Sun Life Financial: “Alto” multi-residential rental apartment development

Deciding to convert a formerly commercial site into a multi-residential project isn’t exactly groundbreaking in Toronto, but Sun Life Financial ’s approach was.

Starting with a site with significant contamination, the company first engaged with  stakeholders to determine how the site could best be improved.  After remediation, an 8 story apartment building with street-front retail space along Dundas West was  constructed to meet LEED Silver standards, and to serve the needs of health and sustainability conscious tenants.  Some of those features?  A non-smoking policy throughout the entire building, a first for an apartment building in City of Toronto; on-site fitness facility, bicycles and car sharing vehicles located on site; a partnership with Bullfrog Power, to source sustainable green power for the Alto building for both the common areas and the residential suites; and metering of all in-suite hydro and water usage, with tenants aware of being accountable for their own usage.  The end result: 100% of the suites were occupied within 24 weeks of receiving occupancy permits.