Tag Archives: industrial buildings
Trefann Court
Trefann Court is a quiet little pocket of homes located in the downtown section of Toronto. This affordable Toronto neighbourhood includes a mix of both public and private housing. The newly revitalized Regent Park neighbourhood is located to the north and the historic Corktown and St. Lawrence neighbourhoods are located to the south of this neighbourhood.
Trefann Court is a residential neighbourhood, located east of Yonge Street and south of Regent Park South. It is bounded by Queen, Parliament, Shuter, and River Streets. Trefann Court derives its name from one Trefann Street, which is located in the eastern part of the neighbourhood.
Most of the Trefann Court houses were built in the late 1800s and conform to the Victorian architecture style. The newer 2-to-3 storey homes peppered throughout were designed to fit in seamlessly with the older ones. Recently, some of Trefann Court’s industrial buildings have been converted into funky lofts.
The 1800s marks the time when Trefann court first emerged and it was geared towards the working class. In 1966 city planners, as a result of the deteriorating condition of the local properties, decided on demolishing and rebuilding the entire area.
Trefann Court Real Estate Map
The plan for the reconstruction of the neighbourhood, designed by Eugene Faludi in 1956 and prepared for Industrial Leasehold Co. Ltd., the owner of the industrial building, along with city-approved schemes, included the demolition of all residential buildings in the area. The western section of the area would be used to build new housing, while the eastern part would be sold off for industrial purposes.
Loyal residents, with the help of the future Toronto mayor and young lawyer John Sewell, stood firmly against this plan in order to save their beloved neighborhood. In opposition, they came up with their own area development plan. The plan included restoration of decrepit homes or tearing down and reconstructing those which could not be renovated. Thankfully, their efforts were rewarded in 1972, when the city council approved their plan.
This little local reconstruction victory was significant not only for Trefann Court, but for Toronto, as a whole, as well. It introduced a new approach to the planning of city development and reconstruction. People started to take more interest in the process and the government’s role had become less pivotal. Consequently, many of the historic city spots were preserved and restored.
Houses on Trefann Street
Trefann Court is a community that managed to stem off the destructive nature of postwar urban renewal. Along with a small section of River Street, it is one of the surviving remnants of (old) Cabbagetown, of which ninety percent was torn down in the 1940s and ’50s to make way for the north and south sections of Regent Park.
Following the construction of Regent Park, the craze for inner-city revitalization went further: in addition to Trefann Court, the city also eyed Don Vale (now referred to as Cabbagetown) and Kensington Market as possible candidates for demolition. In the 1950s, the area was characterized by its nineteenth-century row houses, industrial plants, and retail stores near Queen and Parliament Streets. There was also a new industrial structure at Sumach Street. It was a working-class neighbourhood, which unlike the nearby Don Vale, did not possess a quaint Victorian charm, and did not attract any middle-class residents.
For a nice and a peaceful living, Trefann Court is an ideal place. Here you have everything that is needed for leading a normal life. Trefann Court has few restaurants, coffee shops and few businesses. Also this area can proud itself with few human and social service organizations that are here to help people and that are non-profit.
For those who like to spend quality time while relaxing from work, there is a gallery just few steps away. This small neighborhood will give you everything you need, you just need to picture yourself living in it. Take a walk and decide if Trefann Court is the right place for you and your family.
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Contact the Jeffrey Team for more information – 416−388−1960
Laurin & Natalie Jeffrey are Toronto Realtors with Century 21 Regal Realty.
They did not write these articles, they just reproduce them here for people
who are interested in Toronto real estate. They do not work for any builders.
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Dufferin Grove
Many neighbourhoods in the city are simply collections of streets, with no real centre. Dufferin Grove, with its namesake park, is an exception. The park istself has become a focal point for this very local-minded neighbourhood – and has given rise to a wide range of neighbourly actvities including potluck suppers, year-round farmers’ markets and a communal outdoor oven. There’s even Wi-Fi in the park for afternoon bench surfing!
Dufferin Grove is a popular family oriented neighbourhood located close to downtown Toronto. This neighbourhood has excellent amenities including a popular community park, a shopping centre, excellent schools and and convenient access to public transit.
Dufferin Grove Real Estate Map
Dufferin Grove Park has received lots of media attention in the past for its pivotal role in revitalizing the Dufferin Grove neighbourhood. Creating a centre for the neighbourhood, the park generates a strong sense of community among area residents. This park has become a community centre without any walls – so popular that local residents affectionately refer to it as their Big Backyard.
A natural extension of that community mindset, the Grove Community School opened in 2009 and touts a curriculum based on social justice and the environment. Some of the local schools such as Kent School on Dufferin fit in with the architectural motif. Others, such as Dewson Street Junior Public School have more of a modernist feel to them. The Bloor and Gladsone branch of the Toronto Library was recently renoivated and makes for a lovely addition to the Bloor streetscape.
Dufferin Grove Park
The neighbourhood stretches from Bloor to Dundas, but Bloor is usually considered part of Dovercourt Park to the north, and Dundas is usually attached more to Little Portugal/Beaconsfield Village to the south, so College ends up being the main retail strip of the Dufferin Grove neighbourhood. It is not the most vibrant section of College, with most of the Little Italy panache petering out after Ossington. It can, however hold its own with a mix of residential buildings and eclectic shops.
Pretty streets such as Rusholme offer an impressive degree of serenity and boast a surprisingly high number of detached homes so close to the city core. The neighbourhood is fairly family-heavy, and Portuguese remains the dominant language in some areas. Brockton Village, which occupies the western half of the district, draws artists with its affordable real estate prices.
Dufferin Grove Real Estate
Some local churches have been converted to lofts, namely the Centennial Methodist Church at 701 Dovercourt, with the Anglican church of St. Mary the Virgin and St. Cyprian at 40 Westmoreland on its 3rd attempt. There are even lofts carved out of the hall attached to Dovercourt-St. Paul’s Presbyterian Church on Hepbourne Street – where Conn Smythe taught Sunday school!
The majority of Dufferin Grove houses were built between 1890 and 1930. Dufferin Grove’s semi-detached and detached houses are larger than those found in many other downtown Toronto neighbourhoods. The architectural style of the homes in Dufferin Grove range from early and late Victorian to Edwardian and English Cottage style designs. Expect to see a lot of newer brick homes, many from the 1970s-1990s.
On the western side of Duffrin Grove, Sterling Road is home to many industrial buildings, some of which have been converted into furniture stores, play space for sporting clubs – including the Toronto Backyard Axe Throwing League. The lands around the railway tracks, stretching all the way past Bloor Street and the neighbourhood boundaries, could see big changes in coming years. Developers are floating plans to turn the old Tower Automotive grounds into a mixed-use neighborhood much like the Distillery District or Liberty Village.
The Dufferin Grove area was first settled by the Denison Family, who emigrated to Canada from England in 1792. The Denisons were active participants in Toronto’s early military and political affairs. Their country villas were Toronto landmarks, that had titles such as “Dover Court”, “Rush Holme” and “Heydon Villa” – giving their names to many local streets.
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Contact the Jeffrey Team for more information – 416−388−1960
Laurin & Natalie Jeffrey are Toronto Realtors with Century 21 Regal Realty.
They did not write these articles, they just reproduce them here for people
who are interested in Toronto real estate. They do not work for any builders.
—————————————————————————————————–
Incoming search terms
The house that Sam built still stands
Elvira Cordileone – Toronto Star
The Brewery Lofts in Corktown, the master plan for Whitby’s Village of Brooklin, and the redevelopment of Sheridan College’s Trafalgar campus, are only a sample of the range of work handled by the Sorbara Group.
The insurance business Sam Sorbara started in 1942 has morphed into a multi-faceted firm, including commercial and residential real estate, planning, development and construction, management and investment companies — as well as insurance — within the Sorbara Group umbrella.
Sam Sorbara came to Canada from Italy in the 1920s as a teenager. A short biography penned by his second son, Edward, describes him as an inveterate entrepreneur who dabbled in various fields before focusing on the insurance business.
By the 1960s, however, the insurance business took a back seat to land development as a burgeoning population created a hunger for housing.
A June 3, 1963, article in The Toronto Telegram describes the extent of his land holdings: “When you see his For Sale signs on land — and there are lots of them around Metro — it means that Sorbara, or Sorbara and associates, own the property,” the article states. “When you see a factory or an industrial plaza that he’s built, it means that it’s owned by him or by him and his associates.”
The article suggests Sorbara’s land acquisitions, property development and construction activities generated business in the range of $5 million to $6 million a year.
According to the biography, in the 1950s Sorbara built Canada’s first strip mall, at Weston Rd. and Wilson Ave., and the first industrial mall on Howden Rd. in Scarborough.
His eldest son, Joseph, says during that decade Sam also started putting up industrial buildings. In the 1970s he added construction of highrise rental apartments and townhouses near Steeles Ave. W. and Jane St. and Finch Ave. W. and Keele St., some of which the Sorbara Group retains in its portfolio of properties.
Today the Sorbara Group (owned by Sam Sorbara’s four children, of whom MPP and former Ontario cabinet minister Greg Sorbara is the youngest) owns and manages some 6.5 million square feet of industrial, commercial and office properties, along with the portfolio of residential apartments.
Although the company has a long history in developing and planning communities for the housing market, it didn’t get into the building end of the industry until the mid 1990s. The Sorbara Group has since completed some 1,800 highrise and lowrise units, at the rate of about 150 housing units a year.
The Sorbara Group developed the master plan for the 160-plus hectares for the Village of Brooklin, although Tribute Communities built it. But Sorbara created the community’s vision, which included generous porches and detached rear garages not usually seen in new subdivisions two decades ago.
“(Brooklin) had 1,200 people when we arrived,” says Joseph Sorbara. “We’re still finishing it, but now there’s 12,000.”
The Sorbara Group also participated in the land development of Mississauga’s Churchill Meadows secondary plan, from land acquisition to draft plan approval. But in the Britannia Meadows area of that community, it also built some 400 semi-detached units through its company, Orchard Ridge Homes.
In 1997, the project earned best architectural design award for a house over $225,990 from the Greater Toronto Home Building Association (now part of the Building Industry and Land Development Association.)
The Sorbara Group got involved in the condo market thanks to an eight-storey, 240,000-square-foot warehouse it owned on Sumach St., which at the time the CBC used to store props. The building was situated behind the original brewery building on the site, once owned by the Dominion Brewery.
In fact, between 1987 and 1990, in association with Easton/Phillips Development Association, the Sorbara Group renovated the entire complex of buildings on the old Dominion site along Queen St. E. into trendy commercial and retails spaces.
“We bought the building as an investment,” says Edward Sorbara. “We bought it believing the CBC would never move out because the rent in that type of space was very modest.”
But the CBC did move out, and between 1993 and 1996 the building stood empty as businesses struggled in the aftermath of the housing market crash following the frenzied highs of 1989.
“We got into the condo business trying to find a solution for this monster that was eating us alive,” says Edward Sorbara.
It helped that the city had just relaxed zoning restrictions in parts of the downtown core to encourage redevelopment of empty and underused factories and warehouses. With the housing market also showing signs of revival, the Sorbara Group decided to convert the empty building into 100 units, which they named Brewery Lofts.
The company blasted out bricks to replace tiny windows with 14-foot-high sheets of glass, and left living areas in their raw state with thick concrete floors and large concrete pillars.
“We enjoyed doing it and got good at it,” says Edward Sorbara.
Other conversions followed, including Broadview Lofts, a former east-end Rexall Drug warehouse, as well as brand new midrise condos.
“(Midrise) is our market,” says Leith Moore, Sorbara’s vice president of development, who has worked for the company for more than three decades. “We don’t have to build the biggest buildings. When you’re building this size, it feels like homebuilding, too.”
And where homebuilding is concerned, two of Edward Sorbara’s guiding principles state: “Care about quality because it’s our family name that goes on it. And make sure it works.”
—————————————————————————————————–
Contact the Jeffrey Team for more information – 416-388-1960
Laurin & Natalie Jeffrey are Toronto Realtors with Century 21 Regal Realty.
They did not write these articles, they just reproduce them here for people
who are interested in Toronto real estate. They do not work for any builders.
—————————————————————————————————–
Incoming search terms
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