One day after news that Sneaky Dee’s has been saved from the wrecking ball, Coun. Dianne Saxe is praising the hard work done by the community to save the iconic downtown restaurant and dive bar.
The developer of a 16-storey building at the corner of Bathurst and College streets formally withdrew the proposal on Friday ahead of a July 8 meeting of the Toronto and East York Community Council, which Saxe admits was set to likely approve the application.
While no reason was given in the letter as to why the application was pulled, Saxe pointed to an “unexpected breakthrough” two weeks ago when members of the Save Sneaky Dee’s movement uncovered information suggesting that the developer did not own all five properties that were included in the development proposal.
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“Working together, we immediately began investigating. I requested a title search, which confirmed that the developer owned only two of the five properties identified in the application,” Saxe said in a statement to CityNews on Saturday.
Saxe added that when they approached the developer about this discrepancy, she was told it was an error on the application and that they had received “oral consent” from the Royal Bank to develop the property.
“Given my experience, that explanation did not seem consistent with how a major financial institution would handle real estate matters,” she said.
“I contacted senior representatives at the Royal Bank directly to determine whether they had, in fact, consented to the redevelopment of their property. Their answer was clear: they had not.”
A letter submitted by Globe Realty Holdings Ltd., which is a subsidiary of the Royal Bank, on Friday claimed “RBC has no agreement of purchase and sale or any agreement of any kind,” and that they would object to any official plan redesignation and/or zoning amendments.
A short while later, Saxe says the developer submitted a letter withdrawing the application.
“This victory belongs to everyone who signed petitions, attended meetings, shared their stories, asked hard questions, and refused to let one of Toronto’s most beloved music venues disappear without a fight,” said Saxe.
“Community voices mattered. Community action mattered. Together, we proved that when people come together to protect the places that define our city, extraordinary things are possible.”