The price of the Maison de la francophonie de Toronto project — a space that would bring together several Francophone organizations in the Queen City — could be more than $17 million, according to the latest estimates from the committee leading the project. It depends on federal government funding to see the light of day.
The project for a Francophone house in Toronto has been in the making for more than a decade. Discussions with Canadian Heritage (PCH) — the main funder — stalled a year ago, so much so that the future of the house was at stake. Kip Daeschel, a member of the committee leading the project, however, says more constructive discussions have taken place since the September 2021 federal election, leading to an upward estimate of funding needs, from $12 million to more than $17 million.
A first request for funding was sent to PCH in 2019. It was updated this summer in light of an assessment of the cost of purchasing and renovating the space, carried out at the request of PCH. The price for the space north of downtown Toronto is estimated at around $12.5 million, while the committee will have to pay $5 million for renovations. The private equity fund ready to sell the space would, however, contribute $1 million to the project, following the sale.
According to Kip Daeschel, the seller, under a commercial agreement, has been ready for two years to offer the space to the Maison de la francophonie in Toronto, at a price of $12.5 million. The independent expert hired by the committee at the request of the federal government arrived at an almost identical assessment. But the committee is not out of the woods as the government is now making its own assessment. “We are not convinced that it is necessary”, judges the member of the House committee.
The decision to initiate a second assessment carries a risk according to Kip Daeschel, a trained lawyer. The first expert “took the time to understand the context of the transaction and the intended use,” he argues. If the new evaluator, who has not yet spoken to the committee, does not do the same work and arrives at an evaluation lower than the price of the agreement, the project could fall through. It would be inconvenient, according to Kip Daeschel, to approach the seller with a price lower than that on which the parties had agreed.
Essential funding
Kip Daeschel is clear: if the federal government refuses to fund the project, the latter “is dead”. The provincial government, for its part, does not participate in the financing. Other threats await the committee, such as the possibility that a buyer decides to offer the seller $2 million more to acquire the space, which is in a popular area of Toronto, near the parliament and two metro stations.
In a letter sent to its partners, including its future tenants, the committee writes that the House provides a remedy to a chronic problem of French-speaking non-profit organizations in Toronto, whose resources are often insufficient to cover the rental of suitable and appropriate premises. Several organizations have shown interest in the project over the past three years, but they are not legally linked to the House. One of the largest tenants would be a Francophone daycare, which would occupy 40% of the approximately 10,000 square foot space.
Asked if the federal government could ask the committee to find expensive commercial space, Kip Daeschel replied “no”. “We have already spent 15 years finding this place, which corresponds to the requests of the community, that is to say that it is central, available, near public transport and with good public parking”, explains- he. “We are at the end of our rope,” he continues.
This story is supported by the Local Journalism Initiative, funded by the Government of Canada.