Latest news with #MitchellCohen
National Post
4 days ago
- Business
- National Post
On the map: A chance to own at Yonge and Sheppard
For Mitchell Cohen, developing a GTA condo project in today's sluggish market means taking the long view. 'The market is cyclical,' the chief operating officer of Westdale Construction says. 'Like NFL football, it always comes back strong. Right now, the tide is out. But we know it will return.' Article content Cohen is currently bringing that confidence to a new Westdale project, a 16-storey development rising at 53 Sheppard Ave. W., near the Sheppard-Yonge subway interchange and Highway 401. Article content Article content The development, a joint venture between Westdale and Fieldgate Urban, is 92 percent sold as construction reaches the fourth floor. Occupancy of the 352 suites, which range from studios to three-bedrooms, is slated for 2027. Article content NorthCore's location is one of its draws, Cohen says. As well as being surrounded by urban amenities — more than 200 restaurants, three major shopping malls and dozens of coffee shops are within walking distance — it's connected to Albert Standing Park via a parkland dedication of more than 5,000 square feet on the southeast corner of NorthCore's site. Article content 'You won't be looking into another tower here,' Cohen says. 'You'll be looking out over low-rise neighbourhoods and treetops. That means sunset views, light-filled interiors, and a genuine sense of breathing room.' Article content Article content Most NorthCore buyers, he continues, are young professionals drawn to the location, transit access and an amenity package he describes as 'tailored to modern urban life.' The building includes more than 8,000 square feet of indoor amenity space and almost as much outdoors. The former includes a 3,700-square-foot fitness centre with yoga rooms, cardio zones, saunas and a boxing space; a 1,450-square-foot co-working lounge with private Zoom rooms and meeting facilities; a 1,150-square-foot Creative Hub with green screen production spaces, editing suites and a soundproof music room; and a 1,350-square-foot social lounge and private dining area with a catering kitchen. Outdoors, a ground-floor terrace designed for fire-pit gatherings and al fresco dining links to picturesque Albert Standing Park, which is home to a decorative fountain, picnic tables and sitting areas, and paved walking paths. The building will also include 2,000 square feet of ground-level retail facing the park. Article content NorthCore is modest in scale compared to the towers that cluster around Yonge Street, and Cohen sees that as a strength: 'You're not lost in a sea of 500 or 600 units. With half as many homes, the building will have a real sense of community.' Article content Standard unit finishes include nine-foot ceilings, floor-to-ceiling windows, and kitchens with quartz countertops and stainless-steel appliances. Buyers can then personalize their units with upgrade options like panelled appliances, all-stone surfaces and custom cabinetry. Article content Despite broader market fluctuations, Cohen remains optimistic that the project will sell out soon. 'The fundamentals haven't changed,' he says. 'We're still facing a housing shortage in the GTHA. People still want and need good places to live where everything they need is either in the building or a short walk away.' Article content Article content Three things Article content The Cactus Club Cafe opened its third Toronto location at the Yonge Sheppard Centre in 2024. The 14,000-square-foot restaurant features a lounge, dining room and an all-season patio, seating more than 350 guests. Menu highlights include Thai red curry, frozen margaritas, and signature dishes like butternut squash ravioli with prawns. 4841 Yonge St. Article content Metrolinx is developing an Initial Business Case to extend Toronto's Sheppard subway line east to Scarborough and west to Sheppard West Station. Public consultations are ongoing, with the project's feasibility and transit mode — subway or LRT — still under evaluation. Article content Toronto's Earl Bales Ski and Snowboard Centre offers winter sports enthusiasts a convenient urban option. Facilities include a beginner hill with rope tow, main hill with two runs, a race hill accessed via a four-person chairlift, and an accessible ski chalet. 4169 Bathurst St.
CBC
30-04-2025
- Business
- CBC
As the Bloomfield saga drags on, a Toronto developer laments what could have been
Thousands of condos and apartments have been built, there's a soccer pitch, community and cultural centres, a grocery store and much more, all part of a massive redevelopment of a once neglected downtown Toronto neighbourhood. It's hard to imagine a sharper contrast than between the transformation of that city's Regent Park neighbourhood and the ever-stalled redevelopment of Halifax's perennial municipal headache, the former Bloomfield school site on Agricola Street. All the more painfully apparent because the developer behind the Regent Park project tried, but failed, more than a decade ago to convince Halifax officials of the day that they should follow a similar model with Bloomfield. "Bloomfield, I believe, is, was, a lost opportunity, a missed opportunity for the city," says Mitchell Cohen, the chief executive of Daniels Corp., the company behind the work in Regent Park. In 2012, his company submitted a proposal to the Halifax Regional Municipality to do for Bloomfield, which the city was trying to off-load, something similar to the work Daniels Corp. was already doing in Toronto on a far bigger scale. In essence, it would be a public-private partnership. Daniels wouldn't try to buy the Bloomfield land or compete with other developers to be the top bidder. Instead, it would partner with the city, Cohen said. There would be a mix of market and affordable housing, and community space. Some of the details were undefined, Cohen said, but that was the point. The project would be shaped by the needs and desires of the community in the area, especially the local group Imagine Bloomfield, a method emulating the Regent Park model. Daniels Corp. would make money on the for-profit aspects of the project. For its part, the municipality would have "skin in the game," he said, and would still own the land, giving it a greater say over what was built. But instead of apartment units and community buy-in, 13 years later the most that's happened to the Bloomfield site are the excavators brought in a few weeks ago to demolish what the vacant and dilapidated buildings still intact following a February fire. The Daniels proposal all those years ago "didn't tick all the boxes" and was effectively "thrown out" by city officials, Cohen said. While Toronto made a "courageous decision" with Regent Park, he said there was "zero" response from Halifax. "All of the things that we would have done at Bloomfield, we have done at scale," said Cohen, who has written a book called Rhythms of Change, Reflections on the Regent Park Revitalization. The Bloomfield land is one of three former school sites on the Halifax peninsula the city sold to developers in 2020 and 2021, but which have languished ever since. Halifax Mayor Andy Fillmore, who was elected last fall, said he doesn't want to dwell on what's gone wrong, but it's clear the city must impose tighter redevelopment timelines and conditions for those who buy land from the municipality in the future. "I would like to see properties not sitting as long as this and others have sat," he said in an interview at the Bloomfield site, as an excavator sorted and piled demolition debris. In the case of Bloomfield, the city first tried to sell the site in 2012, but a surprise $15-million bid by the provincial Crown agency Housing Nova Scotia fell apart within four years. The property was subsequently sold to Banc Investments Ltd. in 2021 for about $22 million. Banc also paid the city $37.6 million for the former St. Patrick's High School site on Quinpool Road, now a field. The company has not responded to requests for comment about its plans for either site. Not far away, the sale of the long-vacant St. Patrick's-Alexandra school to a developer finally closed in 2020. A demolition permit was issued mid-April. All three sites have buyback agreements, where the municipality can repurchase the property if construction hasn't begun by a certain date. In the case of Bloomfield, that deadline is next January. The city would need to pay 90 per cent of purchase price — just less than $20 million. Fillmore said he's in favour of doing so if construction does not get underway, violating the terms of the sale agreement, and he argues it would be a good deal for the city because the value of the land has "appreciated terrifically" since 2021. "I think it's absolutely incumbent on a city government to take action so that we don't have derelict building sites in the middle of a housing crisis," he said. But Susanna Fuller, who was part of the Imagine Bloomfield community group, is dubious the majority of municipal councillors will agree to spend millions of dollars repurchasing the land. One of the lessons, she said, is for the city to put in much more stringent provisions and timelines for development when it sells land. If those are broken, the buyback price should be well below the original sale price, she said, or perhaps the property should even be forfeited back to the city. There would be a trade-off, of course. Developers taking on more risk would be unwilling to pay the same high prices they would for land that came with no strings attached. "The way that we sell off public property really needs to be overhauled," she said. "Our city shouldn't have the deciding factor be how much money developers are paying. It should be what is the public good that could come out of this site, particularly on the peninsula where we cannot make more land."
Forbes
19-04-2025
- Politics
- Forbes
Ten Principles For How To Make World A Better Place
It's been another harrowing week of political challenges to progressive action — from targeting of Harvard University to corporations pausing or silencing impact initiatives that are intended to make the world a better place. Over the past two decades leading Impakt and, more recently, helping advance the Impakt Foundation for Social Change, I've seen the highs and lows of the social impact space first hand. This week I've been thinking a lot about what really matters in this work and thought I'd share ten principles that have informed my work. They're more important than ever to me and I hope they'll be helpful to you too. 1. Purpose is the North Star: In a volatile environment, staying anchored in why we exist beyond profit is essential. Check out Greater Purpose, an new initiative that is helping to shape the next generation of business. 2. Authenticity Over Optics: Real outcomes matter more than ever. Social impact takes more than just communications. That's always been the case but is especially poignant today when many companies are opting to stay quiet about impact. 3. Co-Create Impact With Communities: Solutions designed with those we serve are the ones that succeed. As my colleague Fatemeh Alhosseini, PhD always says about the work she is doing to improve lives for refugees "by newcomers, for newcomers." 4. Small impact is really big impact. Helping to solve social problems and achieve the SDGs always starts small and often remains at a scale that can seem insignificant. It isn't. 5. Practice Resilient Optimism: Hope isn't naïve — it's a strategic opportunity that keeps me moving forward. 6. Impact Starts on the Inside: You can't build external credibility without internal integrity. Too many corporations are performative and opportunistic - these are the ones that went dark fastest after the inauguration. 7. Take Risks: In every thing, progress requires courage, not comfort. Today, almost everyone in the impact space is way out of their comfort zone and should use this as a opportunity to be even more courageous. 8. Keep Moving Up: At the end of every week I make 2 lists: one of things that moved up and the other of disappointments. The moving up list is always longer. 9. Play the Long Game: Sustainable change isn't fast — but everything that's really valuable happens slowly. Hockey stick growth almost never happens and when it does it usually ends badly. 10. Believe in Collective Power: To quote Mitchell Cohen, President of Daniels Corporation, from his great book Rhythms of Change, "Building community is very much like playing music: jamming with eyes and ears wide open, listening deeply and being generous with every player, building bridges and friendships with every refrain." The work of making the world a better place has never been easy. But the only certainty is what will happen if you don't take action. So follow these principles and take action.
Gulf Today
07-04-2025
- Business
- Gulf Today
Tariffs hit a sour note in NYC emporium of sweets
Economy Candy's shelves brim with sweets from around the world — gummies from Germany, lollipops from Spain, chocolates from Japan and a panoply of candies from across the US. Standing amid it all, columns of bright jellybeans to his left and exotic Kit Kats to his right, owner Mitchell Cohen is quick with his assessment of how many of this shop's 2,000-plus items are affected by the historic round of tariffs announced by President Donald Trump. 'I think all of them,' Cohen says at his store on New York's Lower East Side. Few corners of the American economy are untouched, directly or indirectly, by the sweeping tariffs being imposed by Trump. Even a little store like Economy Candy. Cohen had just begun to feel a barrage of inflation-driven price increases from suppliers ease when the tariff threats arrived. For a business with a name like Economy Candy, he wants to remain affordable but fears how high some prices may have to climb in the coming months. 'I think it's gonna be another round of this hyperinflation on some items,' says 39-year-old Cohen. 'If we're putting tariffs everywhere, it is going to go up.' Stepping into Economy Candy feels like a time warp. Its name is emblazoned on a sign in a vintage, blaring red script, and crossing below its green-and-white striped awning, past the bins of Smarties, butterscotches and Lemonheads in the front window, an indecipherable sweetness fills the air, oldies music sounds overhead and customers mill around stacks of candy bars they forgot still existed. It represents just a blip in the country's $54 billion candy industry. But it was already feeling the weight of surges in prices of cocoa and other ingredients before tariffs were layered on. Candy and gum prices are up about 34% from five years ago and 89% from 2005, according to Consumer Price Index data. Price, according to the National Confectioners Association, has become the top factor in consumers' candy purchase decisions, outweighing a buyer's mood. About a third of Economy Candy's products are imported, crowded on shelves and tables near the store's rear. There aren't just 'more German Haribo varieties than the Haribo store in Germany,' as Cohen claims, but gummies the brand makes in France, Austria and Britain. They have every Milka bar they can find in Switzerland, every type of Leone hard candies that Italy churns out and as many exotic Kit Kats from Japan as they can fit. On products like these, the tariffs' toll is obvious. Pistachio Snickers bars are from India, now subject to 26% tariffs, while passion fruit mousse Snickers are from Portugal, now under the 20% European Union levies. But even an American-made Snickers isn't immune. While the bars may roll off conveyors in Texas, they rely on ingredients from around the globe. Sourcemap, which tracks supply chains, says Snickers bars include chocolate from Guyana and sugar from Brazil and are wrapped in packaging from Canada. All are now subjected to varying levels of tariffs. 'There's a lot of ingredients in there that have to come from other countries,' says Andreas Waldkirch, an economics professor at Colby College who teaches a class on international trade. 'Unless you're talking about something very simple from your local farmers market, almost every product relies on ingredients from elsewhere. Those indirect costs are really what's going to drive up prices.' The story repeats with American candies across the store — the boxes of Nerds and bags of Sugar Babies and rolls of Smarties are all inextricably tied to the global supply chain. A table teeming with those domestic delicacies takes center stage near Economy Candy's entrance. Cohen took over the store from his parents, who took it over from their parents before. He got his first haircut in the store. He was behind the register as a child. He took his wife by on their first date. As a kid, everything on the store's centerpiece table of American treats cost 59 cents. By 2020, the price was $1.29, but customers who bought a whole box paid a discounted rate of $1 per piece. Now, Cohen can't even get them wholesale at that price. Today, he sells the items on the table for $1.59. Cohen calls the selection a 'loss leader' but thinks it's important to showcase his store's affordability. Once the tariffs are fully implemented, he's not sure he'll be able to put off price increases. 'When your margins are coming down and your dollar doesn't go as far at the end of the day, you really start to feel it,' he says. 'But I don't want anyone to come into Economy Candy and not think that it's economical.' The biggest-ticket implications of the tariff blitz understandably gain the most attention - the thousands of dollars a car's price tag may grow, the tens of thousands that disappear from a retirement account in a single day. But here among the root beer barrels and licorice strands, you're reminded that small-dollar items are affected too, and so are the families selling them. At its birth, the business Cohen's grandfather started focused on shoe and hat repairs. But in the wake of the Great Depression, when few in a neighborhood of crowded tenements had money for such fixes, the business pivoted. Candy, once relegated to a cart out front, took over the store. In the 88 years since, business hasn't always been Chuckles and Zagnuts. The Sept. 11 attacks kept tourists away and had sales sagging and the pandemic closed the store and forced it to pivot to online sales. If tariffs upend things, Cohen isn't sure how he might adapt again. He sells products that aren't made in America and he sells American products made with ingredients from across the globe. He had just been making headway on beginning international sales, but the web of tariff rules may make it impossible. The average US tariff could rise to nearly 25% if the import taxes Trump put on goods from dozens of countries are fully implemented Wednesday. That would be the highest rate in more than a century, including tariffs widely blamed for worsening the Great Depression. Trump said imposing the tariffs amounted to a 'liberation day' for a country that has been 'looted, pillaged, raped and plundered' by friend and foe alike, insisting it was 'very, very good news' for the US Cohen isn't sure how that can be true for a business like his. 'I can understand bringing manufacturing and bringing things back to America, but you know, we rely on raw materials that just aren't native to our country,' he says. 'And it's not like I can get a green tea Japanese Kit Kat from an American company.' As Cohen stood before mounds of strawberry candies in shiny wrappers and little cubes of caramel in cellophane, the first word of the tariff's concrete impact on him arrived. A French supplier emailed saying it was immediately imposing a 5% surcharge due to the tariffs, expressing regret for the move and hope that 'the situation will be resolved swiftly.' Cohen wore a smile anyway. He wants this to be a happy place for visitors. 'You travel back to a time when nothing mattered,' Cohen says, 'when you didn't worry about anything.' Matt Sedensky, Associated Press
Washington Post
06-04-2025
- Business
- Washington Post
Trump's tariffs hit a sour note in landmark NYC emporium of sweets
NEW YORK — Economy Candy's shelves brim with sweets from around the world – gummies from Germany, lollipops from Spain, chocolates from Japan and a panoply of candies from across the U.S. Standing amid it all, columns of bright jellybeans to his left and exotic Kit Kats to his right, owner Mitchell Cohen is quick with his assessment of how many of this shop's 2,000-plus items are affected by the historic round of tariffs announced by President Donald Trump.
