Flagship Development Group, a new full-service development manager and advisory firm, is already involved with a major project and has submitted an application to the City of Toronto on behalf of Cando Apartments to develop a 1,350-unit residential rental complex in Scarborough.

“The city is hungry for applications,” Flagship co-founder Sumeet Ahluwalia told RENX. “There's not a better time to make these submissions than now.”

Cando’s site is at the corner of Kennedy Road and Sheppard Avenue East, close to the Agincourt GO Transit station in a growing transit hub that will also be along a future subway line.

“This is our first with Cando and we're currently looking at other sites that they have, just to see what would make sense to intensify,” Ahluwalia said.

All of the new units in the four proposed ZO1 Architects-designed towers at Kennedy and Sheppard will be built before any demolition to ensure existing tenants can move directly into their new homes without the need for off-site relocation.

“We'll be front-loading the units and you don't have to deal with the messy relocation, which historically was the trickiest part for a developer when it came to managing existing tenants,” Ahluwalia said. “You need to do that in such a delicate way to make sure you don't alienate the community.”

In addition to the new apartments, other existing units on the property will be upgraded or replaced as part of the proposal that’s under review by city officials. The project will also provide existing tenants with new amenities, retail options and two public parks.

Flagship’s founding

Toronto-based Flagship Development Group is managed by co-founders Ahluwalia and Jeff Greene and emerged this year from Flagship Developments, which Greene previously operated on his own for three years. Along with an unnamed third partner, they have 50 years of combined experience in planning, development and project delivery across both the private and public sectors.

Greene and Ahluwalia previously worked together at Lifetime Developments. So, Greene asked his former colleague if he’d like to join the new venture and help move along rental developments and support affordable housing in southern Ontario. 

The timing was right for Ahluwalia, who was senior development manager for The Daniels Corporation for three years prior to coming on board at Flagship.

“In an era where condos are dead, you have apartment owners and other folks saying maybe it's a good time to spend the next 18 to 24 months entitling and then waiting,” Ahluwalia observed. 

“There's no rush. But obviously, if you can tap into some good CMHC financing, you're off to the races.”

Flagship’s clients and services

Flagship works with developers, land owners and investors to help them achieve the full potential of their properties.

The company’s services involve: feasibility studies; land use planning; financial analysis; obtaining municipal approvals; development management; team coordination and oversight; post-approval procedures; and construction permitting.

“We act as the in-house development team,” Ahluwalia said. “You turn the keys over to us and we run your project.”

There’s no hourly billing for Flagship’s services, as it strives to keep costs predictable for clients.

“Some folks may not have the upfront capital to take on our fees,” Ahluwalia said. “So in situations like that, we take equity or we buy in or we use the project fees against the project. There are different models we operate on.”  

The ultimate goal is to become a fulsome development company but, with so little construction taking place at the moment, Flagship’s consulting services are its current focus.

Flagship’s other projects

Flagship has completed entitlements on a variety of townhouse projects in Oshawa, Ajax and Pickering. Greene is an equity partner in all of them.

Flagship was also retained to facilitate:

• approvals for a 12-storey and two six-storey condos in the Oak Ridges area of Richmond Hill;
• the development of an adaptive re-use, multi-unit residential rental project in Toronto’s Leslieville neighbourhood;
• the development of a 66-unit purpose-built rental project on Centre Street in Aurora;
• and development approvals for a 420,000-square-foot industrial and commercial condo project near Dundas Street and Highway 412 in Whitby.

“We have a bit of a pipeline and, with my affordable housing and non-profit background, I think the next wave of work is activating some non-profit sites,” Ahluwalia said. 

That past experience includes time as affordable housing development manager for Waterfront Toronto and housing development officer in the City of Toronto’s Affordable Housing Office.

Ahluwalia said waiting times for approvals have been coming down in Toronto because municipal officials want to activate new residential development sites as quickly as possible.

He’s therefore “bullish on what the next little bit looks like for the city.”