Sidewalk Labs Reveals Housing Projects in Quayside Neighborhood, Waterfront

Sidewalk Labs unveiled on Thursday a proposed site plan for its technology-focused Toronto waterfront neighborhood, saying that a large portion of condos and rental housing will be affordable.

The site plan contemplates 12 buildings, none of which exceed 30 floors, each with a combination of residential units at the top and retail stores below.

Sidewalk, a sister company of Google, is a Manhattan-based company specializing in urban innovation.

His project would be built on a 12-acre parcel of land at Queens Quay and Parliament Street, Quayside.

Nearly 70% of the project would be residential. It will be divided approximately 50-50 between condos and rental units built for this purpose, for a total of 2,500 units.

About 5,000 people will live there if the project is built, a process that would take three to five years after approvals.

Forty per cent of dwellings would be "below market housing", which would be broken down as follows:

• A total of 20% affordable rents, 5% of which is "very affordable", is less than the average market rent of the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation for the Greater Toronto Area. (The average for a unit of a bedroom, using this measure, is $ 1,202 per month).

• 15% of "mid-range" rents (100 to 150% of average market rent)

• Five percent share-based purchases for middle-income households unable to pay the total down payment for a condo.

Critics quickly responded to the announcement.

Julie Di Lorenzo, developer from Toronto, who resigned from the Waterfront Toronto board of directors, believing that Waterfront Toronto's partnership with Sidewalk Labs on the Quayside project is not in the best interest of society and Canada, questioned Sidewalk's comments on the affordability of housing. .

"How will this be subsidized? Does our government receive subsidies or use the property value of Quayside to subsidize housing?

"If the property value of Quayside is used to subsidize land value, it's the choice and contribution of our governments – not Sidewalk," said Di Lorenzo in an email to the Star.

But Mayor John Tory welcomed the proposal.

"I am determined to build more housing in Toronto to help address affordability issues," said Tory, who said Quayside plans for 20 percent affordable housing and 20 percent middle-income housing. are "encouraging".

In a statement, Toronto waterfront spokesperson Andrew Tumilty said the company was pleased to see Sidewalk's "serious attention to sustainability and affordability" in its plan for the future. 39; implantation.

"Both goals have been critical for Waterfront Toronto early on in this process," he added.

The site plan also states that the entire building community should be built from solid wood, which should help reduce construction costs, says Sidewalk. The maximum height allowed for wooden buildings is 30 floors.

The project will have a minimum of parking and will prioritize walking, transit and cycling, said Sidewalk's administrators.

"Torontonians want more affordable housing, faster ways to get around the city, safer streets for pedestrians and cyclists, a cleaner, healthier environment. That's what we want to do in creating this new neighborhood, "said Jesse Shapins, director of the public domain of Sidewalks, in a statement.

Sidewalk would not estimate the cost of building the project, but said more than 9,000 "direct and indirect jobs" would be created.

The site plan will be similar to the final plans included in a draft master plan for innovation and development that Sidewalk hopes to develop for the spring.

The master plan will be approved by Waterfront Toronto, a partner of the Sidewalk project, which is planned for a parcel of land called Quayside, near Queens Quay and Parliament Street.

The final master plan will likely also require approval from other levels of government, but a lengthy process involving public participation, as well as the Waterfront Toronto Digital Agenda Advisory Committee and other interested parties must be given priority.

For months, the project has provoked controversy and controversy over Sidewalk's plans to collect "urban data" from areas in and around the Quayside site.

Sidewalk wants to use the data to "improve the quality of life" for residents of the Quayside site, but critics worry that the data will not be commercialized or that people's privacy will be violated.

To address these concerns, the company has developed a long-term "Digital Governance Proposal", which advocates trust in non-arm's length civic data, which would set clear rules for privacy and data collection.

Donovan Vincent is a housing journalist based in Toronto. Follow him on Twitter: @donovanvincent