An orphaned burgundy brick house sitting in the shadow of a midtown Toronto tower – one of the area’s last hold-out properties – sold for more than one million over asking this month.
The house at 93 Broadway Avenue was in the hands of the same family for almost 50 years and even as neighbours’ houses were struck down like dominos, the property at the southeast corner of Redpath stayed put.
The now 86-year-old owner was initially approached by developers about a decade ago as the midtown hub began to bustle with high-rise construction.
But at the time, neighbours were offered more per square foot, and as a “principled person,” the owner turned it down, André Kutyan, a real estate broker at Harvey Kalles Real Estate Ltd., said about his client.
“They just decided to build around her,” Kutyan said. The two-storey house became surrounded by a 29-storey residential building. “I can’t imagine the vibrations and the dust, and the sound, and all the nonsense she dealt with during construction.”
Earlier this month, the time finally came to put the house on the market, with the upkeep and space becoming too much for the owner, Kutyan said.
On Sept. 6, it was listed for $1.49 million and two weeks later, it sold for $2.65 million with eight offers on the table.
The listing boasted the house as “a hold-out property beaming with endless possibilities,” adding that current zoning for the 32-by-90-foot lot with a garage already allows for a detached house, semi-detached home, townhouse, duplex, triplex, fourplex and an apartment building.
Another option listed was turning the property into off-site parkland, since developers are required to spend 10 per cent of their land value on park space. With a zoning by-law amendment, Kutyan said the property could also swap over to commercial use for a professional office, retail or restaurant space.
In the end, an individual person with plans to renovate the property bought it.
“I don’t know exactly what they are planning to do with it … but it’s their property when it closes and they can do whatever they want with it,” Kutyan said.
