CHUM building purchased by developer

Oh Good! More condos. There just aren't enough.

An iconic Yonge Street building that for a half-century was a vital part of the history of popular music in Toronto has been purchased by a major developer.

In a deal that closed this month, Aspen Ridge Homes, a major Toronto-region builder, paid CTV Ltd., a subsidiary of CTVglobemedia (which also owns The Globe and Mail), $21.5-million for the CHUM radio building on Yonge Street south of St. Clair Avenue, according to real estate records.

The records also show that, after the deal went through, Aspen Ridge, a developer that in recent years has moved aggressively into the downtown condominium market, then mortgaged the 0.64-acre property for $30-million, with the Bank of Nova Scotia as the primary lender.

The two-storey building, built as a book bindery in 1954, was made into a radio station in the late 1950s and was set on the path to rock 'n' roll history when, on May 27, 1957, Allan Waters converted it to a teen-music format and played Elvis Presley's All Shook Up as its first Top 40 song.

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