Nothing goes viral faster than a story about adorable animals suffering at the hands of real-estate developers. So on Monday afternoon, the social-media rumour mill went into overdrive when the Toronto Wildlife Centre, a charitable animal hospital in Downsview Park, sent out a press release indicating it had been “targeted for demolition” by its landlord, Parc Downsview Park Ltd., the crown corporation that owns the land.
But then, just before 1 p.m., Downsview Park posted its own press release, using capital letters and plenty of underlining to insist it hadn’t terminated the centre’s lease, and that the building at 60 Carl Hall Rd. was not going to be demolished. Initially, neither side offered an explanation as to how such a total misunderstanding occurred. Later news reports suggested the matter was cleared up.
“There’s no way we’d leave [TWC] stranded,” Downsview Park spokesperson Lisa Hastings-Beck told The Grid on Monday.
But according to TWC executive director Nathalie Karvonen, news about the building’s demolition originally came from an email sent to her lawyer in July by the park’s director of property management, who said summer 2012 will likely be “it” for TWC.
Karvonen then spent several months trying to get a meeting with Downsview executives, but heard nothing. Finally, a meeting was scheduled for this Friday, only to be cancelled suddenly, then rescheduled after the media firestorm.
Local councillor Maria Augimeri is suspicious. She said she’s been “fighting with Downsview for almost 17 years,” and the corporation’s track record in dealing with tenants is getting worse. (The Canadian Air and Space Museum, across the road from TWC, has been evicted for falling behind on rent.)
Amid the uncertainty, TWC is hunting for a new home, just in case.
Downsview Park itself continues to be in a “fluid” state, according to Hastings-Beck—but with the Air and Space Museum’s eviction and TWC’s debacle, it remains to be seen where the fluidity will lead.
