The Eglinton Crosstown LRT

Anyone travelling from the North to the South of Toronto, the Line 5 Eglinton construction is a familiar sight. The project, which started in 2011, has been causing traffic headaches for a decade now. Although the project is now scheduled to be completed next year, the project has been delayed so many times, that many are not optimistic about this timeline either. When it is completed, however, it will be a great new transit route for getting across the east and west ends of the city.

Due to its many delays, the history of Line 5 Eglinton, what it is and what it will do may have been long forgotten. This blog will go into the complicated history of this new transit line, show how it will improve our future and discuss how real estate will benefit from the line.

Line 5 Eglinton, also called the Eglinton Crosstown, is a partially underground light rail line. It was announced in 2007 by Toronto mayor David Miller and TTC chair Adam Giambrone. Line 5 was part of the Transit City plan, which included the implementation of six other light rail lines across Toronto. The original version of the line would have run from Pearson Airport along Silver Dart Drive to Convair Drive. The line would have then turned southwest to a bridge over Highway 401 to reach Commerce Boulevard on the other side, where it would run south to reach Eglinton Avenue and the east end of the Mississauga Transitway. The rest of the line would run east along Eglinton Avenue, including a portion along which the proposed Eglinton West subway line would have been built. The line would then traverse the city, connecting with Line 1 Yonge–University, Line 2 Bloor–Danforth, and Line 3 Scarborough.

There were 43 stops planned for the Eglinton Crosstown LRT, 13 of which would be underground. The line would have terminated at Kennedy station to the east in Scarborough where it would meet Line 2 Bloor–Danforth, the proposed Scarborough Malvern LRT and the Stouffville GO train line. The expected cost was $4.6 billion. As a result of provincial funding cuts, construction of the line was divided into two phases: phase one would end at Jane Street, and phase two would terminate as had been planned at Pearson Airport.

Miller's successor, Rob Ford, announced the cancellation of Transit City on December 1, 2010, the day he took office. He proposed an alternative titled the "Eglinton–Scarborough Crosstown Line", which put the 19-kilometre line along Eglinton Avenue completely underground. The line would have then followed the route of Line 3 Scarborough, thus forming a single line continuously from Black Creek Drive to McCowan. The cost would almost double to $8.2 billion and, compared to the original plan, 18 fewer stops were planned, including the elimination of the connection to Pearson Airport. Most of the additional cost would have come from putting 12 additional stations underground and for converting the existing Scarborough Rapid Transit (RT) Route.

On February 8, 2012, in a special meeting, Toronto City Council, voted 25 to 18 to override Mayor Ford's modifications to the project. The vote reinstated the original proposal to only construct the portion between Laird Drive and Keele Street underground while the remainder of the line is built along the surface. On November 30, 2012, the environmental assessment was revised, such that the east tunnel portal location would be moved from east of Brentcliffe to east of Don Mills. This, however, was reversed in May 2013 after receiving community feedback. In January 2013, city councillors from Scarborough put forward an alternative plan to proceed with the construction of the Eglinton Avenue portion of the line as planned but to exclude the Scarborough RT from the line. In July 2013, plans for an "Eglinton-Scarborough Crosstown" line were abandoned, thereby reverting the entire line back to the plan that had been conceived under Transit City.

The Line 5 Eglinton that is currently being built is owned by Metrolinx and operated by the Toronto Transit Commission (TTC). The line will be part of the Toronto subway system as its fifth route. The first phase of the 19-kilometre line will include 25 stops along Eglinton Avenue, from Mount Dennis station underground to Laird station, after which it will run predominantly at-grade within the street's median to Kennedy station, where it will connect underground with Line 2 Bloor–Danforth and Line 3 Scarborough.

Toronto homeowners who live in the vicinity of the upcoming Eglinton Crosstown LRT may soon find that having to deal with a painful decade of disruptive construction was worth the added value the transit line will mean for their properties.

New numbers from condo listing site Strata show that the 19 km-long, 25-stop transit route has already caused a hike in real estate prices in the areas surrounding it, even though its completion has been delayed numerous times and it isn't expected to open to the public until sometime after Fall 2022.

The company's experts examined price-per-square-foot data for condos within 900 m of every stop on the line dating back to when work on it began in 2011, and found that the anticipation of the Crosstown has increased home values in some areas by as much as 135 per cent.

The biggest price jumps have so far been on both ends of the line, where homes will now have a more direct, speedier public transportation connection to new parts of the city.

For example, near Kennedy Station in Scarborough — which serves as the Line 5s easternmost station — the average price of a home now sits around $500 per square foot, compared to $212 per square foot just five years ago.

And just one stop westward the same phenomenon is occurring, with prices climbing 134 per cent in the same time frame.

On the westernmost end of the route, values have jumped 67 per cent at Mount Dennis station, but 103 per cent one station eastward — and this is before work on the westward extension to Pearson Airport has begun and, as mentioned, years before the Crosstown itself is even operational.

Even condos near the middle of the LRT closest to Mount Pleasant and Eglinton stations have seen values spike an average of 63 per cent in the last five years.

These hubs are also where new condo developers have been focusing, which in turn has ended up leading to even greater price appreciation on the farthest reaches of the tracks, where housing options are perhaps more limited.

Those lucky enough to own anywhere along Eglinton but looking to relocate might be prudent to continue to weather the irritating construction and hold on to their property for at least a few more years until the full benefit off the Crosstown can be felt.