The condominium market is still in a slump but The Gupta Group founder and chairman Steve Gupta is so optimistic about its prospects that he’s starting construction on a 697-unit mixed-use project before reaching usually expected sales thresholds.

“I'm a serial entrepreneur, I've been in business for 40 years and somebody has to kick-start construction,” Gupta told RENX. “We are very confident in the economy.

"We are confident in the Ontario government and what it's doing and we feel that the market is going to get stronger day by day.”

Yonge City Square, the largest new residential project to begin construction in the Greater Toronto Area in 2024 and the first new development in Toronto’s Hoggs Hollow neighbourhood in more than 20 years, held an official groundbreaking event Dec. 9 attended by Premier Doug Ford, provincial and city officials, and The Gupta Group leadership at 4050 Yonge St.

“Like everybody else, we’ve tried to provide some (purchase) incentives and whatnot, but our project is very unique, very different, very lifestyle-oriented and very upscale,” Gupta said in an interview prior to the event.

He noted that 70 to 80 per cent of purchasers intend to live at Yonge City Square.

“It takes one year to come out of the ground and that year gives us enough time to do whatever else we have to do to make it happen.” 

Gupta said now is a good time to buy condo units because taxes, construction and labour costs will continue to rise and there’s no certainty of where interest rates will be in five years.

What Yonge City Square offers

The Gupta Group acquired the site nine years ago from the City of Toronto’s Build Toronto corporation, which develops underutilized, city-owned real estate assets to attract target industries, stimulate employment and regenerate neighbourhoods.

The IBI Group-designed Yonge City Square will feature buildings of 32 and 14 storeys. Units range from 458 to 1,546 square feet and prices from $651,000 to over $3.15 million.

More than two-thirds of the units will have one or two bedrooms. There will also be three-bedroom units and studios. Buyers can combine units to create bigger ones.

Yonge City Square will also have 42,000 square feet of office space and 17,000 square feet of ground-level retail.

“We’re thinking of bringing some really big-name retail there and some medical offices on the second floor of the office,” Gupta said. “The third floor of the office will be The Gupta Group's head office. 

“This project will generate 3,850 person years of employment, with direct and indirect benefits.”

Yonge City Square will also have three levels of underground parking for residents, a 70-stall commercial parking lot and 36,000 square feet of amenities, including a ninth-floor terrace, a fitness centre, a children’s play room, entertainment lounges with golf simulators, an outdoor mini-putt golf course, and a rooftop swimming pool surrounded by cabanas, fire pits and seating areas.

Appealing location

Hoggs Hollow is an affluent area that offers proximity to three hospitals, three shopping centres and schools.

Yonge City Square is at the corner of Yonge Street and Wilson Avenue, not far south of Highway 401. It backs on to the Don Valley Golf Course and will be directly connected to the York Mills subway station.

“To the west and to the south, nothing else can be built because there are conservation lands to the south and the golf course and the river on the west and north,” said Gupta.

Occupancy for Yonge City Square is expected in the spring of 2028.

Markham-based Gupta Group is donating $1,000 for every unit sold at Yonge City Square to the Princess Margaret Cancer Foundation, with a commitment to top off the donation at $1 million upon the final closing of all the units.

Reetu Gupta — The Gupta Group’s chairwoman and ambassadress, as well as The Gupta Family Foundation’s chief executive officer — is on the Princess Margaret Cancer Foundation’s board of directors.

Bayview Avenue condo soon to launch

The Gupta Group has another multifamily development site not far from Yonge City Square, at 1837-1845 Bayview Ave. It’s just south of Broadway Avenue and two blocks north of a future Eglinton Crosstown light rail transit stop.

A site plan agreement has been signed for a 25-storey, 300-unit IBI Group-designed condo. Sales are expected to launch soon and construction could begin as early as next spring.

“We may piggy-back it with Yonge City Square because they're both within a mile or two of each other,” Gupta said. “It’s very easy for trades to work close to the 401 and on two projects at the same time.”

Other proposed Toronto condos at 7028 Yonge St., 185 King St. E., 255 Wellington St. W. and 906 Yonge St. are earlier in the development pre-construction cycle.

Hotel development is continuing

The Gupta Group originally made its name as a hotel developer through its Easton’s Group of Hotels subsidiary and remains active in the sector. 

A new full-service Marriott hotel in Kingston, Ont. will officially open on Dec. 18. It was an existing hotel that The Gupta Group gutted and rebuilt.

Construction has started on a nine-storey, 272-room Hilton Garden Inn hotel at 616-700 Applewood Cres. in Vaughan, just north of Toronto. The $100-million project will have two levels of underground parking.

Canada’s first Curio by Hilton is being developed in the last remaining heritage building to be repurposed in Toronto’s The Distillery Historic District. The 31-storey, 288,000-square-foot, 392-guest-room hotel at 60 Mill St. will preserve the 134-year-old building’s exteriors as the base three floors.