After nearly two years of renovation, a former downtown London office tower is officially an apartment building. The 94-unit structure at 195 Dufferin Ave. represents the largest office-to-apartment project completed in the city. From the outside, the building retains its 1970s office tower stature, but inside the former IBM and later Sifton headquarters, meeting rooms have been replaced by the comforts of home. 80,000 square feet of space now features 94 apartments, 88 of which are one-bedroom units. Some are also accessible. While they feature unmatched views of the downtown core, each is designed to be affordable. Rents range from $1,100 to $2,000 a month. “We’ve got a 40 per cent affordable and about 60 per cent will be market rate,” said Jim Foote of Homes Unlimited. Thursday’s ribbon-cutting event on the ground floor represented the final piece in the partnership that made it all happen. It began with the generosity of Sifton Properties, which donated the building, and the Anglican Diocese of Huron, which owns the land it sits on. The city and federal government contributed funding. Overseeing it all is Homes Unlimited, a non-profit operator of multiple developments in the city. The charity will also carry a mortgage and the long-term lease offered by the church. We have now agreed to a new 60-year lease for this beautiful property, transformed into incredible housing. And we all know the need for housing here in London,” said Dean Kevin George of St. Paul’s Cathedral. Beyond the funding partnership, the building itself presented multiple challenges to bring it up to modern living codes. “Conversion of office to residential? It’s not one detail. It’s thousands of details. Lots of things must be changed and repurposed,” explained Foote. But thanks to that collective effort of many, the tower will welcome its first tenants beginning late next month. “We saw a need, a vision, and everybody rallied behind it in order to come to what we have today,” shared Richard Sifton, head of his family’s development firm. Beyond the building, they also renovated and supplied furniture for the common room on the main floor. London Mayor Josh Morgan says he views the project as a key part of the future of the downtown core. “Taking this office building that is underutilized, and now, being turned into a place, not just for people to live, but for people to live affordably as well.” And in dignity, as the church said. It’s a point echoed by London-Centre MP Peter Fragiskatos. “To Homes Unlimited and to the arch diocese, you are grounded in values. That’s what your work is all about. They are Christian values, yes, but I would also say that these are universal values, universal human values,” he said.
