For the second time in the past seven days, a high-profile high-rise project in Toronto has been made available for purchase by the developer, in what's likely a reflection of the uncertainty around overall market conditions.
Last week, the 49-storey project set for 736 Bathurst Street by ONE Development was listed for sale, as first reported by STOREYS, and this week it's the 69-storey project set for 135 Isabella Street.
The property, located about half a block southeast from the headquarters of Rogers Communications at 333 Bloor Street East, is currently occupied by a nine-storey rental building with 80 units, with replacement units to be provided in the new development.
The application was submitted to the City of Toronto in June 2023, with the developers proposing a 69-storey building with 770 units, which was increased earlier this year to 814 units, consisting of 267 studio units, 248 one-bedroom units, 218 two-bedroom units, and 81 three-bedroom units, plus 23 parking spaces, according to a project data sheet dated February 2024.
In the original application, the owner-developer of the project was only identified as 1000355933 Ontario Inc., with planning firm Bousfield serving as their representative. However, since then, documents dated June 2024 submitted to the City of Toronto as part of the developer's rental housing demolition application have named KingSett Capital as the owner and detailed KingSett's efforts towards communicating with the building tenants.
However, despite the demolition application ultimately being approved on June 26, 135 Isabella Street was recently listed for sale by RBC Capital Markets Real Estate Group, who said they are "pleased to offer for sale a 100% interest in 135 Isabella Street."
"Located in a prime residential node along Isabella Street between Jarvis Street and Sherbourne Street in Downtown Toronto, 135 Isabella benefits from superior transit access, with Sherbourne Station on the TTC's BloorDanforth Line only a 6-minute walk north, and Wellesley Station on the TTC's Yonge-University line only a 10-minute walk west," said RBC.
- Address: 135 Isabella Street, Toronto
- Lot Size: 0.58 acre
- Frontage: 180 ft
- Price: Unpriced
- Listed By: RBC Capital Markets Real Estate Group (Nurit Altman, David Tweedie, Colm Kenny)
Ground-level view of 135 Isabella Street. / BDP Quadrangle, KingSett Capital.
RBC also mentions the submarket's strong condo and rental market as one of the property's selling points.
"The submarket commands some of Toronto's strongest condo pricing, with active project pre-sales averaging $1,622 psf," said RBC. "The Yonge and Wellesley neighbourhood is also a sought-after node for renters with new-build properties in the surrounding vicinity achieving ~$4.50 psf rents with limited new supply and strong occupancy."
They also note that the project, designed by BDP Quadrangle, has received zoning approval and that the zoning "allows for flexibility in suite design and overall unit mix" and "offers adequate scale to integrate the required rental replacement units into the new development," with the existing building continuing to provide holding income.
STOREYS reached out to KingSett Capital for comment on their decision to move on from the project, but a representative of KingSett declined to comment.
