Stop the Demolition of a Good Quality Rental Apartment building.

Located in the heart of the Annex Neighbourhood, 145 St. George Apartments, a modernist gem, is meeting its existing usability mandate.

The proposal to demolish and replace 145 St. George Street was approved by City Council on July 20, 2023


Consideration of 145 St. George Street proposal at Toronto and East York Community Council on June 22, 2023,
and City Council on July 19, 20, and 21, 2023:
https://secure.toronto.ca/council/agenda-item.do?item=2023.TE6.9

Public Notice:
https://secure.toronto.ca/nm/api/individual/notice/4120.do

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Our Values, Tenants’ Committee

Impact on the overall Neighbourhood

If passed, the proposed Zoning By-law Amendment will encourage a domino effect of further evictions and similar demolitions in the Annex, and Toronto.

Why destroy a good quality building?

If passed, the proposed Zoning By-law Amendment would result in the destruction of a fully-tenanted building currently housing over 150 people that is meeting its utilization mandate and is well maintained.

Negative impact on the Environment

If passed, the proposed Zoning By-law Amendment could lead to detrimental impacts on the environment and the surrounding neighbourhood caused by demolition and the resulting release of carbon and other pollutants.


Have a Look at Our Beautiful Building


– Architect of Record: Crang & Boake
– Architectural Style: Modernist
– Building Completion: 1959
– Recent Renovations: 2019, 2020


Entrance to building at night with Christmas lights above in balcony.

The Annex, Our Home

The Annex is a diverse neighbourhood that provides housing options for a variety income groups, a wide range of professional backgrounds and university along with college students.

Renters make up 70% of the residents in the Annex neighbourhood. It provides important housing options for all income groups.

The Annex Residents’ Association is a volunteer-run organization. It is one of the oldest residents’ associations in Canada.

Hear from the 145 St. George community

Jeffrey

  "145 St George is a good building with a nice mix of tenants. We have young students who move in for a coupe of years  finish school and move on.  Couples raising children. People getting on the subway everyday to work. There is a solid group of people getting older in the building. People with impaired mobility. And this place works for them. I have been living here for ten years and getting older. People often sit in the lobby and talk usually between five and six. The younger people come in and out say hello or stop and chat.

 It is hard for me to see where the short comings of this building are and why anyone would want to tear it down. It obviously serves a need and fits well with in the community. Schumpeter’s concept of creative destruction applies to productive capital not residential real-estate. Making concrete makes a lot of Co2. Destroy a good quality 12 stories building that people are happy to live in is wasteful and makes no sense."
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I’m already having a hard time making ends meet.

"I have financial difficulty to find a place to stay which is similar to my current place.  I have low fixed income and receive GIS each month. I cannot afford the market renting cost even if the landlord provides a few months’ rent as moving compensation.  Besides, the new possible landlord will not let me in since I cannot provide a sufficient income proof to them.

My wife is sick and weak.  We cannot move.  Moving is a heavy job and might kill me during this process. We do not have any relatives or friends to help us.
Even [if] I can find a new place to stay, which will bring difficulty to my daily life (grocery shopping, go to hospital, safety, etc.). I do not think it is easy to find a similar location to support my current life style. If I have to stay in a remote area (even rent affordable), the life style might be harmful to our health.
In short my most concern is that such moving process will definitely jeopardize our health condition and very possibly shorten our life. This concern is beyond our other concerns. I will support any action to stop the demolition and I will join such action and any other activities."
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Where will I go?

"I’m worried for all of what awaits us. Where will I go, it’s so terrifying... I am poor and would never be able to come back here... I feel there must be a lot who feel same…"

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A student who loves their home

" There are many people living in this apartment building who have called this place their home for many years- some for over thirty years. They have developed a community here, an environment where they feel safe, and a neighborhood they adore. Demolishing the apartment building will leave so many people without a feeling of home anymore, and struggling to survive. With the rent prices that they started paying years ago, and how much rent has severely increased, they will not be able to afford anywhere else to live.

A demolition of 145 St George will have me stuck in a very difficult place of not being able to afford rent in Toronto. As a student, finances are tight, and it will be impossible for me to afford more expensive rent than what I am currently paying. In my thorough apartment search three years ago, I was not able to find any apartments that came close to this price in rent."

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Residents have their say!

"145 St. George Street Apartments has provided affordable housing for me and for many other long-term tenants. It would be a disaster to demolish this building, putting so many people out of their homes where they've lived amongst friends and neighbors for so many years."

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Shantelle

"It will destroy the fabric of The Annex plus it leaves the door open for other developers to come in and demolish what rental buildings we have left on St. George Street, creating a domino effect. How can the government state that they are worried about affordable housing but let developers destroy what rental housing we have? How does building condos which most people can't afford, but are instead bought by investors then rented out mostly to students who in turn have one or two roommates to share the cost. Length of stay is usually two years. Where does affordable come into place in this scenario?"

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Carlos

"I think it is a extreme measure, that will allow big development corporations to continue gentrifying downtown, as a result a lot of us would end up displaced thanks to the greed of a few! I would be displaced and would be force to relocate further out of downtown because, let's be honest here, the price I would have to pay in rent to live here again, would be astronomical!"

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Elizabeth

"I moved to 145 St. George in the summer of 1980. I was a young lawyer with a promising future engaged to be married. At that time many original tenants lived here.

Our community has been an important part of my life. Over the years we neighbours planted the trees at the front of the building from seedlings we grew on on our balconies. We tended neglected gardens. We have been together through repeated above guideline rent increases and renovations including the traumatic more than year long balcony demolitions with window replacements that affected our health and quality of life. The Chinese elms we planted on the Prince Arthur boulevard were killed and the flock of birds that roosted in the OISE trees left. Many long term tenants were required to move."

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