19-story student housing building proposal continues despite strong pushback from community

Community members came together on Oct. 16 to share concerns regarding the completion of a 19-storey, 746 room student rental building.

Photo of 333 College St. construction site taken by Sebastian Tansil

The City of Toronto is considering an application for a 19-storey, 746 room student rental tower located at 333 College St. in Kensington Market. The application from Parallax Development Corporation has received a lot of backlash from community members concerned about its affordability and location.

The community consultation, attended by Documenter Sebastian Tansil, happened virtually on Oct. 16 at 6 p.m. with 41 attendees. The Microsoft Teams call was chaired by Abraham Plunkett-Latimer and Hector Alonso — community planners from the City of Toronto. The goal was to allow residents to ask questions, as well as provide feedback on the student rental proposal.

Concerns have been raised regarding affordability, parking and green spaces, as well as the Kensington Market Heritage Conservation District (HCD) requirements. The apartment building will have no affordable units, zero resident parking spaces and has already been granted permission to bypass the HCD requirements.

Councillor Dianne Saxe acknowledged the tensions. Saxe said, “There are many issues that are important to people that are beyond our power to deal with . . . the Ford government, they control the Planning Act.” The Planning Act is what sets the rules for what they can or cannot do.

The Province of Ontario website says “The Planning Act (the Act) is provincial legislation that sets out the ground rules for land use planning in Ontario. It describes how land uses may be controlled, and who may control them.”

Stafford Lawson from Parallax, said the city is in a housing crisis — especially for students. He said there are only 15,000 dedicated student housing beds for the 350,000 enrolled university students.

Lawson said the project responds to the six issues emphasized in the recently approved City of Toronto Academic Housing Strategy:

Affordability
Limited on-campus housing
Poor housing quality and maintenance issues
Long commutes and transportation costs
Discrimination and accessibility barriers
Mental health and housing instability

Coun. Saxe said the Kensington Market Community Land Trust demanded that a portion of the proposed building units be affordable but that the Ford government has blocked the City from having the authority to do so.

The original 2017 proposal for the project anticipated the building to be 11-storeys with 140 residential units and 97 parking spaces. However, post-pandemic, that plan is no longer considered viable, according to Michael Goldberg, the founding principal of Goldberg Group.

Community members had varying reactions. Some of the 41 attendees were in favour of the proposal — citing the need for student housing during a housing crisis.

Others, such as Simon Tang, said the building is about optimization rather than addressing student housing needs. Tang said existing residents will feel boxed in by the building. He also stressed the importance of sunlight — saying construction of this rental building will prevent sunlight from reaching his home.

Another Kensington Market resident of 50 years said his main concern is the amount of park space following the building’s completion.

Dominique Russell, Kensington Market Community Land Trust co-director, said, “I want to start by congratulating the City for finding a format that gives all the appearances of being a public meeting without actually being a public meeting.”

She also said the project aims to “make money for the developer” and doesn’t truly fit the City of Toronto’s Academic Housing Strategy since it doesn’t even have affordable housing. Russell also asked why this proposal is allowed to override the Kensington Market Heritage Conservation District.

Moving forward, a statutory public meeting at the Toronto & East York Community Council will be held to provide community members opportunities to speak about the proposal. Community members can also contact Abraham Plunkett-Latimer abraham.plunkett-latimer@toronto.ca to ask questions or provide their thoughts on the plan.

Key takeaways

The City of Toronto is considering an application for a 19-storey, 746 room student rental tower located at 333 College St. in Kensington Market.
Concerns have been raised regarding affordability, parking spaces, green spaces and that the plan doesn’t meet theKensington Market Heritage Conservation District (HCD) requirements.
The apartment building will have no affordable units, zero resident parking spaces and has already been granted permission by the Ontario Land Tribunal to bypass the HCD requirements.

On-the-ground observations from our documenter

I have lived in Kensington Market since 2019 where I first moved into the neighbourhood as a graduate student at the University of Toronto. My main challenge as a graduate student who rented their primary residence was first and foremost affordability. The average shelter cost for renters in the neighbourhood has risen at a pace beyond my personal income growth. Statistics Canada Census profiles showed that the average gross rent in 2016 in the Kensington Market neighbourhood was $1078/month. That has risen drastically to $1618/month by 2021. The main obstacle I personally face in continuing to live in the neighbourhood isn’t a lack of amenities and social spaces, but a lack of certainty around affordability in my rent.
Two weeks ago, my neighbours at 38 Kensington Place say they were locked out of their properties and threatened with eviction by property management while the building is being put up for sale. I am reminded from this experience as a Kensington Market resident that affordability matters in protecting the character and live-ability of the neighbourhood.