Mini-Mid-Rise: Toronto’s Main Street Infill

Let’s talk about Toronto’s Main Streets and their potential to absorb some density.

Missing Middle Case Study: Low-Rise Apartment Building

The Missing Middle idea was coined by architect Daniel Parolek to illustrate the lack of housing types being built, not as a result of market forces but rather the result of policy – put simply, we have chosen to build everything else but Missing Middle housing. Missing Middle housing describes housing forms between single-detached houses […]

How Other Cities in the U.S. and Canada Implement Missing Middle Policies?

Written by: Misha Bereznyak and Josh Papernick In July 2019, Mayor John Tory and Deputy Mayor Ana Bailão passed a motion that directed the planning department to consider new forms of development in Toronto’s ‘Neighbourhoods’. ‘Neighbourhood’ is a land use designation in Toronto’s Official Plan, that in most cases, limits development to single-family homes. This […]

The Dundas Edward Centre Master Plan

The Dundas Edward Centre Master Plan Redevelopment of an underutilized site into a mixed-use residential tower in the core of Toronto’s downtown. Client: Crown Properties (NAIOP Young Leaders), NAIOP Development Challenge (3rdPlace) & People’s Choice Award, in collaboration with Mark Gaglione(Construction Sciences at Ellis Don), and Brett Llewellyn-Thomas (NovaRidge Development)Location: Toronto, ONScale: Block PlanSize: 1.1 […]

Policy Review: Expanding Housing Options in Neighbourhoods (Missing Middle)

By Naama Blonder and Josh Papernick Finding and designing development solutions to unlock the City’s “Neighbourhood” areas has been a major focus at Smart Density. I have been a strong advocate for Missing Middle housing and rethinking how the City can take advantage of its land, and was very excited to see this document being […]

Laneway Suite on a Toronto Main Street

There are many examples in Toronto where a site on a main street isn’t the perfect match for an assembly or redevelopment, but would be the perfect match for some gentle density

10 reasons to choose Modular Construction: Webinar Recording + Summary

10 reasons to choose Modular Construction: Webinar Recording + Summary As part of our Educational Webinar Series, we hosted a special webinar led by Chris Smith, a Project Manager and Temo Cruz, Prefabrication & Modular Coordinator at ED Modular. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4OKPGgToNcQ&feature=emb_logo Below is a summary of the Webinar and 10 reasons to choose Modular Construction!   […]

Financial Incentives for Affordable Housing

Financial Incentives for Affordable Housing Last week, the City of Toronto has released the 2020 Open Door Call for applications. What are the different programs, incentive tools and streams that exist today in order to accelerate affordable housing construction? Here’s a summary of the municipal, provincial and federal tools: Through our Affordable Housing Centre, we […]

12 Little Anecdotes from ‘Happy City’ by Charles Montgomery

12 Little Anecdotes from ‘Happy City’ by Charles Montgomery Written by Josh Papernick 1. A Swedish study found that people who endure more than a forty-five-minute commute were 40 percent more likely to divorce 2. A person with a one-hour commute has to earn 40 percent more money to be as satisfied with life as […]

Infill Development in Apartment Neighbourhoods

Infill Development in Apartment Neighbourhoods The Official Plan provides criteria for infill development within Apartment Neighbourhoods. Compatible infill development may be permitted on sites with existing apartment buildings if they improve the existing site conditions. The major requirements are as follows:  Compatibility Be compatible in scale (height and massing) to the existing buildings on the […]