Toronto building where 20 artists were evicted during pandemic for sale at $4.5M

One of Toronto's most talked-about artist live-work buildings is back in the spotlight.

The former industrial building at 17 Paton Rd., where roughly 20 artists were forced to leave their homes during the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic, has hit the market with a $4.5 million asking price.

The listing pitches the circa-1927 brick-and-beam building as a "rare opportunity" with redevelopment potential, describing it as suitable for everything from creative offices and studios to residential conversion or a larger development project.

Exterior shots of 17 Paton Rd.  

But for many in Toronto's arts community, the address represents the loss of one of the city's increasingly rare affordable live-work spaces.

In March 2020, just one day before the World Health Organization declared COVID-19 a global pandemic, Toronto ordered the building evacuated after determining it failed to comply with the Ontario Fire Code, most notably because the residential units lacked a required second exit.

The order displaced about 20 residents, many of whom had lived and worked in the former garment factory for years.

For the tenants, the timing felt almost impossible.

Many questioned how they were expected to find affordable housing — let alone affordable studio space — as both a housing crisis and a global pandemic unfolded simultaneously. Rather than simply opposing the evacuation, they argued there had to be another path: one that would allow critical fire safety upgrades while preserving one of the city's few remaining artist communities.

A housing crisis performance art piece by Claude Wittman featuring artists on the day of eviction (2020). Photo by Henry Chan.

The campaign that followed became one of the more unusual housing fights of the pandemic.

Working with the Parkdale Neighbourhood Land Trust, residents proposed purchasing the building and turning it into a housing co-operative, preserving both affordable homes and studio space for future artists. The idea attracted widespread support from artists, community organizations and elected officials, who saw the building as an increasingly rare example of affordable creative space in Toronto.

The story, however, wasn't simply one of developers pushing artists out.

According to the Toronto Star, the Costanza family, who had owned the building since the early 1970s after operating a women's garment factory there, maintained they also wanted the artists to stay.

They told The Star they had already invested roughly $250,000 in fire safety upgrades and hoped to continue operating the building rather than sell it. But they argued the city's evacuation order — and the requirement to pay more than $40,000 a month for a mandatory fire watch while collecting roughly $16,000 in rent — made that increasingly difficult.

City officials, meanwhile, insisted they had little choice.

Pictures of the different units inside 17 Paton Rd. 

While acknowledging the importance of preserving affordable housing, Toronto maintained that life-safety concerns couldn't be ignored, pointing to the lack of a second exit as a fundamental requirement for residential occupancy.

Despite months of advocacy and negotiations, the proposed sale to the Parkdale Neighbourhood Land Trust never materialized, and by September 2020 the residents had all moved out.

Today, the building is being marketed as a redevelopment opportunity.

The 3.5-storey property contains five units per floor, ranging from studios to two-bedroom layouts that historically functioned as residential live-work spaces. The listing says the mixed industrial-residential zoning could accommodate owner occupancy, creative office space, studios, residential conversion or redevelopment, subject to approvals.

More interior shots of the units in 17 Paton Rd. 

It also notes that the building requires "substantial renovations" before it can be occupied again and is being sold strictly on an "as is, where is" basis.

In addition to 17 Paton Rd., the neighbouring properties at 21 and 23 Paton Rd. are also being sold and could potentially be assembled into a larger development site.

For a developer, this is just another downtown redevelopment opportunity.

For everyone else, it's another reminder of how difficult it has become to preserve affordable housing in this city.