New condo will have separate doors for rich and poor

Toronto's getting another condo with - as New Yorkers would say - a "poor door". The Aqualina Bayside development, coming to the city's waterfront in 2018, will feature full-priced luxury units, as well as a number of subsidized, affordable lofts that will be offered to artists through Artscape - with separate entrances and amenities for each.

It's currently a hot-button issue in the Big Apple, where an Upper West Side development with separate entrances and common areas for higher - and lower-rent residents has drawn so much public attention that the city is planning to forbid the separate entrances.

At Aqualina Bayside, the lower-rent portion of the building will be owned by the city and managed by Artscape. City director of affordable housing Sean Gadon told Metro that the separation is what helps keep costs down.

"The residents have their own amenities space that doesn't include...things that you would find in an upscale condominium. The affordable component is designed to be affordable."

Interestingly, Toronto already has a two-entrance, mixed-housing building -- another Artscape project, the Triangle Lofts, opened in 2010. Affordable housing co-ops and TCHC housing have also been housed together in separate-entrance buildings for decades - though the doors being used to separate populations of two widely disparate income levels is a new development.