9 condo towers, 6,000+ units planned for ill-fated Rail Deck Park site

Developers led by a businessman close to Premier Doug Ford want to build nine condo towers over a railway corridor in downtown Toronto, a site that former mayor John Tory envisioned as a kind of Central Park for the city. 

The plan, dubbed Rail Deck District, would see towers as high as 65 storeys on the rail corridor south of Front Street, between Blue Jays Way and Bathurst Street.

The developers are dangling the possibility that as much as half the property could become park land, but city officials are hinting the price tag could be too high.

"We're looking for more answers," said Ausma Malik, the city councillor for the downtown ward of Spadina-Fort York. "I'm fighting to get as much of this development as possible to be publicly accessible green space." 

The consortium of companies behind the plan is CKF Rail Development Ltd. Partnership. The lead company in CKF is Craft Development Corp., which purchased the air rights to build over the rail lines from CN Rail in 2013.  

CKF's plans are for nine condo towers ranging from 20 to 65 storeys, with a total of 6,126 residential units. The project's two tallest towers would be higher than the tallest office tower in The Well, the new development just north of the rail lines, on the former site of the Globe and Mail. 

The plan comes two years after Tory's dreams of turning the entire site into Rail Deck Park were dashed in 2021 by a ruling from the province's Local Planning Appeal Tribunal (now called the Ontario Land Tribunal). 

That decision required the city to consider a development proposal for the site.

"An unelected, unaccountable provincial tribunal made a ruling that allowed for development to happen here," said Malik during an interview on the pedestrian bridge that crosses the rail lines.

Last year, CKF presented what it called the Rail Deck Reset: 11 towers, with the tallest exceeding 70 storeys. 

Rail Deck could get a park after all

City officials said they had "fundamental concerns" about that plan, and the developers unveiled a revision this spring, with two fewer towers and more space between them. 

The developers are now proposing to give the city 1.2 hectares in roughly the centre of the seven-hectare site to be a park.  

The developers are also floating the idea that two other parcels of land (totalling another 2.3 hectares) at either end of that park could be a "potential city-owned park expansion.". 

If that happens, the city would have an unbroken stretch of green space from Spadina Ave. to Bathurst St. covering roughly half the rail deck site. 

Cost to taxpayers unclear

What's unclear is how much it would cost taxpayers to obtain all that parkland.   

Andrea Bake, a senior project manager for the City of Toronto, told a recent virtual town hall meeting that the two expansion parcels "aren't free," but gave no indication of what the price could be. 

"We are trying to figure out how much the city can put into this to make the park as large as possible," Bake said.   

The developers aren't revealing the price tag publicly either.

"The ultimate size, configuration and financial contributions for construction of the public park remains subject to further discussion and coordination between the city and the Rail Deck District team," says a document on the developer's website dated March 27.

Drew Sinclair of SvN Architects & Planners, which leads the master planning for Rail Deck District on behalf of the developers, says the park costs are still to be determined. 

"The ability for the city to develop park in the future, what we're calling the opportunity lands, is really subject to negotiations ongoing now," said Sinclair in an interview. 

There's evidence suggesting the price would almost certainly run into the hundreds of millions of dollars. 

In 2020, before the tribunal ruling, Craft Developments president Robert Sabato made public an offer to sell the city the airspace rights for the park portion of the site for $340 million. Sabato described that price as "substantially less than fair market value" in a letter to the city. 

The city's estimated budget for turning the entire site into Rail Deck Park exceeded $1.6 billion. 

"The costs associated with delivery of a deck and park are pretty significant," said Sinclair. "I think when the city advanced the notion that a park could exist here, it came with its logistical challenges." 

Malik, the local councillor, says the current proposal from the developers "would leave the door open" for a park that stretches all the way across the southern portion of the site but admits there is no guarantee. 

"I'm committed to fighting for the most affordable and livable and green district that we can get," Malik said 

CBC News requested an interview with a representative from CKF Rail Development Ltd. Partnership, which includes Craft Developments, Kingsmen Group Inc, Fengate Asset Management, LiUNA Pension Fund and Innovia Corp. 

A spokesperson said the developers are not doing interviews at this time.

Craft's co-founder, president and CEO is Carmine Nigro. Over the past four years, Ford has appointed Nigro to be chairman of the LCBO, chair of the Ontario Place board of directors and a board member of Invest Ontario — a new agency promoting investment in the province. 

Nigro has also served as vice president of the PC Ontario Fund, the fundraising arm of the Progressive Conservative Party. He was seated at Ford's table for the premier's daughter's wedding reception last summer. 

A spokesperson for Ford declined an opportunity to comment.   

Proposal could change before going to city council

Residents of some condominiums on Front Street just east of Spadina are not pleased with the part of the project that would put a hotel and three residential towers of 20, 40 and 65 storeys over the rail lines immediately south of them. 

"It would be nice all dedicated to park, since that was the original proposal [by the city], or lower buildings," said Palma Ottaviani, a member of the board for the Matrix condominiums.   

The developers' proposal currently calls for 30 per cent of the residential units to be two-bedroom condos and another 10 per cent as three-bedroom. 

The project includes a commitment to meet whatever affordable housing requirements the city sets as part of its new inclusionary zoning framework, which could mean anywhere from five to 10 per cent of units being priced below market. 

Sinclair said the developers' vision is "to try to create something that responds to the greatest needs in the city today, which are housing, obviously, community infrastructure and parkland." 

Meanwhile, the proposal that's currently before the city planning department could be revised before it gets submitted to city council. 

"What you see today is plastic," Sinclair told the town hall meeting in April. "It can still be molded."