A 70-Unit Church Conversion in Receivership With $42 Million Owed: Toronto’s High Park Project Stalls

• The former High Park Alhambra church site at 248 and 260 High Park Avenue is being converted to 70 condos
• The project went into receivership on May 27, 2024
• About $42.2 million is owed to Meridian Credit Union
• 64 of the 70 units had been pre-sold before construction stopped

A condo project built around a former Toronto church has run out of money, Storeys reported in October 2024, with a brokerage brought in to sell it.

The project at 248 and 260 High Park Avenue, the site of the former High Park Alhambra church, was planned as 70 condominium units, 64 of which had been pre-sold. Construction stopped in late 2023. On May 27, 2024, the project was placed in receivership, owing $42.2 million to Meridian Credit Union. A court filing said trade contractors had left “due to liquidity challenges and other delays.”

Developer TRAC Developments, general partner of 260 High Park Limited Partnership, said it was “committed to seeing this condominium project through to completion despite unexpected obstacles.” President of developments Chris Giamou said: “While the receiver can make the recommendation to the courts to sell the project, we don’t believe such a decision would be in the best interests” of those involved.

In June 2021, the project website had announced a tower crane that was “allowing for full capacity construction work.” Three years later, the site was in the hands of a receiver.

Church conversions are often presented as a neat solution to empty sanctuaries and housing shortages. But they are complex builds: heritage elements must be kept, old structures must be strengthened, and costs can rise sharply. When they do, the buyers who paid deposits and the lenders who financed the work are left exposed.

For Jamaican churches selling land to developers, and for diaspora buyers purchasing off-plan units, the lesson is to check the developer’s track record and finances, understand how deposits are protected, and make sure the church’s own interests, such as payment for the land or space in the new building, are secured before construction starts rather than depending on the project’s success.