CentreCourt has entered into a 50-50 joint venture with Dream Office REIT to build two condominium towers as the first phase of an approximately 2.5-million-square-foot master-planned community at 2200 Eglinton Ave. E. in Scarborough.

“We have a strong relationship with Dream that predates this deal by decades,” CentreCourt partner and senior vice-president of acquisitions Bader Elkhatib told RENX. 

“We haven't worked together on anything previously, but we've been on the same block for land assemblies; we obviously know one another in the industry. I think there's a strong admiration for the way each of the groups operate and I think what’s most important is we have a set of shared principles.” 

Dream (D-UN-T) was seeking a partner for the first phase of the Scarborough development and Elkhatib said CentreCourt’s “track record, recent activity and outcomes gave them (Dream) the confidence that they needed” to do the deal to build 32- and 48-storey towers totalling more than 650,000 square feet of gross floor area.

While zoning is in place, the project is still in the design phase and more details are being worked out. A site-plan approval application has been made.

Development’s first two towers

There will be approximately 1,000 residential units in the two buildings, with 39 affordable units accounting for approximately 30,000 square feet. 

Approximately 8,000 square feet of retail space will be included at ground level along Eglinton and the partners will also deliver some park space to the project.

Elkhatib is hopeful of launching sales next year. Both towers will be built simultaneously and Elkhatib expects construction to take about four years.

“At this scale of development, we could really do some neat out-of-the-box amenities which are typically harder to deliver on,” Elkhatib said.

Possible future co-operation for site

There’s a chance CentreCourt could also become involved with future phases of the development.

“We believe in the node, we believe in the partnership and we'd love to be a part of it, but we typically don't want to think too far ahead,” Elkhatib said.

He likens what CentreCourt has done with SmartLiving for its Transit City (TC) condos in Vaughan to what could happen at the Eglinton site.

“It started off with a tower that turned very quickly to three, and right now we're up to five towers, with two-and-a-half-million square feet delivered. I'm hopeful that this will be a very similar experience.”

Recent CentreCourt acquisitions

CentreCourt is very active in the Toronto area beyond the 2200 Eglinton Ave. E. project.

The Toronto-based company has acquired three properties in the Dundas Street West and Kipling Avenue area of Etobicoke where it will develop approximately one million square feet of condos.

Sales launched on May 8 for Kipling Station Condos, a 50-storey, 544-unit tower at 5251 Dundas St. W., and Elkhatib is satisfied with the early results.

“I think it's the first major launch in that Bloor and Kipling sub-market in a very long time and it’s a big success after five weeks relative to the marketplace in general,” he said.

CentreCourt has also been active along the Church Street corridor in downtown Toronto and has plans to launch a partnership with Spotlight Development on a 60-storey, 701-unit condo at the corner of Church and Queen Street East.

CentreCourt’s current developments

The high-rise developer has nine projects with approximately 5,000 housing units under construction at the moment.

The 45-storey, 495-unit TC4 was recently delivered in Vaughan and the neighbouring 50-storey, 526-unit TC5 will follow later this year. SmartLiving is the partner for both buildings, which total about 800,000 square feet. 

The 14-storey, 350-unit The Forest Hill Condominiums, at 859 Eglinton Ave. W. at the corner of Bathurst Street in midtown Toronto, should be ready for move-in before the end of the year.

Five more projects should all be completed in 2024 or 2025:

    •    the 39-storey, 484-unit 199 Church Condominiums, a partnership with Parallax;
    •    the 52-storey, 679-unit 252 Church;
    •    the 46-storey, 595-unit Prime Condos at 319 Jarvis St., a partnership with Centrestone Urban Developments Inc.;
    •    the 55-storey, 599-unit 8 Wellesley Residences, a partnership with BAZIS;
    •    and the 14-storey, 424-unit WestLine Condos at 1100 Sheppard Ave. W.

“I lead our acquisition efforts so I obviously love taking the deal and making it happen, but it's very rewarding when you see a building completed,” Elkhatib said. “That's the exciting time that we're in right now.” 

Elkhatib said CentreCourt could launch sales for one more project this year.

“Despite the headwinds in the marketplace and the world, we believe in the Toronto real estate market and believe that well-priced, well-located, transit-oriented, high-rise living is in demand.”