\u201cThis letter is to make absolutely clear that the parcel at 429 College Street is under RBC ownership and not the numbered company who has submitted the above-mentioned development application,\u201d Johanna Oakley, director of retail transactions for RBC, wrote to councillors. \u201cThe present development scheme cannot proceed in the absence of proponent ownership of the 429 College Street parcel.\u201d<\/p>\n
A pivotal RBC intervention<\/p>\n
In its letter, RBC emphasized it has \u201cno agreement of purchase and sale or any agreement of any kind\u201d involving its property, where it continues to operate a bank branch.<\/p>\n
The bank also objected to the city\u2019s planning recommendations and urged council to reject the application, adding that it had \u201cco-existed with the Sneaky Dees use for many years\u201d and would be \u201centirely content to see that relationship continue.\u201d<\/p>\n
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People walk past the Royal Bank Tower in Montreal on Thursday, June 19, 2025. THE CANADIAN PRESS\/Christopher Katsarov People walk past the Royal Bank Tower in Montreal on Thursday, June 19, 2025. THE CANADIAN PRESS\/Christopher Katsarov <\/p>\n
Following that notice, planning consultant Michael Goldberg, acting on behalf of the developer, formally withdrew the application. <\/p>\n
CTV News also obtained a copy of that email<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cI have been instructed by the President of my client\u2019s companies to formally withdraw the subject application,\u201d Goldberg wrote in a July 3 letter, adding the matter should also be removed from the July 8 community council agenda.<\/p>\n Speaking to CP24 Saturday, Coun. Dianne Saxe noted that the developer made false claims on their application noting that all businesses including RBC were \u201ccertified\u201d when in fact that was not the case. <\/p>\n She says she instructed her team to do a \u201ctitle search\u201d on the property where it was confirmed RBC never sold off their portion. <\/p>\n \u201cIt is a complete puzzlement. Everyone that I\u2019ve spoken to in the planning field, (including) planning lawyers tell me they\u2019ve never seen anything like it. It doesn\u2019t make any financial sense for the applicant to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars on an application if they don\u2019t have the right to use the land,\u201d she said. <\/p>\n \u201cHow did it happen?… The Royal Bank had a sign very close to their building that they didn\u2019t notice for six years. I don\u2019t understand any of it, but the good news is, against tremendous odds, the application is gone.\u201d<\/p>\n Four decades of history<\/p>\n Located at the corner of College and Bathurst, Sneaky Dee\u2019s has operated for roughly 40 years as a family-owned Tex-Mex restaurant and live music venue, helping launch acts including Barenaked Ladies, Arcade Fire and PUP while becoming a fixture of Toronto\u2019s music scene.<\/p>\n The campaign to save the venue drew support from residents, people online, musicians and several city councillors, including Josh Matlow.<\/p>\n \u201cFor generations, Sneaky Dee\u2019s has been a special place for so many Torontonians,\u201d Matlow said on social media. <\/p>\n \u201cSupporting more housing should not have to come at the expense of\u2026 the iconic places that we love and value. Good planning means we can have both.\u201d<\/p>\n Mayor Olivia Chow also appeared to celebrate the outcome Saturday, posting a video<\/a> of herself eating at Sneaky Dee\u2019s without a caption.<\/p>\n