A sunny, street-facing balcony off the master bedroom in one of the newly completed rental suites at Gerrard and Main streets is the perfect spot for a future tenant to get a low-tech update on transit.
“You can see what’s going on: where’s the streetcar?” said builder Rolf Paloheimo with a grin, poking his head out.
This kind of detail, designed to make the experience of living in the space better, is rare in the city’s new housing stock, which for years has been dominated by concrete shoebox condos aimed at investors.
The unit is one of 10 built across two attached fourplexes and two laneway homes where previously there was just one single-family house. It’s part of the “missing middle” or “gentle density” in planning speak — larger, more family-friendly units in lowrise buildings — that Toronto desperately needs.
But, even with new rules that are supposed to make this kind of housing more straightforward to build, it won’t be easy to greenlight similar projects in the future.
As the project was under construction, city council voted to allow multiplex housing across the city. Prior to this, roughly 70 per cent of Toronto’s residential land was zoned only for single-family homes, creating a city characterized by single-family houses and skyscrapers, with few options in between.
The spirit of the new rules was to allow European-style housing like the Gerrard Street East project. But as part of the policy, the city has interpreted two attached fourplexes as an apartment building.
“This could be the only building like this,” said Jacob Rothberg, who, along with his father and Paloheimo, is a partner with P & R Developments, which built and owns the units.
It’s “very frustrating” added Rothberg. “What we’ve done here is build what everybody wants, except it seems like inside of the city, whoever interprets the rules has decided to build a barrier.”
The team’s project, which required demolishing the red brick house on the site, fit into the city’s existing planning rules at the time. The large lot was a rare find as the zoning didn’t specify what kind of home could be built there.
The one aspect that did require committee of adjustment approval was severing of the original lot into two.
That brought the neighbourhood out “with pitchforks,” said Paloheimo. The team went to the Toronto Local Appeal Body to overturn the committee of adjustment’s original denial of their request. The appeal body ruled in November 2021 that they could go ahead.
A city spokesperson confirmed in an email that two attached fourplexes, like those at 2165 Gerrard St. E., would now technically qualify as an apartment building — which may not be permitted in certain residential zones and or have additional zoning requirements.
That means more red tape for builders, who would need to seek special approval.
Staff will “address this alongside other findings as part of the Multiplex Monitoring report which is scheduled to go to committee and council in June,” the spokesperson added.
Because every inch counts, said Cheryl Atkinson, the architect, having to separate the two fourplexes would unnecessarily cost valuable space.
There is no parking on site, which is steps from the streetcar and a short walk to Main Street subway station. This was a big concern for the community, along with the preservation of an oak tree at the back, which the team managed to keep. One of the two laneway suites now faces it.
The fourplexes, sandwiched between more traditional Toronto single-family homes, bring a touch of modernity to the street, but are similar in scale.
They also have a green environmental footprint, using “the absolute minimum concrete,” Paloheimo said, as well as cellulose insulation. Paloheimo has long been in the green building space, and this project has been dubbed the “Gerrard street healthy house.” He built an original award-winning off-grid home in the late ‘90s.
There’s no gas or air conditioning. The main source of heat is heat pumps, and there are “European-style windows” with “good seals around them,” added Atkinson.
They don’t come cheap. The laneway homes rent for over $5,000 a month and the fourplex units (two three-bedrooms and two two-bedroom-plus-dens) start at $3,000 a month.
But the team hopes there’s some room for the city planners to understand the value of this kind of project. They are less expensive to build than condos and large apartment buildings, said Paloheimo, as lobbies and elevators aren’t needed.
The lots already have services such hydro and sewers, and are near existing schools, parks and transit, Atkinson added. As opposed to sprawling developments where those amenities need to be built.
The 506 Carlton streetcar is a main character at the property, rolling by outside the wide windows of the ground level suite.
But you can’t hear much of the street.
Inside the thick walls make the unit a fortress, with planned gardens for even more privacy. There are accents of sunny yellow paint and the kitchens, with deep blue islands, are big enough to entertain in.
The units are spacious (by Toronto standards at least) at about 1,300 square feet for the two laneway homes and roughly 800 to 950 square feet for the fourplex units — they’re supposed to be big enough for families and pets.
The city doesn’t have enough places for them, said Atkinson, as outside the window a 30-something man walked by with two dogs on leashes and a baby strapped to his chest.
This has led to the emptying out of downtown neighbourhoods as families seek more space outside of the city.
“What’s being offered are investment-size condos. That’s what funds all of these highrise developments. They have to make them small enough that people can afford them and they use them as an investment vehicle rather than to live in,” Atkinson added.
“The minute (people) get a partner or they decide to have a child it gets really hard to find places to live in the city.”
Two of Paloheimo’s own adult children left Toronto, in part because of housing costs.
He’s now trying to build the type of places that could keep younger people like them around.
“I grew up in Rosedale and we used to have kids playing hockey in the streets,” he recalled.
“But now it’s mostly oligarchs and seniors.”
