Drag bar Crews & Tangos might be turned into a condo

Beloved Church and Wellesley staple Crews and Tangos, the party bar known for hosting the best drag shows in the city every night of the week, looks to be facing the worst fate a Toronto establishment can face: development into a condo complex.

Graywood Group, the real estate firm that owns the whimsically painted venue along with cocktail lounge Boutique Bar and a parking lot on the property, is currently in the planning stage for redeveloping the whole premises.

Finding out that Crews & Tangos is gonna turn into condos is not a good start to my week 😭 pic.twitter.com/YckBipTnzs

— depression haver (@ptbocrone) March 2, 2020

According to the Church Wellesley Neighbourhood Association, the company is looking to turn the building into a mixed-use condo with ground-floor retail and residential units, and will setting up meetings with the local community to solicit input on the corner's future.

So far, the neighbourhood is absolutely devastated by the news, with CWNA's Facebook post about the potential loss of the venue garnering hundreds of responses and shares.

"Well, say goodbye to the Village. It's been slowly getting invaded by condos at all ends. Soon it will only be replaced by a plaque if we're lucky," one user lamented.

"Once you build commercial residential towers, nightlife and traditional businesses from the village will die," another said.

"I, too, hate the destruction of neighbourhoods by condo towers, and hope we resist and preserve as much as possible. But 'development' seems inevitable and we can also think and act on other places to exist and thrive and change," one more optimistic resident commented. 

"We have always been and will continue to be at the forefront of social change and individual fabulousness."

Looks like Crews & Tangos and Boutique Bar are being pushed out to make room for condos in the middle of the Church-Wellesley Village #Toronto

The elimination of marginalised spaces/culture/history that doesn't have the funds to compete with developershttps://t.co/cYuMzUOsIW pic.twitter.com/iIAkj3ZPr9

— Justen Bennett (@justenbennett) February 29, 2020

Thankfully, a Graywood representative told NOW Toronto that nothing will be happening to Crews for at least two years — the bar's operators just extended their lease — adding that a development proposal slated to be submitted to the City later this year will hopefully somehow reflect "the vision and values of the Church-Wellesley neighbourhood."

It is notable that the firm is also behind JAC condos, the forthcoming residential project that has recently served as the laughing stock of the city for its absolutely cringeworthy marketing.

Hopefully whatever is planned for the corner of Church and Maitland is nothing remotely close to what the apparently out-of-touch team at Graywood has planned for JAC.

by Becky Robertson via blogTO