Toronto and Ottawa have broken ground on the construction of a $223 million, 26-storey rental building, the first of 11 in the final two phases of the nearly 20-year revitalization of Regent Park.
The federal government will contribute $86 million for the project from the Affordable Housing Fund, said Evan Solomon, Minister of Artificial Intelligence and the area’s MP at Monday’s announcement at the Gerrard St. E. and Dreamers Way building site.
In her remarks, Mayor Olivia Chow referenced the song “Ali” by musician Mustafa, who grew up in Regent Park public housing, about his friend Ali Rizeig, an 18-year-old shot and killed in 2017 on his doorstep in the neighbourhood.
“It reminds us of the powerful connection between the design of a community and the young people who grow up in it,” Chow said. “Despite adversity … hope has prevailed in Regent Park.”
The city is providing $50.7 million in funding and Toronto Community Housing Corporation is chipping in $82.5 million.
The TCHC building will have 136 rent-geared-to-income homes as well as 135 additional rentals at more affordable prices, including family-sized units, and is expected to be ready for occupancy in 2029.
Lead developer, Tridel, has committed to providing $26.8 million in ”community benefits” for the final two revitalization phases, the largest cash amount in Canadian history for a residential development, TCHC CEO Sean Baird said Monday.
The final two phases will be stickhandled by Tridel and are collectively expected to include more than 3,400 homes over five distinct development blocks.
TCHC originally submitted its application to the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp. in November 2024 for Building 4A, according to a city hall report in January 2025.
At that time, construction was to begin by the spring of 2025 and be completed in 2028. Site preparation began in December 2025, with $7 million in funding from the province.
Regent Park revitalization began in 2006 on the south side of the neighbourhood, and has been slowly replacing old social housing buildings with a new, mixed-income community.
The first three phases were steered by the Daniels Corporation, producing about 6,000 units of housing.
The early phases overlapped with a red-hot real estate market in Toronto using private market condos to help cover the costs of replacing affordable housing.
The final two stages, however, must navigate a more challenging development climate — where new home sales and condo prices have plunged.
The final phases have also contended with other hurdles, including a city hall planning problem that had allowed Tridel to build too close to a key component of the city’s sewer infrastructure. This meant having to build even taller, denser building.
The final phases of the revitalization are expected to include the new homes as well as a new library branch and retail space along Gerrard Street.
