Plus, plummeting GTA home sales and the final moments before a deadly triple shooting [The Star] First Up [By Kevin Jiang] By Kevin Jiang Good morning. Here’s the latest on a massive parking lot at the new Ontario Place, plummeting GTA home sales and the final moments before a deadly triple shooting. DON’T MISS Chris Young/The Canadian Press ONTARIO PLACE [What’s going on with Ontario Place’s massive parking lot? Doug Ford suggests a controversial new option]( Even as construction begins at the Ontario Place remake, one of its most controversial features remains shrouded in secrecy — where will its thousands of visitors park at the prestigious waterfront site? Premier Doug Ford previously suggested a multi-level underground lot, but floated a far more controversial above-ground parkade near the waterfront to reporters on Monday, David Rider reports. Critics are already panning the concept as “an absolute blight at Ontario Place.” [When asked for an update, Ford’s office only said no decisions had been made](. - Go deeper: Insiders tell the Star provincial authorities seem to want the taxpayer-funded parkade above ground but Toronto’s guiding principles state the parking solution must “be completely underground to ensure highest and best use of land.”
- Meanwhile: Construction on some of the controversial Ontario Place rebuild, which would see new additions of a $350 million waterpark and spa on Toronto’s West Island, [has been temporarily paused after a group hoping to preserve the site won a legal hearing to challenge the redevelopment](.
- David Olive’s take: Power brokers like Ford live to make big statements, which are often vanity projects. As his state-sponsored vandalism of the West Island proceeds, [we should stop and assess before committing to megaprojects we may live to regret](. Richard Lautens/Toronto Star File Real Estate [Sales of new GTA homes were already at a record low last year. Now, they’re more than 50 per cent lower]( Toronto’s housing market has continued to plummet, with year-to-date sales of new homes dropping to less than half of the previous record-low seen in 2023, a new report finds. Just over 1,100 new homes were sold last month — almost 60 per cent less than the 10-year average, Manuela Vega reports. “What we’re seeing today in terms of sales is a direct reflection of the interest rates impacting the ability for a homeowner to carry those costs,” experts say. [At the same time, building costs are skyrocketing](. - Bad news for: Condo owners trapped amidst [a “catastrophic” 57 per cent drop in sales, hitting lows the new condominium market hasn’t seen in 27 years](.
- Silver lining: The GTA’s luxury housing market has remained “surprisingly active” in defiance of high interest rates and a stagnating economy, a report this morning finds, [although properties over $1 million are still struggling to sell](.
- What else: Ontario’s cottage market has remained “very quiet” despite a Bank of Canada rate cut in June. Unless rates drop further in the BoC’s update this morning, [experts say prices could soon plummet by as much as 10 per cent](. Andrew Francis Wallace/Toronto Star CRIME [“The voices are still in my head.” Anguished witness recounts the final moments before deadly triple shooting]( For the past month, Shahrokh Biniaz has been haunted by the final moments before the bloodshed inside his office building. The sound of the first gunshot. The victims pleading for their lives. The call to 911 and the final spree of bullets that left three people — including two of his long-time colleagues and close friends — dead. “I think about it all the time,” Biniaz tells the Star’s Calvi Leon. In an exclusive interview, [the lone witness to the triple shooting is making public his account of what transpired](. - Context: [On a warm June afternoon, an angry client — Alan Kats, 46 — barged into the North York office]( and confronted businessman Arash Missaghi, 54, and his associate, Samira Yousefi, 44. Biniaz heard his friends begging for their lives before fleeing the building to phone 911.
- Moments later: Biniaz rushed through the backdoor and called police. Almost immediately, an officer arrived, who radioed colleagues before entering the building alone. Three more cruisers arrived on scene, believed to be visible to the gunman, before the fatal gunshots rang out, he said.
- Wait, what? However, police dispute Biniaz’s recollection of events, saying there were no reports of the solo officer entering the building alone nor of any gunshots after the additional officers arrived. WHAT ELSE [Wildfire evacuees ordered to leave Jasper find relief and safety]( after waiting through hours of traffic. [The latest Bank of Canada interest rate decision is expected later this morning]( — and odds are, a cut is coming. [Frances Nunziata campaign’s “cheated,”]( her election rival says in the wake of an ethics report. We chatted with Marc Miller about international students, asylum seekers and life in the hotseat. [Here’s what he had to say](. Kamala Harris’s campaign flopped in 2019. [Can she overcome the hurdles that doomed her last bid for the presidency?]( [Eighteen people — including a 14-year-old — were arrested]( in Peel police’s mass investigation into carjackings, home invasions. Privatizing hospital cleaning services at Etobicoke General will [raise the threat of superbugs, its union warns](. Caught in gridlock? Sitting in traffic is slowly eroding your health — [here's what you can do about it](. The Olympic Village in Paris spans both sides of the Seine, covers 52 hectares and is home to more than 14,000 people. [Take a look inside](. Hot or not? [We ranked the Paris Olympics team uniforms, from best to worst](. A “frosty fall: is on the way — here’s what the coming season has in store, [according to the Farmers’ Almanac](. Our theatre critic has seen hundreds of shows — [but this one performance changed his entire perspective](. POV Erin Schaff Pool/AFP via Getty Images [Kamala Harris instantly ignited the Democrats. Will a leadership change do the same for the federal Liberals?]( CLOSE-UP R.J. Johnston/Toronto Star BATHURST AND COLLEGE: The Star’s Andy Takagi interviews guerilla artist and waterfowl-of-unusual-size Lewis Mallard, the appropriately-named art vigilante splashing our often self-serious city in duck-themed splotches of joy. [You may see him as nothing but a quack, but Mallard is never one to duck when action calls](. Thank you for reading. You can reach me and the First Up team at [firstup@thestar.ca](mailto:firstup@thestar.ca?source=newsletter&utm_source=ts_nl&utm_medium=emailutm_email=6C53B63A8E3FAD70AD4EF13004527437&utm_campaign=frst_217082). I’ll see you back here tomorrow. If you're not enjoying these emails, please tell us how we can make them better by emailing newsletterfeedback@thestar.ca. Or, if you'd prefer, you can unsubscribe from this newsletter by clicking the first link below. [Unsubscribe From This Newsletter]( [Sign Up for More Newsletters and Email Alerts]( [View in Browser]( Toronto Star Newspapers Limited.
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