DEVELOPING STORIES

COULD 1289 NICOLA BECOME ACTIVE AGAIN?
Lot now in the hands of new owners following court-ordered sale

by Jake McGrail
(click images to enlarge)

WHAT 1289 NICOLA COULD HAVE LOOKED LIKE (dimex group/cornerstone architecture)

There’s not been much to write about in the last couple years when it comes to the lot at 1289 Nicola Street (formerly 1509-1533 Harwood Street). The reason for that? Another story of a real estate project foreclosure. But the court-ordered sale of the property a couple of months ago opens the door for a new development.

All the way back in 2018, there was a development proposal to turn the existing building at the site (a one-storey apartment complex) into a six-storey condo building.

The exact interior design of that proposal changed over time – from five units, to 13 units, to ten units with three of them being rentals, but what remained consistent was the plan to build spacious, environmentally-friendly homes.

1289 Nicola as it stood for decades until demolition.

With two and three-bedroom units ranging from around 1,100 to 1,350 square feet, the 1289 Nicola project (owned by real estate developer Dimex Group) aimed to incorporate Passive House standards, which emphasize energy efficiency and a very low carbon footprint.

Design features like extra concrete insulation, triple-glazed windows and a new type of air circulation system all focused on making the homes more energy efficient, helping the environment while also lowering utility bills for occupants.

But while all of that sounds nice, in reality the project never came close to installing any windows. In early 2022 the estimated completion date was late 2023. Coincidentally, November 2023 is when the foreclosure proceedings began. 

At that time, the project was nearly $4 million in debt, and while the existing 1942 building on the lot, containing several rental suites, had been demolished, there was nothing new to show for it on the property. The empty 1289 Nicola lot was eventually placed under receivership and put up for a court-ordered sale.

The planned interior of one of the units (DIMex group/cornerstone architecture)

Initially priced at $5.6 million last January, the eventual winning bid was just under $3.6 million from local company Epix Developments. The sale finally closed in December, marking the end of a two-year-long process to find a new owner.

It’s unfortunate that this piece of land that was once home to a number of West Enders has now been sitting empty and not housing anyone for multiple years now. Now, with new ownership, there’s the hope that could change, but it certainly won’t be instantaneous.

Epix has said that they plan on designing something wholly different from what Dimex had envisioned, and are presumably working on that right now. We’ll just have to wait and see what that new proposal ends up being, and if shovels can actually get into the ground this time around.