The University of Toronto will announce today that it is selling the David Dunlap Observatory property in Richmond Hill to Metrus Development, a company headed by prominent GTA developer Fred DeGasperis, industry sources said over the weekend.
The 77-hectare property will bring the university between $65-million and $75-million, significantly below the $100-million or more that some suggested it could bring when the university put it on the market in November, the sources said.
The observatory, which opened in 1935, was donated to the university by Jessie Donalda Dunlap in honour of her husband, an amateur astronomer. The sale of the lands and the buildings has triggered controversy, even though the university will reinvest the proceeds in the Dunlap Institute for Astronomy and Astrophysics.
In mid-July, opponents of the sale filed a court motion to try to stop the university from removing the contents of buildings on the site after the university announced that it had found a buyer, but the name of the purchaser and the details of the sale were being withheld until the deal closed, which it did last week.
Although Metrus is a major residential property developer, it has no immediate plans to build on the site, and since it has not been rezoned for development, it would take years for the company to get the necessary approvals and start construction.
Industry sources noted that if the university had chosen to develop the site and had taken the time to get development approvals, it would have received much more for it, because land on which construction can begin immediately may be worth as much as four times the value of property that does not have project approval.
Although the university has closed the observatory, where 35 years ago a researcher produced proof of the existence of black holes, Metrus is said to be willing to try to keep the observatory and telescope running and is looking for proposals for future operation. Development in the region has reduced the observatory's reach through increased ambient light.
The developer also plans to keep the historic buildings on the site - the observatory and administration building, both of which date to 1935, and an 1848 farmhouse - even if they have not received historical designation from a conservation board, the sources added.
The property that Metrus is buying is in two parcels.
The 71.7-hectare main block runs from a CNR line east to Bayview Avenue, on which it has nearly 600 metres of frontage, just south of Hillsview Drive, on which it has just over a kilometre of frontage.
The 5.2-hectare side block, which is leased to the Town of Richmond Hill, runs south from the main property to 16th Avenue. It is used for the Elvis Stojko Arena and the David Dunlap Observatory Park, and the town would like to acquire it, if necessary by expropriation, according to the university.
