Downtown artists prove to be masters in the art of the deal
John Barber, The Globe & Mail
How 'bout those crazy artists? While the MBA'ed uptowners squawk helplessly about uncontrolled development, the downtown artists just won the richest package of public benefits any residential development has ever coughed up in return for a building permit in Toronto. Who knew the self-proclaimed "creative class" was so hard-nosed?
There are almost enough goodies built into this otherwise ordinary deal for condo projects near Queen Street West and Dufferin Street to justify the orgy of self-congratulation it produced at city hall yesterday. Politicians, artists, planners and even the developer himself gathered to praise what one called a "historic moment" and another hailed as "a watershed moment in our evolution as a creative city."
It's a complicated arrangement that grew from the initiative of two non-profit organizations - Toronto Artscape and Active 18, a Queen West community group – after official plans for the site ground to the usual stalemate at the Ontario Municipal Board.
The multiple benefits, including affordable studios, the creation of a new performance space and a new park, have a cash value of more than $20-million. Not a bad haul from two buildings, the highest of which is 18 storeys.
Well might the uptowners wince when reminded of their gains from the controversial settlement that approved the Minto towers at Yonge and Eglinton, the shortest of which is 38 storeys. As another influential group with the power to transform local zoning battles into citywide causes, the North Toronto professionals not only failed to cut the development down to size, they gained a mere $1-million in local benefits - a smattering of affordable housing none of them asked for.
The contrast is stark but the moral of the story, if any, is more nuanced.
One might suppose that such benefits are like any other rents: When demand is high, they go up; when it slackens, they plummet. The best evidence comes from new neighbourhoods approved at the low point of the cycle, like City Place in the early 1990s and Harbourfront a decade earlier, conceived when development of any kind was welcomed as its own reward.
With mid-cycle projects like the Minto towers, developers increase the quality and begin to dole out goodies. When they start competing for scarce new sites, big-name architects abound and public benefits flow freely.
But market-based analysis only goes so far in that judicial casino operated by the Queen's Park mob and known as the Ontario Municipal Board. Uncomfortably for them, Active 18 and the "creative class" didn't win their case entirely on its merits. They also won big at the quasi-judicial craps table.
The OMB inadvertently tipped the odds in the public's favour with its initial, noquestions-asked approval of the Queen Triangle development. The decision was so contemptuous of city policy a Superior Court judge ultimately quashed it, after a long, expensive struggle. Stalemated by a real court, the developer decided to negotiate rather than try his luck again.
But anything can happen in that joint. Consider the little-known proposal for a 34-storey tower on the south side of King Street, east of Spadina, which the OMB just approved despite city's most strenuous objections and dearest policies. Some guy used to collect a few thousand dollars a month renting his little plot to a muffler shop. Now he, his assigns and successors are all zillionaires, courtesy of one quick trip to the casino.
And there are no little side deals eating up the winnings. They are 100 per cent exempt from municipal taxes in any form.
The significance of yesterday's victory is symbolic, demonstrating not only the city's commitment to downtown artists but also a new, co-operative way to work around crazy casino planning. This way, everybody wins.
