A source in the city planning department has provided the following details about the proposal:
The current proposal (a building permit has not yet been applied for) is as follows:
5 storey mixed use building consisting of 29 residential units and ground floor commercial space consisting of 2 retail spaces totalling about 108 square metres.
Only the rear wall of the existing building will be retained.
Ground floor parking (open at the rear of the retail space) for 6 vehicles
GFA (gross floor area) of the entire building will be 15315 square feet.
Existing zoning permits 17,000 sf (quoted)
Amenity space will be 2 square metres per unit inside and a further 2 square metres per unit outside.
Based on these numbers, total gross floor area of the residential units will be approximately 470 sf. (including common areas such as corridors and utility rooms). Deduct about 20% for those areas, and you are left with about 370 sf per homeless person.
Total cost of the project per the staff report presented on November 13 2007 (website link: backgroundfile-8048.pdf ) will be $4.5 million ($4,471,893).
This works out to be $285 per buildable square foot (about $100 psf more than industry average)
Hard Construction costs (January 2006) are quoted by the Toronto Estate Board's "Rough Guide to Construction Costs" as $110.75 per square foot for a low rise apartment building (2-10 floors) with underground parking.
To this must be added the cost of the land (building sold for $500,000 in 2004) and soft costs such as:
- Architectural fees
- Brokerage fees
- Lot levies (waived by City)
- Financing costs (minimal as funds will be provided by the city)
- Taxes (waived??)
- And so on...
There are obvious economies of scale in building larger units or purchasing an existing building which does not require conversion. The City was offered these alternatives (11 RFP's) and chose this route. Note the City's criteria for assessing RFP applications and their ability to use "staff discretion" in making their final selections. Costs (dollars and cents ) merits just 20% of the point system used in assessing the 11 RFP submissions.