Andre Bermon –
On the night of October 14, Toronto firefighters responded to a three-alarm blaze at 2 Matilda Street, abutting the Don Valley Parkway north of Queen Street.
Extensive fire damage prompted city authorities to order demolition of the building, formerly a factory, which took place the following day. The DVP was briefly closed to allow emergency crews access to the property.
Aftermath of 2 Matilda Street demolition by city crews, October 20.
Toronto Fire Services has completed its investigation but has not publicly disclosed the cause of the fire. Contacted by the bridge, the department stated that “the matter is under the jurisdiction of the Toronto Police Service.”
As of press time, Toronto Police had provided no further updates beyond initial statements by police spokesperson Cindy Chung describing the fire as “suspicious.” The police investigation remains ongoing.
Located at the intersection of Matilda and Davies Avenue, the early 20th-century industrial building once housed a jam factory. More recently, 2 Matilda served as the headquarters of Toronto-based business Merchants of Green Coffee and Restoration Café.
The building had stood vacant for about four years. Online photographs from last April show boarded-up windows and entrances, with extensive graffiti covering parts of the exterior.
According to the City of Toronto’s Municipal Licensing and Standards division, five orders to comply were issued to the property owner between September 2024 and July 2026 for violations of the city’s Vacant and Hazardous Properties Bylaw. Three of those orders were issued within the last six months.
The bylaw states that the “owner of an unoccupied building shall protect the building against the risk of fire, accident or other danger, by effectively preventing the entrance to it of all unauthorized persons.”
The standards division confirmed that all five orders were closed after bylaw officers determined the property owner had complied with them. However, it did not specify what work was undertaken.
Land registry records obtained by the bridge identify DKI Matilda Inc. as the registered owner of 2 Matilda Street. The corporation acquired the property in February 2022 through a court-supervised receivership process, with a transfer value recorded at $7.1 million.
According to an Ontario corporate profile report, Jennifer Lee Dewar is the corporation’s sole active director. Dewar is also identified on LinkedIn as the owner and president of Dewar Communications, a Toronto marketing company.
Land registry records also uncovered multimillion-dollar mortgage arrangements connecting 2 Matilda Street to a vacant building at 164–166 Princess Street near King and Sherbourne Streets.
Both properties were included as security for a $3.5-million mortgage registered in June 2022. In December 2025, mortgages listed at $11.8 million were registered against both Matilda and Princess properties in favour of Clifton Blake Capital Corp. The matching terms suggest a shared financing arrangement, although the records do not conclusively establish a single loan.
The Clifton Blake financing is scheduled to mature on February 1, 2027. Clifton Blake could not be reached for comment.
Mortgage documents identify Dewar and Won Kim, a principal at the law firm Kim Spencer McPhee, among the guarantors.
The Princess Street property is registered to Dewarkim Investments Inc., another corporation listing Dewar as its sole active director. The four-storey commercial building was purchased in 2017 for $6.85 million.
City building permit records show that an application for office renovations was submitted in October 2018. Although several stages of the city’s review process are marked closed, the permit remains listed at the inspection stage. The building is currently vacant.
Despite the demolition, questions remain about the future of 2 Matilda Street. The bridge made multiple attempts to contact Jennifer Dewar and Won Kim regarding the building’s prolonged vacancy and potential redevelopment plans, but received no response by press time.
