Erin Mills ~ Innovative Development Financing
By Brian Madigan LL.B.
(ORES)
Some innovative financing techniques were employed to develop Erin Mills. Remember that it was the second major development of the Don Mills Development group. The only problem was that it was much larger and it was being placed in a City (then, still a town) with insufficient funds.
Erin Mills started out on the drawings boards in the 1950's. Argus Corporation a holding company operated by a senior, successful Canadian entrepreneur, E.P. Taylor and his associates began aquiring the farms.
The late 1950's and early 1960's was the prime time for Canada's first planned subdivision Don Mills. E.P. Taylor was the mastermind behind the project, or at the very least, he was the "money man". Canada's second planned community was Erin Mills. He incorporated Don Mills Developments Ltd. and Cadillac Fairview Corporation and a few other companies to lead the development.
In many ways, Erin Mills followed Don Mills. The same developer and the same people. Don Mills was the first Canadian planned community. It occupied about 2,000 acres. The Erin Mills project was 8,000 acres.
E.P. Taylor was the Chairman of Argus Corporation which was a large holding company. It controlled many multi-national corporations including Massey-Ferguson, Dominion Stores, and a number of breweries including Carling-O'Keefe. Mr. Taylor wanted to deal with one large company that would assume responsibility for the entire subdivision. The only problem was that there weren't any. So, he incorporated Don Mills Developments himself.
Until that time, many small contractors and builders would be involved. Taylor wanted a masterplan, and he wanted someone to take responsibility for it.
Don Mills was located in the Borough of North York, a suburb to the north of Toronto. One rather major problem was present. There was not enough money for roads and sewer connections and some of the Borough's responsibilities if these lands were to be developed. Taylor had the solution: it was only money. And he would pay!
That changed the way land development took place in Ontario forever. The developers of large tracs of land would front-end the costs for the municipality. It worked in North York as an experiment.
So, the Taylor group took the same proposal to the Town of Mississauga and offered the same deal. We'll front-end the development costs for the municipality in exchange for the early development and release of the lands. The Town of Mississauga loved the idea. The deal was done: Taylor could have his 8,000 acres and call it Erin Mills.
Throughout the country, for any large development, the municipalities look for the developers to front-end the municipal roads, water systems, sewer systems, parks and other services and infrastructure. No looking back now!
Brian Madigan LL.B., Broker is an author and commentator on real estate matters, Royal LePage Innovators Realty
905-796-8888
www.OntarioRealEstateSource.com
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