposal for 45 The Esplanade would redevelop the Novotel Toronto Centre. What was behind the decision to redesign the colonnade feature that defines this portion of The Esplanade?<\/h3>\n