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Cash for condos

By Farnia Fekri

Ryerson will be receiving up to $1 million in donations from the developer of a downtown condo.

The Easton’s Group of Hotels have promised Ryerson $1,000 for every suite sold up to a maxmum of $1 million according to Reetu Gupta, vice-president of sales, marketing and strategic development at the Easton’s Group.

Gupta expressed the group’s happiness at contributing to a “beautiful, established university with great history.”

“Wealth and success can come and go, but knowledge is the one thing that cannot be taken from you,” Gupta said via email. “We at Easton’s Group genuinely believe this and so supporting Ryerson was a great fit.”

Dundas Square Gardens is going to be a 47-storey tower at the corner of Dundas and Jarvis streets, which is scheduled for completion in spring of 2018.

The condominium’s proximity to Ryerson University open doors to potential buyers.

“To such a large company, a million isn’t a lot,” said first-year civil engineering student Ammar Khan. “But the availability of more scholarships encourages students to work even harder to get that money.”

But the entire donation might not be used for scholarships, Adam Kahan, the vice-president of university advancement, said.

Kahan said the money will be given to a faculty at Ryerson with a smaller portion being used for scholarships.

“The faculty will determine how the money is used,” Kahan said, maintaining that a small amount could be used for scholarships. “We’re still discussing which faculty the money will be given to.”

He said the funding from the Easton’s Group comes with no strings attached, but the CEO and president of Easton’s, Steve Gupta, will have something named after him in honour of the donation.

Donations such as these are made frequently. “Every week there are funds from major corporations,” Kahan said. “Every gift is important to the university no matter how small or how large.” The tower will be replacing the Hilton Hotel on Jarvis.

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