Music producer says he was evicted from Toronto cube house despite attempts to strike deal with developer

A music producer says he is stunned to have been evicted from his unique studio space known as Toronto's cube house, despite coming up with the money to pay for the recently hiked rent.

On Wednesday morning, Luis Vasquez, a music producer who rents one of the three cube house units on Sumach Street, says a bailiff showed up along with Toronto police, a notice of termination of the lease was posted to the front door of his space, indicating rent hadn't been paid to the developer.

Block Developments purchased the cube house at 1 Sumach St., near Eastern Avenue in November. Vasquez says the developer immediately raised the rent, leaving him feeling backed into a corner.

"We've just been evicted with very, very little information," Vasquez said on Wednesday.

"We're been left in the dark. I've been trying to get in touch with the developers. And I keep getting passed down from a lawyer to an employee to a secretary to a voicemail."

Vasquez, who has rented a cube unit for the past year and a half, said Block Developments issued a new lease agreement on Dec. 13, backdated for Dec. 1. He says he paid the previous owner slightly less than $2,500 a month. The new rent, however, was $3,700, nearly a 50 per cent increase.

Vasquez had transformed the unit into a music studio where artists pay for recording, mixing and mastering services. He hosted live music and other community events on weeknights and weekends. His company, previously called Le Four Studio Inc., is also named on the lease agreement.

"I was on holiday break. It wasn't like until the 24th, Christmas Eve, when I actually looked at the email and I was like, 'I can't afford $4,000 a month,'" he said.

Developer says no rent was paid

On Jan. 3, Vasquez said he agreed to terminate the lease and vacate by the end of the month.

But then members of the creative community in Toronto rallied to save the space, donations poured in, and suddenly, Vasquez said he enough money to pay what was owed.

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"We've opened up conversations like, 'I'm sorry if there was some misunderstanding, but we do have the money. If these are the only terms, whatever, we'll bite the bullet.' And there was no communication," he said.

Block Developments says that was only recently notified that Le Four Studio Inc. wanted to stay on the premises.

"Although the previous lease agreement with the previous owner for that commercial unit had expired on Nov. 30, 2023, we entered into discussions with Le Four Studio Inc. in December for them to stay," the developer said in the statement.

The company says it presented a new lease to Vasquez's company in December and arrangements were also made so that rent could also be paid by e-transfer, it added.

Condo and townhome developer Block Developments bought the land on which Toronto's cube house sits in November 2023. (Paul Borkwood/CBC)

The statement goes on to say that the developer was informed by Vasquez that Le Four Studios Inc. would leave at the end of January and that it agreed to end the lease at that time.

"At no point was rent paid, in full or in part, at any time and we moved forward with turning over the single commercial unit on that basis."

Block Developments also expressed concern that the unit is being used for live shows.

"This unit was leased as a small commercial recording studio, not as a live events venue with audiences accessing the premise late at night," the developer said.

'It's tearing down a piece of beauty,' musician says

Josh Holme, a musician and producer, said the late nights when the artists gathered are part of what made the space special.

"It's going to be a lot of people missing out on what's a beautiful thing. And that fact that it hasn't really been taken care of, or treated as an important piece of Toronto's history, or an important piece of art, kind of reflects the attitude that's going on with everything around here," he said.

"It's tearing down a piece of beauty and replacing it with a condo."

The cube house was built in 1996 by two Canadian architects inspired by cube homes in the Dutch city of Rotterdam. The three elevated green cubes include a residential unit and two commercial units.

While it isn't a designated heritage property, the cube house land is listed on the city's heritage register, meaning it's believed to be of cultural heritage value or interest.

Property records show Block Developments purchased 1 Sumach St. for $19.125 million on Nov. 30, 2023. That same day, records show the company purchased six of the nine homes across the street from the cube house.

In the statement on Wednesday, Block Developments said: "We have been receiving a lot of questions about our plans for the site, which is certainly understandable. It is our goal to develop a portion of the property as purpose-built rental housing, as well as other important community amenities, but we cannot go into more detail until these plans have advanced a little further."