When the Parkdale Neighbourhood Land Trust incorporated in 2014, its mission was simple: acquire and preserve existing at-risk rental housing.

Now, the scrappy community group is taking its first crack at development in the form of an affordable highrise building in Toronto’s west-end.

“This isn’t just another condo building,” says Joshua Barndt, the land trust’s senior manager of development strategy. “It’s going to be a place where Parkdalians can gather.”

Last month, the City of Toronto announced the selection of the Parkdale Neighbourhood Land Trust (PNLT) to develop and lease a 175-unit, 16-storey affordable housing project on Queen Street West, to be dubbed Parkdale People’s Place.

In a departure from its original strategy of rental preservation, the land trust was heavily involv

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