The City of Toronto and the Province have come to an agreement regarding the fate of the Foundry site on Eastern Ave. The main details of that agreement are outlined in a new Heritage Impact Assessment, made public on August 20, 2021.
The key points are:
- The Machine Shop and Foundry Building (a.k.a. the Cleaning Building) will not be demolished
- The Office Building and the Warehouse will be demolished
- When the property is sold, conditions of sale will constrain the purchaser to protect the two heritage buildings
- The percentage of affordable housing to be built on site has been increased from 25% to 30%
In essence, Friends of the Foundry won! They forced the Province to stop demolition and change its plan, and saved the two most important heritage buildings on the site.
The not-so-good news is that the Minister’s Zoning Order of October 2020 still governs how the site will be developed, and it cannot be appealed. This means there will be high-rise towers built on the site.
Read more about the agreement and what the proposed development will look like.