When Avery Shopsowitz decided to strike out on his own in the summer of 2023, he brought with him more than a dozen years of Toronto real estate experience and a deep understanding of how to build a business from the ground up. At his previous company, Republic Developments, he helped grow a one-person startup into a team handling seven million square feet of development pipeline. With REACH Developments, he saw an opportunity to apply those lessons to a company of his own. By August 2023, REACH officially emerged as a Greater Toronto Area (GTA) real estate developer focused on transit-oriented, mixed-use residential communities. Now, just shy of their first anniversary, REACH is on the brink of breaking ground on their flagship project at the corner of Sheppard and Lamont Streets in Scarborough. Avery traces his passion for urban development back to the earliest days at Republic, where he wore every hat from property management to project finance. “I learned how to build something from nothing,” he reflects, recalling a time when that one-person outfit had no pipeline, no team, and no operational blueprint. As that firm scaled to mid- and high-rise projects across the GTA, he gained a firsthand education in land assembly, capital raising, and municipal approvals—lessons he’s now leveraging to drive REACH’s next chapter. The company’s maiden project is emblematic of Avery’s vision: a 46-storey, 700-unit condominium tower rising on an acre assembled from three parcels of land, directly across from the aging Scarborough GO Station. With ground-floor retail lining Sheppard Avenue East, this all-condo development aims to inject new vibrancy into a long-neglected corner of Scarborough, offering residents a seamless connection to downtown Toronto via existing transit infrastructure. JUNE 2025
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