Two Toronto law firms are confirming the existence of an agreement to transfer the rights to the air space over the rail corridor to a GTA developer with dreams of building condominiums — in the same space being eyed by the city and Mayor John Tory for a large public park.

That confirmation comes just ahead of a debate at council Wednesday over plans for the so called “Rail Deck Park,” which may now be complicated by the developers’ interest.

While the letters end speculation than an agreement had been made, after the Star first reported the developers’ claims that had been circulating at city hall, it does not say the property has already changed hands. Several questions remain.

A letter from law firm Bennett Jones LLP sent to city staff dated Sept. 15, 2016, and obtained by the Star, says that Craft Acquisitions Corporation — which is linked to the Etobicoke-based Craft Development Corporation — entered into a “binding and enforceable” agreement of purchase and sale with CN Rail and Toronto Terminals Railway (TTR) for the air rights over the downtown rail corridor on Dec. 2, 2013.

The property included in the agreement, according to the letter, is the space eight metres above be active rail lands stretching 17 acres, from Bathurst St. to Blue Jays Way.

A letter sent from CN Rail’s and TTR’s lawyer at WeirFoulds LLP confirms the agreement and says that same confirmation was provided directly from the rail companies to city planning staff in September 2015 — more than a year before rail deck park was proposed publicly.

It is still unclear whether the sale of those air rights is conditional on the city approving redevelopment for the area. City staff are proposing the opposite, and have recommended the lands be redesignated and protected as parkland.

Lawyer for Craft, Paul Mantini, confirmed the agreement Tuesday but would not go into details about any conditions. Craft’s Carmine Nigro did not respond to requests for comment.

Developer Matthew Castelli, of Senator Homes, who earlier told the Star that his company was part of a consortium including Craft that owned the air rights, did not respond Tuesday.

When asked about the conditions on the agreement, a lawyer for CN Rail and TTR, Sylvia Adriano, said she had no comment. Representatives for the rail companies, who have previously refused to comment on a potential deal, did not respond Tuesday.

Since Mayor Tory and officials announced plans for a park earlier this summer, officials have maintained that early negotiations with the rail companies over purchasing the air rights to build a park had been “positive.”

On Tuesday, Tory said to his knowledge the rail companies never mentioned other interests in the rights.

“We are going to do our due diligence,” Tory said. “But the bottom line determination to build a park means that that agreement, almost regardless of what it says, is going to have to read within the context of the city saying we’re going to build a park there.”

The mayor’s office and city officials have pointed to a 2006 Supreme Court of Canada decision which resolved a dispute between the City of Vancouver and Canadian Pacific Railway over potential development of defunct rail lands by ruling that cities have the jurisdiction to dictate land use without having to compensate the land owners.

Rail Deck Park is the first item up for debate at council Wednesday, with Tory making it his key item. Recommendations from staff include starting the process to zone the area as parkland.

Preliminary estimates put the cost to construct the park at $1.05 billion, not including the purchase of air rights.

City staff have done a preliminary check of air rights ownership in the area, but part of the yet-to-be-approved plan includes paying a professional title searcher to definitively determine land interests in the area.

City spokesperson Wynna Brown said the city has received the letters dated from last month but has not seen the agreement and so can’t comment about any possible conditions.

“This situation is not unusual,” Brown wrote. “As we have previously said, there are various entities that have rights along the corridor. An initial high level review indicates properties can have upwards of 10-20 registered documents on title relating to various types of agreements.”

Brown also said the city has no record of any written correspondence from last year relating to the air rights agreement.

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If the agreement between the rail companies and developers is conditional on the land being developable for condos, Councillor Joe Cressy said “it’s dead on arrival.”

Cressy, whose ward includes the area, said he previously met with Craft. The developer proposed several residential towers over the rail corridor. But when asked for more details of their interests, he said none was provided.

“We don’t have time to chase rainbows,” he said. “They should be up front if they want to negotiate with the city for the air rights.”