BAZIS has purchased a retail plaza in Toronto's North York district from First Capital in an off-market deal worth $32 million in order to redevelop the property.

The deal for the 895 Lawrence Ave. E. property was brokered by Myriad Development Services, which was launched by broker Vincent King late last year to represent developers in structuring off-market development land deals. Myriad operates under Lennard Commercial Realty, where King is still a broker and senior vice-president.

“I've been working with BAZIS for many years and they’re a good client of mine,” King told RENX. “More recently I’ve been doing some work with First Capital and assisting them dispose of some assets, with 895 Lawrence being one of them.”

There are 18 retail tenants at the 95-per cent leased, 1.9-acre site, which features approximately 350 feet of frontage on Lawrence Avenue East. Tenants include Congee Queen, Chatime Bubble Tea, Apple Tree Dental for Kids, Subway, and Don Mills and Lawrence Pharmacy.

King said more developers are looking for sites with both strong development potential and holding income to help get them through the lengthy and expensive approvals process and deciding the right time to launch a new project.

“It's a fantastic retail plaza as it is and I believe it's always performed well,” King said of 895 Lawrence Ave. E. “That was also a selling feature.”

BAZIS’ redevelopment plans

The property is located across the street from the 463,829-square-foot, 85-store CF Shops at Don Mills and the 425-unit Rodeo Drive condo and townhome community. There are a number of other proposed mid- and highrise multiresidential developments in the surrounding area.  

First Capital submitted a plan to the City of Toronto to redevelop the site in July 2022 and was looking to build a mixed-use community with 17- and 22-storey residences above a shared six-storey podium. It was to encompass 438 units and 16,286 square feet of retail space.

BAZIS recently submitted an application for three Rosario Varacalli-designed buildings of 26, 32 and 34 storeys atop a seven-storey podium encompassing about 814,000 square feet and 1,194 units. It would also offer 5,339 square feet of retail space at grade. 

The developer is proposing two underground levels with 306 parking stalls and 1,316 spaces for bicycles as well as 33,099 square feet of indoor amenities and 18,309 square feet of outdoor amenity space.

Other BAZIS developments

BAZIS’ past Toronto developments include: 

• the 35-storey, 136-unit Crystal Blu;
• the 32-storey, 200-unit Exhibit Residences, which was developed with Metropia and Plaza;
• the two-tower eCondos, which was developed with Metropia and RioCan Living;
• the two-tower Emerald Park, which was developed with Metropia and Plaza;
• the 58-storey, 577-unit 1 Yorkville, which was developed with Plaza;
• and the 84-unit Bartley Towns freehold townhome community.

BAZIS’ current and planned Toronto developments include:

• the 55-storey, 600-unit 8 Wellesley, a partnership with CentreCourt that’s nearing completion;
• the 57-storey, 445-unit Queen Church, a partnership with Tridel that’s under construction and scheduled for completion in 2028;
• the 11-storey, 168-unit Bayview Woods, a partnership with Tridel;
• the 35-storey, 487-unit 750 Mount Pleasant;
• the 23-storey, 336-unit 100 Bond Street;
• the 50-storey, 323-unit 2350 Yonge Street;
• and the 41-storey, 489-unit 1366 Yonge Street.

Myriad is very focused on its niche

King has completed nearly half-a-billion dollars in sales representing millions of square feet of future residential development in Toronto in the last five years for Lennard. He’s been joined at Myriad by sales representative Gabriel Irinici, who has that same title at Lennard.

They’ve been active, and King is looking to build Myriad’s support and sales teams since the company will be announcing more deal closures in the near future — at a time when there aren’t a lot of notable land transactions happening.

“We're constantly focused on the off-market urban landfill market,” King explained. “There’s definitely an added challenge with certain market conditions, and the buyer pool has shrunk significantly.”

Development land is typically purchased with short-term debt, which can be difficult to refinance if a condo project has trouble getting to the construction stage due to low sales. This, combined with rising development charges eating away at the value of the land, has scared off some potential purchasers.

“Something that's changing almost quarterly is at what price per buildable square foot developers value land at, and where in the city they want to purchase land,” King said. “If you're not constantly involved with that and being active in the market, it's very hard to keep up.”

King believes the challenging development land market has weeded out some of Myriad’s competitors that dabbled in the asset class. That's a situation he welcomes since that’s his exclusive focus and it should mean more business coming his way.

“When the market shifted we actually tripled down and put more time and energy into this, while others might have gone back to the sector that they focus on,” King observed. “I think that it's paying off.”