London donors saluted as planned SoHo tower moves ahead
Work is expected to begin later this year on the Residenza Victoria project in the former Victoria Hospital district.
Article content
The shovels aren’t in the ground yet, but a non-profit London home builder is saluting donors to a major project it plans in the city’s SoHo neighbourhood near downtown.
Residenza Affordable Housing London, formerly the Italian Seniors Project, plans a 184-unit apartment building on Colborne Street in the area of the former Victoria Hospital, with nearly one-third of the apartments priced to be affordable housing with rents 20 to 30 per cent below market rates.
A portion of the Residenza Victoria building will be named the Sil and Tina Palumbo Family Tower, to recognize a $100,000 donation by Sil Palumbo, a builder himself and former member of the non-profit’s board, and his wife.
“It’s incredible,” Roger Caranci, president of Residenza’s board, said at an event on Thursday. “We’re ecstatic about what (Sil Palumbo) has done. It’s amazing for us to accept something like this.”
Palumbo immigrated to Canada from Italy in 1955 and founded construction company Palumbo Homes in London in 1962.
Two earlier donors were also acknowledged Thursday, Nicholson Sheffield Architects Inc. and the Rotary Club of London North, each of which donated $10,000 for the project.
Another London developer, Southside Group, has donated land in Hyde Park to Residenza for a future project.
Residenza is one of a group of non-profit housing providers that have teamed up, under the Vision SoHo Alliance, to help transform the former hospital district in a massive redevelopment including hundreds of affordable housing units.
Topping out at 11 stories, a portion of the Residenza development will drop down to five floors.
Rents have soared in London’s booming housing market, especially tough on lower-income renters trying to find places or to keep up with the increases. New buildings that combine apartments rented at market rates with others at below-market prices are one way to help narrow that gap.
“Mixed-income housing is one of the most effective methods of creating affordable housing in communities,” said Claudio De Vincenzo, Residenza’s vice president.
Caranci said he expects ground to be broken on the Residenza project, still going through the permit stage, some time late this summer or in the early fall. The project will feature 56 affordable rental units.
Residenza operates two other not-for-profit apartment buildings on Hamilton Road.
Postmedia is committed to maintaining a lively but civil forum for discussion. Please keep comments relevant and respectful. Comments may take up to an hour to appear on the site. You will receive an email if there is a reply to your comment, an update to a thread you follow or if a user you follow comments. Visit our Community Guidelines for more information.