UPDATED: Oxford Properties Group has obtained the largest financing package under the CMHC's Apartment Construction Loan Program (ACLP) for a Toronto development, $650 million, to finance its three-tower Alta multifamily project.

“This site is Toronto's largest single-phase, multi-purpose rental development and the first major rental housing development in Scarborough in over a generation,” said Oxford chief financial officer Liz Murphy Tuesday morning during an official groundbreaking ceremony at the site of the project, beside the Scarborough Town Centre shopping mall in Toronto’s east end.

Alta is to deliver 1,285 apartments as part of a much larger master-planned community. The project will be built on 3.4 acres of Oxford-owned land at 25 Borough Dr. on the west side of the mall. 

The site will also include a 22,000-square-foot public park at the south end of the site that will be conveyed to the City of Toronto upon completion.

CMHC and municipal financing

The $55-billion ACLP is providing low-cost financing to support more than 131,000 new rental homes across Canada by 2032. As of March, CMHC had committed $23.35 billion in loans through ACLP to support the creation of more than 59,000 rental homes.

In an interview with RENX following the ceremony, Oxford development vice-president Steve Nightingale declined to say how much of the total cost the ACLP financing would cover, but said it was “a significant component of the project.”

An Oxford release pegged the figure at $750 million.

Alta will also receive $2.5 million from the City of Toronto’s Rental Housing Supply Program, which city councillor and Scarborough deputy mayor Paul Ainslie said “provides financial contributions, including capital funding, relief from development fees and charges and exemptions from property taxes, allows developers to unlock more housing and to build it faster.”

Alta’s residences and retail space

Alta will consist of 45-, 41- and 35-storey towers sitting atop two seven-storey podiums featuring both residences and 12,000 square feet of retail space. It will offer 51 studios, 693 one-bedroom, 411 two-bedroom and 130 three-bedroom units, including 23 townhomes. 

“It was a greenfield site that wasn't being used for any part of the mall operation, so it was a great opportunity,” Nightingale told RENX, adding that Oxford’s residential development focus is on purpose-built rentals due to the long-term investment strategy of its pension fund ownership.

“We're continuing to advance projects across multiple markets and in the GTA by taking them through entitlements and design, and we'll make those (development) decisions as we get closer,” Nightingale said of the development pipeline. 

“We are definitely finding that, with the pressure to solve the housing crisis and direction from the provincial government, municipal governments are starting to make decisions that are making it easier to get stuff done. 

“We really appreciate it. The team at the City of Toronto on this project has been fantastic. We've received a lot of great support and we're hoping to continue as we build on that for a future.”

Occupancy for Alta is expected in the summer of 2029.

Affordable housing component

Oxford says 268 of the units will be considered affordable, which executive vice-president and head of Canada Tyler Seaman said “represents one of the largest covered private deliveries of affordable housing in Toronto.”

Seaman added: “This is a community that has been under-supplied for institutionally owned, purpose-built rental housing for many, many years and OMERS and Oxford are committed to making a meaningful contribution to Canada's housing crisis by adding thousands of new rental homes across the country.

“We are leaning into residential development when some others are leaning out right now due to market conditions, and it gives us an immense amount of pride to bring our development expertise to this wonderful community that we've been proud to invest in for decades, including Scarborough Town Centre.”

Alta’s amenities will include outdoor lounge areas, co-working spaces, a children’s playroom and fitness facilities.

The completed project seeks to reduce its environmental impact by using a geothermal heating and cooling system that will reduce overall energy use by 55 per cent and greenhouse gas emissions by 74 per cent.

Alta will benefit from its close proximity to the mall, the Scarborough Centre Toronto Transit Commission and GO Transit stations as well as the future Scarborough subway extension.

The Scarborough Town Centre redevelopment

Alta is the first development within Oxford’s recently approved master plan for Scarborough Town Centre. At full build-out, it’s expected to deliver more than 10,000 apartments and housing units spread over 89 developable acres around the mall.

Scarborough Town Centre is the largest mall in east Toronto and one of the largest in the Greater Toronto Area. Completed in 1973 and renovated and modified several times since, it currently offers more than 250 stores and services across 1.6 million square feet of leasable space.

The shopping centre receives more than 18 million visits per year, and the property includes parking for almost 5,800 vehicles.

Oxford and its global portfolio

Oxford is owned by OMERS, the Canadian defined benefit pension plan for Ontario's municipal employees. Oxford and its portfolio companies manage approximately $80 billion of assets across four continents on behalf of their investment partners. 

The portfolio of the Toronto-based company, which was established in 1960, encompasses logistics, office, retail, multifamily residential, life sciences, credit and hotels in global gateway cities and high-growth hubs. 

Oxford has 30 development projects underway globally across all major asset classes.

- With files from Don Wilcox