Leading by Example
Toronto’s former chief planner and mayoral runner-up Jennifer Keesmaat is leveraging her city-building expertise to rethink housing – this time as a developer
Past the construction cranes and concrete pours that define North York’s skyline, a new chapter in Toronto’s urban evolution is quietly unfolding. Dubbed Tyndale Green, the upcoming mixedincome, pedestrian-oriented community is the inaugural project for Markee Developments, a company founded by Jennifer Keesmaat and Jason Marks. We caught up with her about this future community and the process of rethinking housing.
Beyond Short-term Profits
“There’s a gap in how we’re delivering housing in Canada,” says Keesmaat. “What if we took the highest aspirations regarding city-building and brought them to affordable housing? That’s what we’re trying to do. At Tyndale Green, we want to demonstrate that it’s possible to design, build and deliver housing in a way that is primarily driven by inclusion and the broader public interest. It’s a partnership – and a business model – driven by shared values. We partner with landowners who aren’t interested in selling land just to generate profit, but to deliver a public good. By taking the land cost of out of the equation, we’re able to build rental housing that remains affordable and inclusive in the long term.
The Business Case for Sustainability
“Condo developers are in and out. They build a product, put it up for sale, and then they walk away,” Keesmaat says. “As a rental developer, our incentive is different. Because we intend to own the homes over a very long period of time, we have a vested interest in putting in geothermal energy, and investing in materials that have longevity. Internationally, you see high-quality rental communities, so together with lead designers KPMB Architects, we want to bring that kind of thinking here. Markee is not going to create this new community and then walk away from it. Our sustainability agenda is in some ways selfserving: it’s good business.”
Community Is a Resource
“We’re not just interested in building buildings, we’re interested in building communities,” says Keesmaat. “City-building ought to be a deeply collaborative process. If residents feel like something is happening at them, as opposed to something they’re participating in, it hurts both the community and the project. In my experience, you always have interests that are integrated. Housing development is an expert and technical discipline – but one that can be improved through community input.” MARKEEDEVELOPMENTS.COM