In Toronto’s Tony Forest Hill neighborhood is a dilapidated, century-old apartment block.
Its dark wooden doors are surrounded by stately stone arches, but the panes inside them are missing or broken, with shards of glass sticking out and open pieces lined with plywood.
For more than a decade, the complex has been vacant like this at 467 Spadina Rd. – and inside, says the newest owner, the skeleton from its previous life is like an apartment building of 17 units, with framing and fireplaces for the old two-bedroom still visible.
That was what Avi Glina, founder of real estate investment firm SpiceCart, which bought the building last year, wanted to return it for.
But due to an interrupted but city-approved plan by a previous owner to convert the plot into two semi-detached houses, the Toronto Building no longer legally considers it an apartment building. And the city’s current rules say nothing larger than a duplex can be built on the site today, meaning SpiceCart would need special exemptions to recreate the apartment units.
In the midst of a city-wide housing crisis, as officials and staff have outlined several proposals to increase housing supply, City Councilman Josh Matlow laments the fact that the large downtown property “serves rats instead of humans.”
SpiceCart applied to bend the rules, supported by Matlow and city staff, but as time went on and the value of single-family homes in Toronto increased, Glina says they found themselves rethinking their plans. The company postponed a hearing in August and recently put the property back on the market.
“I’m an apartment man. I like having apartments,” Glina said. But, he added, “if we wanted to do things like the houses that I could start on tomorrow, it’s starting to make more sense … that we just have to stop fighting and hit the wall to get apartments. “
No one seems quite sure when the original complex was built. When it was entered in the city’s cultural heritage register, an estimate landed between 1913 and 1924. The property, which has the name “Monticito” carved into its stone, has been home to a selection of tenants over the years; a library from 1960 shows among the inhabitants a professional skater and university lecturer.
It was last rented out in 2006, according to city documents, with a mix of mid-range and affordable units. An owner in the early 2010s initially proposed increasing the number of units to 31, but revised after a public consultation the space to build two semi-detached houses instead.
To scrap the old rental housing in favor of the new plan, the owner promised to offer eight townhouse rentals east of the Don River – two affordable units and six with mid-range rentals. While the plan was green-lighted by the city in 2014, with staff confirming that the eight units have since been maintained as promised, the Forest Hill redevelopment plan was eventually abandoned.
Years later, the dilapidated brick building Glina and SpiceCart caught the eye.
“My passion has always been historic buildings,” Glina said. “I really lean towards the kind of buildings that may have been left to rot, and figure out what to do.”
He had expected the Spadina property to be a more complicated project given its age and history. But he says his team was hoping to start construction soon after their purchase and that they were not necessarily aware of all the work it would take to turn it back into an apartment building.
While urban planning staff believe the complex was originally built legally, today’s planning rules would not allow it on the site. Because the building preceded the rules, it was given an exception known as “legally non-compliant status” – meaning it could remain as long as the site was “continuously used” as an apartment building. The same exceptions have been given to old churches and corner shops in various Toronto neighborhoods.
However, making a major alteration to a building that is not in compliance with the law risks losing its protected status. In this case, the staff of the Toronto Building believe that the complex ceased to be an apartment building due to “substantial” construction work during the previous effort to make it two single-family homes.
While SpiceCart in an application to the Toronto Adaptation Committee argued that the property had never actually been used as anything other than an apartment building, staff are now pointing to updated zoning rules that allow a maximum of two residential units on the property.
That two-unit ceiling was imposed on the zoning area around the Spadina building – a piece of land just a few blocks wide – sometime after it was built, despite the city currently having zoning rules designed to allow apartment buildings in the same. area. Any new development will also have to meet other urban requirements, from setbacks to parking.
Both Matlow and the town planning department had expressed support for SpiceCart’s range of customization applications and supported the idea of returning the complex to its original use.
“This is an opportunity to introduce more housing to this neighborhood through interior alterations to an existing building,” said community planning director Oren Tamir in an email.
Although Tamir told Star that there were no unusual delays with SpiceCart’s sample application, Glina expressed frustration over what he described as “internal bureaucracy.”
He believes the city’s different rules can make it “difficult” to build or restore rental apartments – but sympathizes with Matlow’s frustration at seeing the property stand unused for years.
“We’re really just trying to figure out what’s our best move forward,” he said.
Matlow simply hopes that the site can be brought back into “habitable” condition and inhabited after many years on the table.
“For the benefit of the neighborhood, and to get a residential building back on the market, I would like something to happen going forward there,” Matlow said.
“Having this building stood abandoned and away from the housing market is unacceptable,” he said.
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