A midtown Toronto plaza at 744-758 Mount Pleasant Rd. has been acquired by BAZIS. The firm plans a mixed-use residential tower redevelopment. (Courtesy Lennard Commercial Realty)

BAZIS has acquired a midtown Toronto strip mall property from an unnamed private vendor in a $37-million off-market deal.

“In my opinion, the vendor probably realized that, with all the development happening in the neighbourhood, this particular asset had outlived its true potential as an investment and the highest value would be achieved through it being sold based on the redevelopment potential,” Lennard Commercial Realty, Brokerage vice-president Vincent King, who brokered the transaction, told RENX in an email interview.

The plaza at 744-758 Mount Pleasant Rd. has six tenants: a restaurant; a pet store; a shoe store; a nail and hair salon; a gym; and a pizza outlet. It has approximately 190 feet of frontage on Mount Pleasant Road just south of Eglinton Avenue.

The site is in close proximity to the Eglinton subway station, a future Eglinton Crosstown light rail transit stop and the Kay Gardiner Beltline Trail, as well as a school and office, commercial, retail and residential uses.

Plans for the Mount Pleasant site

BAZIS representatives declined to be interviewed, but King said “the purchaser probably viewed this property as a great income-producing property in the short term. In the long term, it’s for a high-rise condominium development in one of the most affluent neighbourhoods in the city.”

The Mount Pleasant Road property is zoned Commercial Residential. BAZIS recently submitted a rezoning application to the City of Toronto for a 35-storey mixed-use residential building with a six-storey podium and a seventh-floor indoor and outdoor amenity area.

The proposal is for 398 residential units: 53 bachelors; 180 one-bedrooms; 122 two-bedrooms; and 43 three-bedrooms. It would include space for retail and service tenants at grade as well as parking for 104 motor vehicles and 442 bicycles.

The project is expected to yield a total gross floor area of approximately 311,000 square feet.

“I’ve always felt that midtown is one the greatest areas in Toronto,” said King. “In recent years, there have been many new developments in the area and, by the looks of it, there are many more to come.

“I believe this specific site, coupled with BAZIS’ reputation for designing and building such beautiful buildings, will be a welcomed change to the neighbourhood.”

Other BAZIS developments

BAZIS is a Vaughan-based luxury condo developer with past Toronto projects including Crystal Blu, eCondos (in partnership with Metropia and RioCan REIT), Exhibit and Emerald Park. The latter two developments were in partnership with Metropia and Plazacorp.

The company has a number of other projects under development or in the planning stages.

Bartley Towns is an 84-unit townhouse complex with homes ranging in size from 1,081 to 1,710 square feet that’s under construction near Eglinton and Victoria Park Avenue.

BAZIS and CentreCourt are partners on 8 Wellesley Residences at Yonge, a 55-storey, 599-unit condo that’s sold-out after going on the market in February. It’s scheduled for completion in 2025.

A 30-storey, 287-unit condo at 100 Bond St. is in the pre-construction phase.

Queen and Church, at 60 Queen St. E., is a 57-storey, 447-unit condo in the pre-construction phase.

BAZIS and Tridel are partnering on Bayview and Finch, a 12-storey, 206-unit condo at 630 Finch Ave. E. That project is also in the pre-construction phase.