The embattled Red Door Family Shelter is getting a modern new home on its longtime site in Toronto’s hip Leslieville neighbourhood.

Under a deal to be announced at the shelter offices Monday, developer Harhay Construction will build a new 94-bed shelter at cost as part of a seven-storey boutique condominium project proposed for the corner of Queen St E. and Booth Ave.

Once the 20,000-sq. ft-shelter has been built, Harhay will transfer ownership to the city, which will become Red Door’s new landlord, said area Councillor Paula Fletcher, a major force behind the deal.

The shelter is launching a $3 million fundraising campaign to cover the costs of furnishing its new four-storey building that will be nestled behind the 118-unit condo and front onto Booth Ave.

A city planning report on the proposal, including the city’s cost and financing, will be ready in April for council approval in May. If approved, construction is expected to begin in mid-2016 with occupancy in late 2017 or early 2018.

The city has agreed to help the shelter relocate during construction.

“This is a major milestone in our journey to our new shelter. We are thrilled,” said Red Door Executive Director Bernnitta Hawkins, who feared the 33-year-old facility would be forced to close when its former landlord went into receivership last year.

The new building will be a considerable improvement over the current shelter because unrelated families will no longer have to share space and washrooms, she said. There will be better programming space as well as an outdoor play area for the children, she added.

“It’s been an amazing process: We have a developer who is willing to make a community contribution and work with us and the city to really add value to the shelter system,” she said.

What is even better, she said, is how the surrounding community supported the shelter by packing public meetings and signing petitions urging the developer and the city to save the service which helps about 500 families a year. As a result, city council voted unanimously last June to help the shelter financially remain at its current site.

Although the shelter will be losing 12 beds from its current operation, the city has offered to provide transitional housing at another location for Red Door families that require more time and support to move into permanent homes, Hawkins said.

“A lot of very positive things came together that we were able to capitalize on. So it’s fantastic,” she added.

Fletcher (Ward 30 Toronto-Danforth) said Monday’s deal has the support of city planning staff who are now “working out design details, tweaking the financing and getting the rezoning right.”

Fletcher lauded developer Chris Harhay for “ really stepping up and breaking new ground” with the project.

“Queen St. is very popular and people are very open-minded,” she said. “I don’t believe he will have any trouble selling those (condo) units.”

Harhay admits he didn’t realize what he was getting into when he bought the financially-troubled site last spring. But once he visited the Red Door, he said he was happy to help.

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“You walk through the shelter and you see women and young children and it pulls at your heartstrings,” he said in an interview. “I’m really excited about giving them much better-quality living conditions.”

Most new buildings in Toronto combine retail and condo or retail, office and condo, Harhay noted.

“But to have buildings where we incorporate community services with retail and condo is new,” he said. “With all the urban intensification projects happening in the city right now, this could be a great model for future developments.”