Toronto Emerald Park Condos | 128.92m | 40s | Bazis | Rosario Varacalli

[sunnyraytoronto]

Oh my god, yes! They misspelled Bogert on their wall art. Priceless!

SomeMidTowner, very good catch!

Even some of the locals misspell Bogert Ave as Bogart Ave including an economic professor who lives on Poyntz Ave - the street directly south of Bogert Ave. Personally, I've always found Poyntz Ave difficult to spell correctly since it's such an odd name.


BTW, this EmeraldPark TimHortons is open 24 hours. The wifi isn't working yet but it'll be up soon,.... thus, anyone living or working in a unit nearby,... well, you know.

 

[Bill123]

Timmies was very busy today. It's a much nicer place to sit and hang out so this has drawn many loiterers (people who just hang out) away from the food court to the Timmies. It's just been the first day but it's noticeably quieter in the food court area. With this location they can now compete much better with the McDonalds. Once everyone is off vacation and back working and living in the area the Timmies will be extremely busy. I doubt the Wi-Fi would be worth "borrowing". Usually they have 15-30 min time limits before you have to re-login.

A unit right beside the real estate sales unit has been taken and is now tiling, it will be a printing business.

 

[sunnyraytoronto]

If only the developer could build the subway connection with equal speed/efficiency.

TimHortons store contractor, the Conarch Group, did a good job,... easily the best designed retail unit at Emerald Park right now,... but of course, Bazis was likely the reason why the TimHortons store wasn't open sooner!


EmeraldPark Tim Hortons store started construction in early/mid-August (as per Bill123's Aug 11, 2016 post),... so a bit over 4 months to get it up and going - but had to convert 3 units into 1 much larger unit!

View attachment 83288 View attachment 83289 View attachment 83290
Looks like tim hortons really did take 3 units

http://urbantoronto.ca/forum/thread...-rosario-varacalli.4829/page-128#post-1140388

Actually Bill123 gets credit for the TimHortons at EmeraldPark scoop for his post on March 10, 2016

Most recent news is Tim Hortons might be coming to one of the Yonge frontage units.

http://urbantoronto.ca/forum/thread...-rosario-varacalli.4829/page-116#post-1092105


But here's the thing, TimHortons owner actually committed to EmeraldPark location 2 years ago when Metro and LCBO were supposed to be the anchor tenants,... in January 2015 Metro was still going through CommitteeOfAdjustment for various severances between their second floor supermarket space and space for the LCBO for which Metro would be landlord. And LCBO was starting on construction on the interior of their LCBO store.

TimHortons owner only wanted 3 units along Yonge frontage at EmeraldPark, but the retail-condo unit owner (landlord - based in China) had the 4 northern units (101, 102, 103 and 104) all listed under 2244947 Ontario Inc & 9288619 Canada Inc,... and insisted that TimHortons owner lease all four units or none at all. So TimHortons owner agreed to lease all 4 retail-condo units but then later sublet unit 104 to a Vape store.

The Vape store is very minimalistic, just a counter and smoke shaped lights but it took them 9 months from commitment in March to store opening earlier this month. The main issues was waiting to get approval of their store renovation from Bazis! Bazis would sit on the plans for months at a time before even getting around to look at them,... the store owner are left hanging,... until Bazis spends time to look at them. But once they get the approval from Bazis, getting approval from City was quick and so was construction. Here's a photo from late November when Vape store was still under construction, it shows how simple their design is.

The noodle place and the bubble tea place were amongst the first to post signage declaring they'll open in Emerald Park,... about a year ago,... yet, the Presotea Bubble Tea place been open since Summer and Noodle place have only started renovation a few ago,... likely delay caused by Bazis taking their sweet time approving the renovations.

How many months did the TimHortons renovation had to wait for Bazis' approval? Especially since TimHortons would be combining 3 units into 1 and knocking down walls,.... made of drywalls and aluminum framing.

Originally, there was rumours that this Emerald Park Tim Hortons store was so big that it would actually have a little convenience store inside the TimHortons store,..... I'm not sure whether that's valid but,.... the TimHortons store was required by City Building department to build their own in-store washrooms, two of them which they designed one as Family-Handicap Accessible and the other as Male/Female. Did Bazis' decision to eliminate the 1st floor food court standard washroom facilities in exchange for large dual freight elevators for Metro (the Committee Of Adjustment request from January 2015) and just one toilet for the entire first floor retail area,.... essentially forced the TimHortons to have their own in-store washroom facilities? BTW, EmeraldPark retail washroom are hidden between the 1st and 2nd floor,.... in Mezzanine level that's only accessible via parking-office elevators.

 

[Uncle Meat]

Sunnyraytoronto, I too used the subway entrance a few times until this morning I bumped into a contractor who asked me to leave. He said he is working on the fire alarm system and that he does not know the date of the next inspection. At least they are working on it...

 

[sunnyraytoronto]

Probably a guy in navy blue work shirt from OZZ Electric working on fire alarm system,.... it looks like they're installing the required audible fire alarms in the area pictured below,.... as Constructo mentioned was missing,... among other issues,.....

Or focused on the Fire - Do Not Enter warning alarm panel. Also notice the new recently added fire sprinkler VS the white painted one in previous photo - Huh? They didn't realize they needed fire sprinkler? Difficult to imagine an engineer could leave that out, more likely Bazis cutting corners to save costs,.... at the expense of putting everyone's life at risk.

I'm happy they're working over the Holiday Season to try to resolve these issues sooner,..... but it's 21 months late and it shouldn't take advocacy from local community, residents, businesses, TTC, City staff and Councillor office to get Bazis to do their job!!!

I generally try not to use it during weekday business hours if I suspect a contractor would be on-site.

Doors are always interesting,... like the accessible door pictured above with push buttons on both sides of door,.... and you should try from both sides to see if it actually opens,.... then you'll see if its only one-way or two-way

 

[constructo]

LCBO: Their staff are well trained and told not to give out any pertinent details. Here's the latest generic info.
"Unforeseen circumstances have caused this new store opening to be delayed much longer than anticipated."
I'm looking into other ways to get more detailed info and will post when available.

 

[NorthYorkEd]

I was thinking LCBO got fed up or realized their mistake, have been looking for an "out", and might be interested in a space either at the newly renovated Sheppard Centre or the soon-to-be-vacant Solutions space at Empress Walk (expand their current tiny location, which is often bursting at the seams).

Both would likely be better locations. Not only for sales, but for relationships with landlords/developers.

 

[UD2]

So, with all the screw ups, we should also look at TMG builders and their construction quality. The developer, as much as they are the owner, are likely not the ones who built the building. And I'm sure no developer in their right mind would knowingly skip on fire safety installations because it will always end up costing them more to retrofit for inspection. If anyone cut corners, it's likely the builder's subcontractors.

 

[amnesiajune]

The information in this thread is very disappointing. From the outside these towers are amongst the most attractive new builds in my opinion. I appreciate their uniqueness. But wow, everything else sounds pretty bleak. Makes me wonder how these actually managed to get built.

As someone who actually lives in this building, it's really not that bad. The build quality in the units isn't flawless but it's a lot better than any other condo rentals I saw for a similar price - and by that I mean that the ceiling isn't bare concrete, no paper-thin sliding doors, the floors aren't as cheap as possible, the kitchen includes a microwave (which, surprisingly, some places didn't). If you wanna see "pretty bleak", go check out a few units in the Minto buildings at 23 Sheppard and 88 Sheppard. They have actual flaws that make the units harder to live in, not just a delayed subway tunnel and struggling shopping mall.

 

[Bill123]

I did a little digging around and I found this on Canderel's facebook... apparently this company manages Metro's shipping facilities and common areas. They may have some insight to this whole situation so I've sent an email to them. It's a recent post from September 21. It's also on their Google+ page (14 week old post). I remember that back a few months ago was the final closing for the 2nd floor properties so I guess after that they chose Canderel. Pretty strange how they did not just go with FirstService like the rest of the building.

 

[sunnyraytoronto]

As I mentioned in a previous post,....

In January 2015, the 2nd floor retail space required numerous Committee of Adjustments variances and severances to basically divide the former Loblaws T&T retail space (entire 2nd floor) into 2 separate retail units to host a full Metro supermarket and the LCBO store: loading docks hallways widen and food court washrooms basically eliminated in favour of 2 large exclusive freight elevators for Metro supermarket - food court washroom reduced to 1 toilet and the rest became mall washrooms hidden in hard to find Mezzanine level - between 1st and 2nd floor only accessible via parking-office elevators. Once these variances and severances were granted, LCBO started their store interior construction but Metro didn't.
http://www1.toronto.ca/City Of Toronto/City Planning/Developing Toronto/Files/pdf/J/January-8-2015-NYdecisions.pdf

This 2nd floor site plan shows the "Metro Land" (shaded area) that Metro owns; basically the entire 2nd floor of EmeraldPark except for common areas like stairways, elevators, utility rooms, etc,... Note: Metro also owns some space on first floor (escalator, freight elevator, loading dock space, etc,...)
View attachment 94277

http://urbantoronto.ca/forum/thread...-rosario-varacalli.4829/page-143#post-1174817

In the above post, I already posted the 2nd floor site plan showing what Metro owns on the 2nd floor. Here's the 1st floor site plan where the shaded part shows what Metro owns on the first floor - the loading dock area.

Hmmm,.... why would Metro want to own the loading docks? Metro was supposed to be a 24-hour supermarket in a Mix-Use complex, by owning the loading dock facility Metro can give itself priority over everyone else and minimize future disputes with residential board or retail/office board over loading dock issues and noise. As per the January 2015 Committee Of Adjustment hearing, while Metro owns the loading docks, there is an "easement" for other tenants to use it.
http://www1.toronto.ca/City Of Toronto/City Planning/Developing Toronto/Files/pdf/J/January-8-2015-NYdecisions.pdf

What's interesting is how Bazis sold off what is usually common area loading dock space to Metro,.... and also converted space originally set for FoodCourt washroom to become Metro's dual freight elevators - and hid the replacement washrooms at the other end of the mall between first floor and second floor which is only accessible via parking/office elevators. This systematic sell off of common area facilities reduce the other tenants rights to these former common areas and increases Bazis pocket-book!

EmeraldPark TimHortons have been griping that loading docks are owned by Metro and their access is limited; during construction they were mainly using sidewalk space along Bogert Ave for loading and I suspect their TimHortons 18 wheeler supply truck will be using Bogert Ave as well.

Anyways, here's the original site plan for 1st floor pre-construction,....

As you can see, a lot of the common area for residential lobby, food court washrooms, etc,... got eaten up by loading dock,.... which then got sold off to Metro.

 

[sunnyraytoronto]

As someone who actually lives in this building, it's really not that bad. The build quality in the units isn't flawless but it's a lot better than any other condo rentals I saw for a similar price - and by that I mean that the ceiling isn't bare concrete, no paper-thin sliding doors, the floors aren't as cheap as possible, the kitchen includes a microwave (which, surprisingly, some places didn't). If you wanna see "pretty bleak", go check out a few units in the Minto buildings at 23 Sheppard and 88 Sheppard. They have actual flaws that make the units harder to live in, not just a delayed subway tunnel and struggling shopping mall.

Hmmm,.... now, you do realize that comparing EmeraldPark residential-condo units to 5-10 year old Minto Spring & Radiance and 88 Sheppard East really doesn't prove your point. Why? Because you're comparing Apples to Oranges. They don't have direct subway connections, they have limited retail if any at all,... but most of all,... they're in a totally different classification!

Bazis' EmeraldPark residential-condo units and Tridel's HullmarkCentre residential-condo units were both the first North York Centre condos to market themselve as luxury condo units. And when they both went to market in summer 2008, on a per square foot basis - they were both charging downtown condo prices for condos in North York Centre.

So if you want to compare Bazis' EmeraldPark residential-condo units,... you should compare it against Tridel's HullmarkCentre residential-condo units which are right across Yonge Street. They both went to market in Summer 2008, both got CityPlanning approval in early 2010, both started construction about the same time late 2010 to early 2011,..... Tridel HullmarkCentre finished their SouthTower & podium in late 2013 and its subway connection opening a few months later,... and NorthTower in late 2014 and its subway connections opening in early 2015. Early 2015 was when EmeraldPark subway connection was supposed to open,.... hmmm, how's that working out so far! March 2015 was when EmeraldPark West Tower completed, East Tower was Fall 2015, retail late 2015 with construction fixes still going into early 2016, and office early 2016. Keep in mind, Tridel HullmarkCentre is a larger project in terms of height, storey, scope, land, etc,... and Tridel still managed to build a much higher quality product in a shorter amount of time!

Aside from all that, take a look at the Tridel HullmarkCentre thread,..... it's quiet! Here on Bazis' EmeraldPark thread, countless complaints about a variety of issues from retail-unit owners, store owner, residential-condo owner and tenants, local residents, etc,....

Is Tridel HullmarkCentre perfect? Of course not! Too much Section 37 Community Benefit was spent on their under-utilized bike station with 130 bike parking spaces (rarely see 10 used) and bike change-room, shower, washroom facilities in P1 level are now permanently locked since it's a liability issue. 70-80% of their office-condo units remain empty and thus does not generate the local jobs that the City was expecting. The WholeFoodsMarket supermarket component is being out-performed by the local Korean H-mart mini mart that's 1/10 the size!,.... but at least they have a supermarket!


Now going through your statement again,....

As someone who actually lives in this building, it's really not that bad. The build quality in the units isn't flawless but it's a lot better than any other condo rentals I saw for a similar price - and by that I mean that the ceiling isn't bare concrete, no paper-thin sliding doors, the floors aren't as cheap as possible, the kitchen includes a microwave (which, surprisingly, some places didn't). If you wanna see "pretty bleak", go check out a few units in the Minto buildings at 23 Sheppard and 88 Sheppard. They have actual flaws that make the units harder to live in, not just a delayed subway tunnel and struggling shopping mall.

Thus, your statement is really a reflection of how the free market rates the newer Bazis' EmeraldPark "luxury" residential-condo units,.... as being being similarly priced to non-luxury older condo-units with bare concrete ceiling, paper-thin sliding doors and cheapest floors possible,.... hmmm,... that should really tell you something!

As you must of noticed, both the sale and rental-lease market currently places a nice premium price on same category and similar sized Tridel HullmarkCentre luxury residential-condo units VS the Bazis EmeraldPark "luxury" residential-condo units,.... interesting since both of these units would have been sold at similar per square footage prices back in 2008-2009 when Bazis EmeraldPark and Tridel HullmarkCentre residential-condo units were being sold pre-construction by the developers.

 

[sunnyraytoronto]

Back in mid-November a door and window at Tridel HullmarkCentre NorthTower residential lobby got busted. There are 24-hour emergency commercial glass and door replacement companies that specialize in these types of repairs. It took a few days to get fixed, since they had to source the correct shade of glass.

Around the same time, at Bazis' EmeraldPark, the northwest (clear glass) doors to the mall caught wind, blew open and a corner got damaged, door was still workable but instead of fixing it, they just roped it off and effectively blocked that entire exit-entrance. That creates a fire hazard since people won't be able to escape a fire!,... right by the Food Court! Notice how they just black out the Exit signs!

In mid-December, the southwest mall doors caught wind, blew open and the glass got shattered. The fix was to board up the door, seal it off with plastic and rope it off and block that entire exit-entrance. Now, that's 2 blocked exit-entrance by the Food Court. Now this is a serious fire hazard,... but instead of getting these doors fixed ASAP,.... let's just block them off and risk the lives of the people in the food court and mall.

If there was a fire and fatality due to people being trapped in the food court with no exit, we'd be having a very different conversation,... with the Coroner's Office and the Provincial Inquest.


About a week later, just before Christmas, the northeast mall door (which was already damaged the week prior) just fell off it's hinges,.... that's 3 out of the 5 mall doors that got damaged - interestingly, the rest of Toronto didn't experience any such hurricane/tornado damage! BTW, out of the 2 doors that work, one of them is the EmeraldPark TTC street-level subway entrance at the southeast corner which technically doesn't even have an occupancy permit yet.

At the northwest mall door, they board up only the door that's damage leaving the other glass door operational.

At the southeast mall door, they finally unblock this door and now only board up the door that's been shattered and leave the other glass door operational.

But they still block off the northwest mall doors, creating a fire hazard,... that's why last Friday, the Fire Inspector forced EmeraldPark management to unblock the northwest mall door (highlighted in orange below) which were roped up for the last 6 weeks or so,... that was a fire trap right in the Food Court! Apparently, they ok-ed the other half-blocked doors at southwest and northeast corners of the mall. Fire Inspectors are now monitoring all the mall doors, so Bazis better get them repaired quickly.

This is the major issue with Bazis,.... Bazis' resolution to issues never consider the convenience or safety of people who live, work or visit EmeraldPark, it's all about coming up with the cheapest fix. Whenever a problem come up, Bazis take their sweet time resolving it - there's no hurry. Next thing you know, there's multiple unresolved problems piling up. I have a feeling these doors won't be repaired or replaced until Canada Day,... and by then all the other doors will be busted as well.

 

[Automation Gallery]

Hahaha, Bazis, Bazis, Bazis, oh please stop it

 

[WillTo]

I visited here yesterday. The emptiness made me sad.

I feel for those who put a good deal of money into buying a retail unit and won't be able to make enough to cover the property taxes, let alone the mortgage.

Reminds me of Aura or Splendid China Mall.

Why isn't the retail entrance off Yonge street?