Sneaky Dee's avoids the wrecking ball
· Toronto Sun
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Sneaky Dee’s and the Royal Bank of Canada struck a major chord and will continue to make beautiful music together.
“It is worth noting that the recent news coverage was focused on the dislocation of our neighbour, Sneaky Dees, a popular community music venue,” RBC said in a letter addressed to Toronto city council prior to last Wednesday’s council meeting. ”We believe that it is worth pointing out here that our business has co-existed with the Sneaky Dees use for many years and we would be entirely content to see that relationship continue.”
And with that letter, Toronto developer the Goldberg Group withdrew its proposal to build a mixed-use building on the southeast corner of College and Bathurst Sts. currently occupied by the live music venue.
The proposal was for a 16-storey mixed-use building with 130 one-bedroom units, 52 two-bedroom units, and 21 three-bedroom units. The plan also included 1,235 square metres of non-residential space comprised of two retail units and one music venue space on the ground floor fronting College St. and within the basement level.
According to the Save Sneaky Dee’s website, the battle for this parcel of land began back in November 2020 when the Toronto and East York community council received the original application to permit a 13-storey mixed-use building. The battle for this parcel of land has been on and off ever since.
How the about-face came about
The about-face comes after several weeks of grassroots politicking at the local level, but it was RBC that provided the fatal punch to the plan.
“This letter is to make absolutely clear that the parcel at 429 College Street is under RBC ownership and not the numbered company who has submitted the above-mentioned development application,” said Johanna Oakley, director of retail transactions. “The present development scheme cannot proceed in the absence of proponent ownership of the 429 College Street parcel.”
Following that notice, the Goldberg Group’s founding principal, Michael J. Goldberg, formally withdrew the application.
“I have been instructed by the president of my client’s companies to formally withdraw the subject application, which this email is doing,” the letter to city council said. “With this formal action taken by the owner, this withdrawn application should also be withdrawn from the agenda of the July 8 Community Council meeting.”
Bar has been part of Toronto fabric
Since 1987, Sneaky Dee’s has been at the nexus of the alternative scene, helping to provide a testing ground for bands like the Barenaked Ladies, Broken Social Scene, Feist and Arcade Fire. Apparently, the heaping piles of nachos are pretty good too.
The campaign to save the venue drew support from Councillor Josh Matlow.
“For generations, Sneaky Dee’s has been a special place for so many Torontonians,” Matlow wrote on ‘X.’“The delicious burros, the music and most importantly, the community. It’s more than a bar — it’s part of our city’s cultural scene.
“Supporting more housing should not have to come at the expense of ensuring that we also have schools, social services, parks, infrastructure and, yes, the iconic places that we love and value. May Sneaks continue to make our city a more fun and happy place — and where people feel they belong.”