A Toronto multiplex that tests the limits of urban density

By his own admission, artist Charles Pachter has for years had a lucrative side hustle, buying, renovating and flipping older buildings in Toronto’s Queen West area and at the edge of Chinatown, including a six-plex at 80 Beverley St.

“I’ve lived in the neighbourhood for over 40 years and have renovated over 20 properties there,” he says over a zoom call from a friend’s place in Mexico. “My first house I bought was on Sullivan Street, way back in the in the 1970s. Everybody thought I was crazy. Then I moved up to Grange Avenue in 1996 when the average price of a house was 200 grand.”