Item - 2021.EP16.5

The Board of Governors of Exhibition Place:

1.  Subject to obtaining the necessary City of Toronto authorization, approved a  new lease (the Lease) between the City of Toronto, (the City), as landlord, TREC, or a limited partnership consisting of TREC and a City-approved financial partner or such other corporate entity acceptable to the Board and the City, as tenant, and the Board, for a term of eight (8) years commencing March 1, 2021, and ending February 28, 2029, substantially on the terms and conditions set out in Appendix A and Confidential Attachment 1 to the report (February 4, 2021) from the Chief Executive Officer, Exhibition Place, and such other terms and conditions deemed appropriate by the Deputy City Manager, Corporate Services (the DCM), the Chief Executive Officer of Exhibition Place (the CEO), and in a form satisfactory to the City Solicitor.

2.  Authorized the Chief Executive Officer, Exhibition Place to request the necessary City authorities to approve and enter into the Lease.

3.  Directed that Confidential Attachment 1 to the report (February 4, 2021) from the Chief Executive Officer, Exhibition Place remain confidential in its entirety and not be released publicly as it pertains to a proposed or pending acquisition or disposition of land by the City and the Board.

The Board of Governors of Exhibition Place (the "Board"), as landlord and Toronto Hydro Energy Services Inc. ("THESI") and Toronto Renewable Energy Cooperative Windpower Co-Operative (No. 1) Incorporated ("TREC", and THESI and TREC are collectively referred to as the "Tenant") entered into a lease dated February 15, 2002, as extended by a Lease Extension Agreement dated March 1, 2017 (collectively, the "Existing Lease") for certain lands near the west end of the Exhibition Place grounds, on which the Tenant constructed a wind turbine, for a term expiring on February 28, 2021. 

On March 4, 2019, a written request was received from THESI for it to be removed as a Tenant under the Existing Lease, so that the co-Tenant TREC would become the sole Tenant. The Board advised the Tenant that this would constitute an assignment by THESI of its interest in the Lease to TREC. Article 15 of the Existing Lease provides that the Tenant shall not effect any assignment of its interest in the Existing Lease without first obtaining the written consent of the Landlord, and that no assignment will relieve the assigning tenant of its obligations under the Existing Lease.

At its meeting of June 13, 2019, the Board consented to the assignment by THESI of its interest in the Existing Lease to TREC, (the Assignment), provided that the Assignment would not release THESI of its obligations under the Existing Lease, in accordance with Article 15 thereof. Since THESI would remain liable, it elected not to proceed with the Assignment. However, THESI has no interest in continuing to be a tenant under an extension of the Lease or a new lease for the wind turbine premises.

Exhibition Place staff met with TREC in early December 2019 at their request to review their vision for the wind turbine. TREC wrote to Exhibition Place subsequently on January 21, 2020 to indicate that its members passed a resolution to pursue the continued operation of the wind turbine project following the expiry of the Lease.

Staff from Exhibition Place and City Corporate Real Estate Management ("CREM") has since worked with TREC to negotiate terms and conditions for a new lease for a term of eight (8) years to commence on March 1, 2021 and ending on February 28, 2029 and otherwise on the terms set out in this report.

All energy produced by the wind turbine is fed to the Exhibition Place electrical grid and used on site which assists the Board in achieving its Environment Objective to target net "0" grid supplied electricity use. The City of Toronto is the only city in the world to host a wind turbine in its downtown core.

This report is recommending that, subject to obtaining the necessary City of Toronto authorization, the Board approve entering into a new lease with TREC, or a limited partnership consisting of TREC and a City-approved financial partner or such other corporate entity acceptable to the Board and the City, on the terms and conditions provided in this report.