471 Richmond

A settlement is close

7/3/2021

As hoped, both parties to this LPAT case continued to communicate and the May hearing was not required after all.
Revised architectural plans were produced and concessions were made, most notably retention of the facade of the heritage building at 38 Camden.
According to Ann Marie Strapp, who was a Participant on behalf of the Starwood building, there are still outstanding items:

On June 9th, LPAT gave approval in-principle to the Settlement Agreement reached between the City and Manga Hotels. All stipulations that were outlined in the City Council's March decision must be met prior to actual rezoning, and a progress report on them is to be issued in 6 months.

The developer’s legal council articulates those stipulations in a letter HERE.

Case Management Conference

10/30/2020

As scheduled the Case Management Conference was held on October 5, 2021, a record of which can be found HERE. Parties and participants were identified and broad issues were articulated. Both parties expressed interest in continued dialogue and a second CMC was scheduled for December as well as the actual hearing on May 25, 2021.

The LPAT Process and this Application

9/15/2020

July 2019 - Manga submits rezoning application to City
November 2019 - Community Consultation Meeting at City Hall
January 2020 - Manga appeals to LPAT on basis that City has not responded within 90 days
May 2020 - original date for LPAT Case Management Conference - deferred
August 2020 - City produces RESPONSE which opposes the application
September 16, 2020 - City will take this response to Toronto and East York Community Council Meeting asking for DIRECTION and permission to proceed with LPAT hearing
September 25, 2020 - 10 days prior to October 5th - see below
October 5, 2020 - LPAT has scheduled a Case Management Conference

Local residents and businesses can get involved at three stages of the process:
1) Community consultation meeting if one is scheduled. This is usually our first exposure to development plans and our first opportunity to ask questions and express opinions.
2) TEYCC Meeting affords us the opportunity to either write or speak our opinions and have them considered in the official record.
3) Case Management Conference (CMC) is where the real commitment and work begin. The big decision is whether to seek Party status or Participant status or whether to get involved at all.

The City and the Developer are assigned Party status automatically. Sometimes nearby property owners (businesses, condos, other developers) have issue with the application as it stands and seek Party status so they can call expert witnesses of their own, cross-examine witnesses presented by the other Parties and deliver closing arguments. Party representatives need to be present throughout the hearing.
Participant status is less involved but requires some degree of rigour. As outlined in the CMC notice, a Participant needs to submit a request form and a position statement 10 days prior to the start of the CMC ... in this case September 25th. A Participant can be an incorporated body (ie condo, neighbourhood association, business) or an individual.

An appeal to LPAT

3/10/2020

As you can see, no hearings have been scheduled yet but we will be following this one closely.

Thank you UrbanToronto and BlogTO

1/29/2020

Developers for the Manga Hotel(s) on 571 Richmond West and 38 Camden are still talking to community residents and to City Planning. Nothing much to report just yet.
But here are some articles available from UrbanToronto and BlogTO which provide a visual perspective.
https://urbantoronto.ca/news/2019/07/paired-boutique-hotels-proposed-torontos-fashion-district
and
https://www.blogto.com/real-estate-toronto/2019/07/downtown-toronto-getting-two-new-boutique-hotels/

The Camden facade ... nobody told the visual artist that Camden is a one-way street.

Community Consultation meeting for TWO Manga Hotels

11/1/2019

We have known all along that the developer for this particular proposal at 465-471 Richmond West and 38 Camden is the Manga Hotels Group. Now a Community Consultation Meeting has been scheduled for November 14th at 7:30 pm. HERE are the details.
As so often happens, another meeting has been scheduled for the same date and location but at 6:30 pm ... and it turns out to be for another Manga Hotel just blocks away! 182-184 Spadina is, strictly speaking, outside our catchment, but just. HERE are the details about the meeting. And HERE is the link to its Supporting Documentation.

The application has been posted

7/27/2019

The Richmond Street Elevation

The GDNA was approached at the beginning of the year by a developer soliciting feedback from our members on their proposal for 471 Richmond Street West. Indeed a few of us met with them on January 16th at which time we learned that Manga Hotels was the developer and that they intended to construct a complex that fronted both 471 Richmond and 38 Camden Street ... the two addresses being marketed as different hotels but sharing services. Subsequently Manga met with individual buildings surrounding the proposed site, specifically 42 Camden, 32 Camden and 477 Richmond and again with the GDNA members before formally submitting a rezoning application.

This rezoning application has been posted to the City website and can be found HERE. Click the Supporting Documentation link to expose an abundance of documentation to download. Readers might like to check out Planning Rationale and Architectural Plans.

Recently BlogTO published an article about the application which agitated local residents with its statement about “a rooftop bar”. However the developers assured the GDNA that the space labelled “bar” in the architectural plans would be “fully enclosed within the building” and “serve guests at the hotel in more of a restaurant setting”.

Developers treat GDNA to preview

1/11/2019

GDNA members have been invited by developers for the property at 471 Richmond Street West ... to attend a pre-application meeting. This is indeed promising. Stay tuned for what we learn at that meeting.