Kensington Market community group agrees to buy homes as development rumours swirl

Kensington Market’s iconic Victorian homes have stood for more than a century, now housing vintage clothing stores and fresh food markets that have shaped the market into one of Toronto’s most vibrant neighbourhoods. But recently there have been rumours that could all change, with a significant portion of the market flattened for a new development.

A community group has signed a deal to buy two of the homes in question along Kensington Avenue, before they can fall into developers’ hands, but now they need to come up with the cash to do it.

“We’ve put in an offer at $4 million,” says Dominique Russell, co-chair of the Kensington Market Community Land Trust. “The expectation was that we would be able to access city financing…we’re finding that might in fact be not accessible to us.”

With a deadline looming to complete the sale, the Land Trust is now turning to the community for help paying the hefty price tag.

“We don’t have a magic wand,” says Russell. “We’re fundraising, we’re asking people to contribute, we’re asking all the interest that came out of the possibility of redevelopment to be poured into purchasing these two buildings.”

The group is also selling bonds, allowing supporters to invest in the properties at 27 and 29 Kensington Avenue.

The pair of homes currently house vintage clothing shops and multiple rental units. Rumours have been swirling for weeks that a developer could buy up as many as twelve properties to make way for a condo – unwelcome news for the residents and shops who call Kensington Market home.

“The culture is just so alive here with the older historical buildings, and it feels so much more welcoming here,” says Lauren McHale, a staff member at King of Kensington. The secondhand clothing shop currently occupies the street level unit of 29 Kensington Ave.

“To have that just turn into some grey kind of block, glassy building would be a nightmare,” she says.

Despite an acknowledged need for more housing in the neighbourhood, keeping the character of the market is a priority for many.

“Losing these businesses changes the attitude of the market,” says Michael Shepherd, the chair of the Kensington Market BIA.

“Losing our vintage stores, losing our fresh vegetable stores, losing our tattoo shops… they’re all reasons that bring different people into this neighbourhood all the time. If we don’t have that, this area just becomes a residential neighbourhood, It’s not a market anymore, and this is Kensington Market, it’s been here for 120 years.”

Keeping the character of the market isn’t just about architecture, it means not pricing out the shops that have lined the streets for decades.

“Kensington has always been a place to start,” says Russell. “That’s connected to affordability, so if we don’t have affordability, we don’t have what we love about Kensington Market. It no longer is a place to start, it’s not even a place that you can stay.”

The property at the centre of the rumoured development is behind Kensington Avenue at 23 St. Andrew, but that property is landlocked with no street front access. Buying the homes at 27 and 29 Kensington helps keep that in place.

“If we can make it more difficult for developers to transform the neighbourhood then that’s part of our mission,” Russell says.

But with so many neighbourhoods in Toronto already transformed, is gentrification inevitable here too?

“Kensington Market is like this thing that should not exist in Toronto and yet does,” says Russell.

“I don’t feel like we’re putting off the inevitable, I don’t feel that at all, because I think that there are enough people who deeply love this community and are willing to do all kinds of things to make this continue.”

The land trust wouldn’t say just how short they are on financing, but the due diligence period for the sale ends on June 5th, leaving the group with just two more weeks to secure their funding and buy the homes.