{"id":2176,"date":"2014-01-07T11:35:20","date_gmt":"2014-01-07T16:35:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.myparkingpermit.com\/blog\/?p=2176"},"modified":"2026-03-30T06:51:11","modified_gmt":"2026-03-30T10:51:11","slug":"ending-condo-parking-toronto","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.myparkingpermit.com/blog\/ending-condo-parking-toronto\/","title":{"rendered":"Ending condo parking in Toronto"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cIt\u2019s getting harder to build parking,\u201d Jared Menkes, director of development for Toronto-based Menkes Development<\/a>, told the press last month.<\/p>\n

\"Waterfront<\/a>

Toronto condominium developments like these are struggling to meet parking minimums.\u00a0From Don Toye<\/a>.<\/p><\/div>\n

In order to meet city-planning requirements, developers are conducting more complex excavation procedures on increasingly smaller lot sizes in downtown Toronto, which is raising the cost of parking spaces somewhere between $50,000 and $60,000. For buyers, that\u2019s an expense not worth adding to unit costs that already average far above $600 per square foot.<\/p>\n

Menkes also believes buyers simply don\u2019t want the parking. \u201cWe\u2019re seeing a huge influx of people coming into the city because they don\u2019t want that power commute anymore,\u201d he said. \u201cThey don\u2019t want to drive. They want to walk to work and step out of their condo to get groceries and dinner.\u201d<\/p>\n

The firm, which develops condos, as well as office and retail space, has begun designing its condo projects so that any of the parking spots it can\u2019t sell with the units can be converted to commercial use: hourly or daily fees are charged at parking lots with their own elevators and stairwells that are separate from those used by condo owners.<\/p>\n

Menkes claims that the firm\u2019s parking initiatives aren\u2019t about maximizing profit, but about aligning with consumer demand. \u201cThis is about a lifestyle change,\u201d he stressed.<\/p>\n

His firm may have plans for future condo parking<\/a>, but what about the hundreds of underground spaces already built and sitting empty?<\/p>\n

Architect Leslie Klein believes they\u2019re the adaptive reuse challenge of the future, likening them to the pre-war industrial warehouses that fell into disuse when the city\u2019s manufacturing industry declined or moved away. Until risk-taking developers and architects like Klein sought to give them new life by converting them to coveted urban residences, such as the Toy Factory Lofts in Toronto\u2019s Liberty Village<\/a> neighborhood, many of the brick buildings sat in disrepair.<\/p>\n

By their very nature, underground parking spaces for condos aren\u2019t visible to pedestrians and so don\u2019t have the same effect that blighted buildings have on cityscapes\u2014but they do affect developers\u2019 pocketbook. \u201cThe most expensive space in a condo project is below grade\u2014all the excavating and shoring up,\u201d explained Menkes.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s why developers need to begin adding light and height beyond the two-meter minimum city planners require of parking for condo projects, Klein argued. Many of today\u2019s underground garages feature low floor-to-ceiling heights and minimal daylight exposure, neither of which give developers, architects, or designers much to work with when considering possible reuses for such spaces.<\/p>\n

But building parking spaces to be higher and brighter demands investment on a space that\u2019s already a loss leader, Menkes pointed out. \u201cWho is going to pay for that?\u201d he asked.<\/p>\n

The answer isn\u2019t yet clear, but Menkes recalled an inventive direction taken in Tokyo: There, underused underground parking spaces are providing opportunities for hydroponic farming whereby plants are grown in water without soil and sometimes without natural light.<\/p>\n

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