Yonge Street Mission took a bold step in October, announcing it has sold its namesake property at 381 Yonge Street, Toronto.
The building has been used by the mission since 1904, and is currently home to Evergreen, a centre for street-involved youth.
The needs of the youth are shifting and “we’re outgrowing the space,” said Angela Draskovic, YSM’s president and CEO. The Yonge Street property includes facilities to provide basic health care, employment services, meals, programs and a drop-in centre. But it lacks quiet spaces for one-on-one counseling, for example.
Over the years, YSM has received several unsolicited offers for the property, which is in a prime downtown location. The board struck a property committee to consider such offers.
“This is a historic decision for Yonge Street Mission and not one to be taken lightly and one to be done for the right reason,” said Draskovic, who became CEO in June. “When this call came through from the company that offered to buy the property, it was my eighth day on the job. I looked up and said, ‘God, you’re laughing at me.’”
Although YSM cannot release the sale price or the name of the private real estate equity company that bought the property, Draskovic confirmed that an appraisal last year valued the property at $4 million and stressed that the sale price was “significantly more.”
“It was a significant opportunity to increase our investment,” she said. “God was very good on this.”
The parties agreed on a closing date of September 2016. Over the next three years, YSM plans to do research and determine what type of space would best meet the needs of the mission and the communities it serves, and how it might use the remaining funds from the sale to expand its operations.
“Moving forward, our vision is to provide services on a full continuum for all the individuals living with poverty in our city,” she said. Although YSM has historically been associated with relief work like providing meals and clothing, it also does community development work in the city.
“People tend to think it’s either/or,” she said. “I say we have both … There will be some people who need a safe place first, need a meal first. Others in the community may be farther along on that journey and can say, this is what I’d like us to do together.”
YSM operates in six locations and provides services for various impoverished and at-risk groups in Toronto.
