Capital Developments

Capital Developments is a Toronto residential developer founded in 2007 by Todd Cowan and Jordan Dermer, working from 45 St. Clair Avenue West. The company describes itself as a Canadian industry leader with international roots.

Those roots are specific. Before Capital, Cowan and Dermer built TriGranit, developing across Europe. Between the two companies they have delivered nearly 12 million square feet of commercial and residential space.

Recent Toronto completions include Azura Condominiums, 155 Redpath and 150 Redpath, the latter two in the Yonge and Eglinton area.

Completed and occupied buildings are the most useful thing on any developer’s record, because they can be visited, and their maintenance fees and resale prices can be looked up.

A 3.6 million square foot pipeline, concentrated in two large master-planned communities:

• 1.8 million square feet at Bloor and Dufferin
• 1.4 million square feet at Yonge and St. Clair, where the company acts as Development Manager rather than sole owner

The Development Manager distinction matters. On that project Capital runs the development but the ownership structure is different, so confirm who your vendor actually is.

The company states its project partners include the country’s biggest banks and largest investors, and it places unusual emphasis on relationships as the thing it is really building.

Institutional banking and investment partners are a meaningful signal on a pre-construction purchase, because a project that has cleared a major lender’s underwriting has been examined by people with money at risk.

Establish the ownership structure on your specific project, particularly if it is one where Capital acts as Development Manager. Ask who the vendor is on the agreement and who carries the warranty obligation.

Go and look at 150 and 155 Redpath. They are complete, occupied and easy to visit, and they will tell you more about what you are buying than any rendering.

Then the usual: deposit schedule, maintenance fee estimate and its basis, what is standard rather than an upgrade, parking and locker, and the occupancy and registration timeline.

Todd Cowan and Jordan Dermer built TriGranit developing across Europe before founding Capital Developments in Toronto in 2007. That background shows up in the type of project they take on: large, master-planned, mixed-use sites rather than single infill towers.

European city-building works at that scale as a matter of course, and both of the company's major current projects, at Bloor and Dufferin and at Yonge and St. Clair, are whole-district undertakings rather than single buildings.

For a buyer that means your purchase sits inside a long build-out. Ask what is scheduled next to you and when, because you will live through it.