TAS Driving Impact-led City Building through Housing Innovation
TORONTO, July 22, 2022 – Toronto’s first entirely live/work purpose-built rental building is coming to the rapidly changing Dupont Corridor, celebrating the heritage of Dupont Street with a commitment to positively impacting the future of the city. Toronto City Council has approved the redevelopment of 888 Dupont Street, putting in motion plans for the site to once again serve as an iconic gathering place for creatives and the community.
The project includes 155 purpose-built rental apartments zoned for live/work as well as ground-floor adaptable multi-use spaces for gatherings, exhibits and markets in a new environmentally sustainable building. A housing innovation that flexibly integrates designated workspace into living spaces, 888 Dupont Street helps address affordability by eliminating the cost of maintaining multiple spaces for work or operating a business and home.
“TAS is committed to honouring and expanding the creative energy and vibrant mix of uses historically found along the Dupont Corridor and at 888 Dupont Street, creating the conditions for over a hundred creative professionals, artists and entrepreneurs to live, work and connect under one roof,” said Mazyar Mortazavi, President and CEO of TAS.
Bringing together commercial and residential uses, 888 Dupont Street will include over 2,300 square feet of commercial community space. The project also includes improvements to the local streetscape and urban life, including wider sidewalks and new open spaces along Dupont and Ossington as well as the preservation and relocation of the well-loved chimney stack to a more prominent location along Ossington Avenue.
“We appreciate the company’s commitment to redeveloping 888 Dupont Street as a location where the creative community can continue to live and work together at this site,” said Oliver Pauk, Director at Akin, a Toronto-based arts organization that provides creative studio space and arts-based programming.
The project builds on local creative energy by adding much-needed live/work spaces in the form of rental apartments with approximately 10% affordable units, translating to 20 affordable live-work units – a direct response to the affordability challenges faced by Torontonians and feedback received from the local community during extensive focus group meetings and community consultations in 2019 and 2020. Key findings from this process are summarized in a User Perspective Map.
“WoodGreen Community Services is pleased to partner with TAS to provide affordable units,” said Mwarigha, Vice President Housing and Homelessness Services at WoodGreen Community Services. “We look forward to continuing our collaboration with TAS to find new ways to tackle our city’s affordable housing challenges.”
The new environmentally sustainable building will deliver 166,850 square feet over 14 storeys and will aim to achieve Toronto Green Standards v3 Tier 2 and will encourage active transportation through robust infrastructure for cyclists and car-sharing.
More information about the redevelopment plan for 888 Dupont Street is available online.
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ABOUT TAS
TAS is an unconventional impact company that uses real estate as a tool to drive profit and purpose. An industry leader in impact real estate, TAS has an active pipeline and portfolio totaling over six million square feet across 21 properties throughout the Greater Toronto and Hamilton Area. Join us by visiting tasimpact.ca and follow our journey on LinkedIn, Instagram, and Twitter.
Media contact:
Camara Miller, camara.miller@tasimpact.ca
ABOUT AKIN
Akin Projects is a registered nonprofit that provides artists and creatives with the support they need for creative production and development of their careers to benefit and enhance the communities where they work and live.
Our studios across Toronto provide a working environment that maintains a friendly and inspiring atmosphere where people can work on creative endeavors and entrepreneurial undertakings of all kinds. We build community through a variety of programming including workshops, open studio events, gallery tours, exhibitions, as well as various other art projects.
Media contact
Yasmeen Nematt Alla, yasmeen@akincollective.com
ABOUT WOODGREEN COMMUNITY SERVICES
WoodGreen is one of Toronto’s largest social service agencies, serving 40,000 people each year. We offer over 75 programs and services tackling the social determinants that affect the health and well-being of individuals in our community. With just over 1,000 affordable housing units, WoodGreen is also one of the largest community sector providers for the hard to house population in Toronto.
Media contact
Eric Mariglia, emariglia@woodgreen.org, 437-236-3417
