For months now, 230 Fightback has been rallying the community to stop KingSett Capital from building a luxury destructive condo tower in the heart of Toronto’s Downtown East. We have demanded instead that social housing be built at 214-230 Sherbourne.

As part of the ongoing struggle, in which we have confronted the developer on several occasions, we had planned to picket KingSett’s office in the city’s financial district on December 7. However, the day before this action we received an extraordinary email from the company’s chief asset management officer, Bill Logar.

Logar tells us in the email that he is aware of the impending protest and that he wants to ‘provide a brief update regarding KingSett Capital’ plans for this property.’ He goes on to inform us that ‘KingSett has offered to sell 214-230 Sherbourne back to the City of Toronto for a value that covers the costs we have incurred to date (and no more). We understand what this property means to the local community, and we are now patiently awaiting a response from the City..’

On this basis, we redirected our action and went to the Mayor’s office to make clear that we expect City Hall to act upon this offer, so as to ensure that housing that meets the needs of the community. We also called for a clear expression of the Mayor’s intentions in this matter to be conveyed to us before the holiday season gets underway.

The determined effort we have made to challenge KingSett has contributed enormously to the developer’s desire to unload the property. Doubtless other calculations are also at work, with regard to the state of the housing market and the viability of the project. However, for us the issue is to stop the juggernaut of upscale redevelopment and win social housing in a community that needs it desperately.

In the New Year, we will be directing our efforts towards winning a full commitment from the Mayor and Council to secure this vital property in the interests of the people who live in the Downtown East.

In taking on KingSett, we have shown that the developers aren’t invincible and that their agenda of destructive greed can be challenged. We intend to win our struggle at 213-230 Sherbourne and, in doing so, contribute to building a movement in this city that can fight for housing to be provided, not a source of profits for investors and corporate landlords, but a basic social need and a human right.