Bailout of downtown Toronto MaRS building costs Ontario $309 million

TORONTO – Ontario’s government is spending $309 million to bail out a private real estate developer and gain control of a downtown Toronto building.

Infrastructure Minister Brad Duguid says the decision was not made lightly, but the government has entered into a conditional agreement to acquire an interest in the MaRS Phase 2 building.

He says an expert panel recommended that the province buy Alexandria Real Estate’s interests to give them more flexibility in setting rent rates to get more tenants in the mostly empty office tower.

Progressive Conservative critic Vic Fedeli says he doesn’t know why the government should be in the business of bailing out U.S. real estate firms.

Fedeli says the $309-million expense is only the start of the costs associated with the MaRS development, the true cost is hundreds of millions of dollars more.

NDP critic Catherine Fife says the government is on the one hand trying to divest public assets – it is putting LCBO waterfront property in Toronto up for sale – while at the same time acquiring them “out of an act of desperation” because she says this was a bad business deal.