Ground has been broken on The Dennis, a LiUNA Pension Fund of Central and Eastern Canada (LPFCEC) project being developed in partnership with Fengate and Hi-Rise Group in Toronto’s Mount Dennis neighbourhood.

“We thought it was a good neighbourhood that appeals to a variety of different communities and residents at different ages and life stages,” Fengate managing director of development Alison Kimmell told RENX.
 
“The target demographic will be seniors who often benefit from proximity to transit and affordable rental options, young professionals and students — given that we have a great mix of unit sizes and access to transit — and local residents who may be looking to stay in the area and are looking for updated housing options. 

“It’s also a great area for newcomers to Toronto who are seeking vibrant, transit-connected, affordable living options in the city.”

What The Dennis offers

The 37-storey, 448-unit purpose-built rental apartment will include 89 affordable units and six rental replacement units. It will offer:

• studios from 315 to 325 square feet;
• one-bedroom units from 460 to 510 square feet;
• two-bedroom units from 530 to 770 square feet;
• and three-bedroom units from 865 to 1,000 square feet.

Forty per cent of the units will have two or three bedrooms.

Fengate is targeting LEED Gold certification for The Dennis. Amenities will include co-working spaces, a games room, a theatre, lounges and event spaces.

The Locust Street site, which was formerly occupied by houses and acquired from Trolleybus Urban Development in October 2020, is located close to the soon-to-open Mount Dennis station on the Eglinton Crosstown light rail transit line and the Weston GO Transit station. 

The property is between the Humber River and Black Creek and within walking distance of parks and green spaces as well as work, school and entertainment options.

Substantial completion of The Dennis is anticipated in August 2028.

The Dennis’ partners

LPFCEC and Fengate have partnered on projects for decades, while Hi-Rise is a more recent development partner. 

LPFCEC has an investment portfolio with more than $12 billion in assets, while Fengate Asset Management is an alternative investment manager with more than $40 billion of assets under management, focused on infrastructure, private equity and real estate. 

Fengate Real Estate is a fully integrated real estate investment, development and asset management platform with a $20-billion portfolio, including a residential pipeline of over 25,000 units and five million square feet of industrial space in varying stages of development.

Hi-Rise was established in 1979 and is a fully integrated development and construction company that has designed, financed, marketed and built thousands of apartment units and commercial properties.

The Dennis will be Fengate's first multiresidential project with ITC as construction manager.

City of Toronto incentives

The Dennis is one of the first projects approved through the City of Toronto’s Purpose-built Rental Housing Incentives Stream, which launched last year to deliver more than 7,000 new purpose-built rental homes — at least 20 per cent of which will be affordable for 40 to 99 years. 

“As part of that program, the city is providing an indefinite deferral of development charges and a 15 per cent property tax reduction for the purpose-built rental homes, as well as a full exemption of development fees and charges, and the property taxes on all the affordable homes for 40 years,” Kimmell said.

“Because of that, we’re able to offer 89 homes that will be priced at approximately 50 per cent of the market rent.”

Future growth in Mount Dennis

The Dennis is part of the city's Greater Weston Mount Dennis plan to transform the area from its industrial past into a mixed-use community with significant residential growth. The area has attracted dozens of development applications that could deliver approximately 27,000 new residential units over the next few decades.

Choice Properties has proposed a mixed-use project at 25 Photography Dr. that includes seven high-rise buildings with a combined 2,356 units, almost 50,000 square feet of retail space at grade and more than 43,000 square feet of privately owned public space.   

SmartCentres has proposed redeveloping Westside Mall at 2400-2404 Eglinton Ave. W. by adding more than 4,000 residential units, a large retail component and parkland. The first proposed phase is a 35-storey, 397-unit residential building.

The Learning Enrichment Foundation has proposed a 14-storey, mixed-use affordable rental building called The Mount Dennis Quilt at 1240-1250 Weston Rd. It aims to provide 175 affordable and market value rental units as well as one floor of retail space and two floors of community space.

Other Fengate multi-residential developments

“At Fengate, we've been in the purpose-built rental space for decades, but a few years ago we responded to dynamics in the market and pivoted some projects that were planned to be condos to purpose-built rental to be able to better meet the market,” Kimmell said.

Fengate will deliver two multi-family buildings in Hamilton next year:

• a six-storey, 261-unit purpose-built rental apartment with more than 6,000 square feet of commercial space at 500 Upper Wellington St.; and
• a 35-storey, 616-unit condominium at 75 James St. S. developed in partnership with Hi-Rise.

Fengate plans to break ground on four other multi-residential projects this year, but Kimmell said it was too early to provide details.

“Together with The Dennis, these five projects will deliver just over 1,900 rental homes to the market,” Kimmell said, adding development has become more challenging in the past couple of years due to increasing costs and market conditions.

“We have conviction in the long-term potential of Toronto and now is a good time to start projects and capitalize on lower construction costs, so that's what we're doing. 

“We're trying to leverage as much as we can from government programs such as CMHC (Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation) and this rental housing incentive program so that we can deliver projects at the most affordable price point that we can achieve.”