By Hedy Korbee
One of the uglier stretches of Kingston Road is about to get a makeover as yet another condominium developer discovers the value of lakeside real estate in Birch Cliff.
The entire block of Kingston Rd. between Queensbury and Audrey Aves., now occupied by Alvand Auto Sales and the Eastwood Medical Centre, is slated to be torn down and replaced by an eight-storey mid-rise development with views of the Hunt Club golf course and Lake Ontario.
Adit Kumar, a partner at Infinity Development Group, said his company was attracted to the property by the spectacular view.
“We just fell in love with the view,” said Kumar. “It’s a one of a kind site. To have views like this in Toronto in such close proximity to downtown where you’re not looking into someone’s living room, you’re actually looking into lush green space, going into the lake – we just fell in love.”
Aerial photograph courtesy Infinity Development Group
This is what the proposed condo site looks like now:
Between $289K and $ 2 million
The 73-unit development will consist of 61 condos units as well as 12 two-story townhomes on the ground floor. They range in price from $289,00 for a 600 sq. ft. one-bedroom condo to $2,000,000 for a 2,000 sq. ft. penthouse.
The sales office for Residences at the Hunt Club opened last weekend and Kumar said the development is already one-third sold, including three of the five penthouses.
Similar to the condo development immediately to the west, Hunt Club Terrace, Kumar said the majority of their buyers so far are people from the community who want to remain in the Birch Cliff / Beach area.
“It’s not an investor product where you have downtown investors,” Kumar said. “It’s more of an end-user product where we have buyers in their 50’s saying I don’t want to live in a house anymore with the maintenance. I should move into a condo where there’s less upkeep that you have to do.”
Artist’s rendering courtesy of Infinity Development Group
Rezoning not necessary
Rezoning is not required for the new development as Kingston Rd. was zoned Commercial Residential in Feb. 2010 to allow for a mix of residential and retail uses, as recommended by the Kingston Road Revitalization Study.
Previously, most of the stretch from Victoria Park to Glen Everest was zoned Highway Commercial and Neighbourhood Commercial, which encouraged automotive shops and prohibited residential buildings.
As per the zoning requirements, Residences at the Hunt Club will be angled 45% on the north side of the building to prevent shadows from falling on neighbouring houses.
Kumar said Infinity Development Group has submitted a site plan to the City of Toronto and is in the process of making requested aesthetic changes.
Fourth condo project for Kingston Road
This latest development is the fourth condo project announced for Kingston Rd. in Birch Cliff/Cliffside in the last 20 months, (see here, here and here) and a sign, according to Ward 36 Councillor Gary Crawford, that revitalization is picking up steam.
Artist’s rendering of TAS DesignBuild condo proposed for Kingston Rd. & Blantyre
“With the old Alpine Hotel site opening up their sales office and construction slated for next year, development along the Kingston Road corridor is beginning to gain momentum. These types of proposed developments are the kind of residential and mixed small commercial that compliment our community so well,” Crawford said.
We’d love to hear your views on the condo craze on Kingston Rd – feel free to scroll down and leave a comment.
It’s like the march of the pengins…they just keep coming….has to happen….all things change…Eastwood Medical Centre is also going, former Jim’s Garage …I’m sure all those gas stations and other run down properties have either been assembled or are about to be bought up.
How long will it before a developer buys up the red bricks….the land is worth so much more than the revenues there…..and then the plaza across the street….big changes are coming….between the Quarry, Kingston Road, Danforth (hopefully someone will buy up and shut down that awful Pegasus Billiards and redevelop it).
Fifteen years from now….as we slip into our dotage…our kids will look at the old hood and hardly recognize it…between the infill single family homes, the second stories, the townhouses, the townhomes, the multi unit condos….and hopefully some interesting streetscapes….
Our responsibility to not necessarily to fight change….it has to happen …but to ensure its sustainable, compatible and adds both value and interest to our community. It doesn’t have to be big towers and it won’t be big box…we have a wonderful opportunity here to shape the future for the next 50 years at Birchcliff.
I agree Ian. I understand and respect the folks on Queensbury who are legitimately concerned that they now have two condos at the south end of the street and a proposed development to the north on Clonmore. I tried knocking on doors today but couldn’t find anybody home. It will be interesting to see if they comment here. But I think this is an important step forward in the revitalization of Birch Cliff that so many residents have wished for…for many years. Many, many people in the community participated in the revitalization study all those years ago. It all seemed like a pipe dream until about a year and a half ago and now things are starting to happen. The planning process at work…as it SHOULD work?
The one constant in life is change. Having had a practice on Kingston Rd for 20 years in Cliffside, I am encouraged by this trend.
In the 90’s, the big box stores overwhelmed the small businesses, and vacancies reached an all time high. This led to main floors on buildings that were zoned commercial being flipped into residential apartments. Not a good look, and not the most desirable of neighbours.
The City of Toronto approach has been to ignore any type of property standard and bylaw enforcement on Kingston Rd. The torch has now been passed to rezoning and development of Kingston Road to raise the standards so that the substandard will not stand out so much and must raise their bar.
It is my belief that the residential condo trend with main floor commercial zoning on Kingston Rd. will bring a new vitality to the Bluffs district, making it more of a destination versus a highway drive through.
There most certainly will be growing pains, but having experienced the lack of development over the years, I am quite confident that the trend is a friend.
Never a fan of condos especially the horrific ugly bemoths that have totally wrecked and altered downtown that you cant even recognize it anymore.
Moved to cliffside in 1990, moved around toronto/scarborough a bit, moved to another part of sw scarborough for a few years and then riverdale for the longest time. Came back recently and I am horrified how run down kingston road became. My mother would be floored how her idyllic little area became.
I have never seen such little regard for what is essentially just an extension of the beaches. the Beaches came very busy and hot property while Kingston rd. became a dump. Well its the residents fault for not having participating in their community, but instead ran home and lock their doors after work.
Cliffside kingston road is now full of low lifes, crackheads and druggies…you can thank the city for moving the downtown junkies here.
Fill it it some decent looking condos that are not too high, and some proper stores I say. Its an eye sore and most residents haven’t seem to find for the longest time. Scarborough gets the lack of regard and interest from city hall that it deserves…why? because the residents dont care.
just make it walkable like the beaches…its a beach area it should be walkable.
I DO CARE,I LIVE IN THE HEART OF CLIFFSIDE. I WENT TO A BIA THAT STARTED IN THE EARLY 2000″S. THERE WAS A LOT OF TALK, BUT YOU CAN ONLY DO SO MUCH WHEN LANDLORDS HANG ON TO THE MANY VACANT STOREFRONTS AND PROPERTIES ALONG KINGSTON RD WAITING FOR THE RIGHT AMOUNT OF CASH. SO I SAY BRING THE CONDOS BECAUSE WITH THE NEW ZONING THIS WILL HOPEFULLY BRING SOME NICE SHOPS TO THE AREA. I DON’T WANT TO ALWAYS HAVE TO LEAVE MY AREA TO SPEND MONEY. THIS WOULD ALSO LIVEN UP THE STREET WITH MORE FOOT TRAFFIC, THIS WOLD LESSEN UNSAVOURY CHARACTERS HANGING AROUND SINCS ITS PRETTY MUCH DEAD IN THE EVENINGS.