TCHC’s Don Summerville community revitalization one step closer to completion
Toronto Mayor Olivia Chow and Ward 14 City Councillor Paula Fletcher attend "topping off" event
TCHC President and CEO Sean Baird and TCHC staff are joined by Toronto Mayor Olivia Chow, Ward 14 City Councillor Paula Fletcher, and Howard Cohen of Context Development at the Don Summerville revitalization site.
An important milestone took place at Toronto Community Housing Corporation’s (TCHC) Don Summerville revitalization in May. The "topping off" event brought together Mayor Olivia Chow, Councillor Paula Fletcher (Ward 14), TCHC President and CEO Sean Baird and developer partner Howard Cohen of Context Development to sign the final slab of concrete placed on TCHC's new rental building. This ‘topping off’ ceremony is a tradition on construction sites and means the building is ready to be fully enclosed and is one step closer to completion.
TCHC’s revitalization of the Don Summerville community, in the Leslieville/Beaches area, began in 2018. Tenants were relocated from the two, mid-century buildings on the 3.3-acre site in 2020. Construction started in 2021 and is expected to complete by the end of 2025.
“The Don Summerville construction project is the type of city-building project Toronto needs right now to address our ongoing housing crisis,” said Mayor Chow. “I’m excited to see TCHC tenants getting newly built homes, and I’m equally excited to see the mix of housing in this development, including affordable housing, market rental units, and condo units. This is the kind of solution we need more of.”
Councillor Fletcher agreed with Mayor Chow, adding: “I’m very proud to see the progress at Don Summerville. I spearheaded adding 100 new affordable apartments alongside the beautiful new TCHC replacement apartments which I’m sure returning tenants will be very happy with. I look forward to welcoming everyone who will move into this amazing project at Queen and Coxwell.”
According to Context Development’s Principal Howard Cohen, the Don Summerville revitalization is a unique project in Canada right now: “As far as I can tell, this is the only purpose-built mixed housing community that includes Rent-Geared-to-Income (RGI) units, affordable rental units, market rental units, and condominiums.”
Don Summerville is one of a dozen TCHC revitalization projects. Six are active revitalization projects while another six have already been completed.
“TCHC is a proud city-builder,” said TCHC’s President and CEO Sean Baird. “We’re pleased to reach this key milestone with our developer partners Context and RioCan. Everyone involved in this project should be very pleased with the tremendous progress they’ve made. We’re one step closer to more purpose-built RGI rental units for our tenants as well as more affordable rental options for all Torontonians.”
Learn more about the Don Summerville revitalization.
Hear more from our CEO Sean Baird who was on hand for the celebration.
