Toronto residents want Archdiocese and developer to reconsider Yonge and Eglinton condo project

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Ontario Construction News staff writer

A group of residents want the Archdiocese of Toronto and developer Collecdev to reconsider plans to incorporate a four-storey church building into a 44-storey, 398-unit condo at Yonge Street and Eglinton Avenue in Toronto.

Called the Republic Residentsโ€™ Association, the group includes residents from 25 Broadway Ave., 70 Roehampton Ave., North Toronto Collegiate Institute (NTCI) students, parents and staff and people living in buildings adjacent to the high school.

Itโ€™s one of 12 neighbourhood associations that have asked Municipal Affairs and Housing Minister Steve Clark to visit the area that they argue was impacted by the provincial governmentโ€™s decision to overturn a city plan called Midtown in Focus. They say that plan would have โ€œkept development in check.โ€

In a letter to Catholic archbishop Thomas Cardinal Collins, the residentsโ€™ association claims the archdiocese is promoting โ€œanother excessively large condominium towerโ€ that would โ€œcontribute to the degradation of the community.โ€

Their โ€œshock and dismayโ€ has been compounded by comments published in The Catholic Register quoting a church official who said, โ€œThe more height at St. Monicaโ€™s the more money we make.โ€

According to Collecdevโ€™s website, the development at 44 Broadway, designed by KPMB Architects, is the result of an โ€œexciting partnership between the Catholic community, represented by the Archdiocese of Toronto and St. Monicaโ€™s Roman Catholic Church, and two of Torontoโ€™s most respected names in development, KPMB Architects and Collecdev Inc.โ€

The website project description explains how St. Monicaโ€™s Parish and the Archdiocese of Toronto โ€œset out to pursue the redevelopment of the church in a manner that would provide a new home for the parish and ensure continued service to the community for generations to come.โ€

St. Monicaโ€™s Roman Catholic Church has been a beacon of the North Toronto neighbourhood for over a century, and the redevelopment plans at 44 Broadway โ€œwill ensure that the site continues to act as a cornerstone for the Yonge & Eglinton community.โ€

The developer says the proposed design integrates a strong civic presence with a contemporary expression of faith and a 44-storey residential tower that will contribute to the growing demand for housing in one of the cityโ€™s largest growth nodes.

โ€œTogether, we will create a place that not only preserves and integrates the spirit of St. Monicaโ€™s, but reinterprets the notion of community for the modern age.โ€

The Yonge-Eglinton Urban Growth Centre is the densest in Ontarioโ€™s Greater Golden Horseshoe, exceeding the 2017 provincial growth plan targets by more than 50 per cent, she said.

Toronto City Councillor Jaye Robinson has asked the developer to reconsider the application, because โ€œYonge-Eglinton is at a breaking point.โ€ with constant construction, overcapacity schools, overcrowded transit and a parks and green space deficit.

Development applications approved but not yet constructed could more than double the current population.

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