Toronto Waterscapes | ?m | 30s | Biddington | Graziani + Corazza

grocery store

Good news. I found out yesterday that Waterscapes will have a grocery store in the retail section. They wouldn't tell me who but it is part of a chain.
 
Next Friday (Oct 24) the as part of its pre-application consultation, Monarch will bring plans for its Waterscapes condominium to the Toronto Design Review panel for the first time. City planner Michael McCart and Emilia Floro, with the city’s urban design group, will give presentations, as will Enzo Corazza of Graziani + Corazza Architects.
 
Monarch has saved the best for last at its Waterview development in Etobicoke. The Waterscapes condo, on a prime site beside Lake Ontario, is Monarch's fifth and final tower in the community along Humber Bay Shores.

"I always say of all the sites I've ever seen, this one has my favourite views," says Linda Mitchell, vice-president of marketing, highrise, for Monarch. "It has a beautiful perspective of the city."

The Waterscapes tower will be elliptical to capitalize on the views.

Monarch launched Waterview in 2001 with the Voyageur I and II towers, followed by the Explorer towers in 2003 and Nautilus earlier this year. Waterscapes will put the finishing touch on the master-planned community, allowing Monarch to complete a central courtyard.

The Humber Bay Shores neighbourhood has evolved into a lively residential area with enough critical mass to attract more services and businesses. Mitchell says Monarch is close to finalizing a deal to bring a major grocery store to the community, "and the next thing that comes is retail." Waterscapes will have a four-storey podium to accommodate a mix of retail, recreation and residential spaces.

"There are people who prefer to be in Etobicoke, away from the hustle and bustle, yet just five minutes from downtown," Mitchell says.

The 345 suites in Waterscapes range in size from 480 square feet to 1,605 square feet, starting from $189,990. Mitchell says the lowest-priced suites "won't have the prime views, but you have the advantage of living on the water." The condo is next to the Martin Goodman Trail and marinas.

The building will offer round-the-clock concierge service based in a two-storey lobby overlooking the lake, private landscaped interior courtyard and a landscaped rooftop barbecue and leisure area with city and lake views.

Other amenities include a special occasion/party room with a caterer's kitchen and bar, located on the rooftop podium, indoor swimming pool, hot tub and saunas, lounge with billiards table and TV, movie screening room, conference room, pet washing area, two guest suites, car-wash bay and bicycle storage. A fitness centre offers cardio, yoga and aerobics areas.

The suites will have floor-to-ceiling windows, six-foot deep balconies, nine-foot ceiling heights in principal rooms, plank strip laminate and ceramic or porcelain tile floors, gourmet kitchens with granite countertops, tile backsplash, pantry or breakfast bar and brand-name stainless steel appliances.

Energy saving and "green" features including double-glazed low-E windows, individually controlled heating and air conditioning, individual hydro metering, Energy Star-rated appliances and low-VOC (volatile organic compounds) paints.

Maintenance fees will be 43 cents per square foot. Tentative occupancy is April 2012.

Waterscapes is showcased in Monarch's presentation gallery at 68 Marine Parade Dr. in Etobicoke. For information, or to register for Waterscapes, call 416-495-3544 or visit monarchgroup.net.
Toronto Star
 
The brothers and sisters of Waterview and Nautilus as seen from the Queensway

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waterscapes-guy said:
I'm hearing rumors that this project might not happen due to the economy. Has anyone else heard the same?:confused:
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The key piece of evidence that a project won't be happening is when it is officially cancelled and the depositors get their money back. Otherwise such rumours are as good as those stating that the lobby will be wallpapered with farts.
 
cancelled?

Hydrogen said:
The key piece of evidence that a project won't be happening is when it is officially cancelled and the depositors get their money back. Otherwise such rumours are as good as those stating that the lobby will be wallpapered with farts.
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I hope you are right.
Thanks
 
Monarch's credibility

Monarch sure does paint a great picture for the development of their condo community on the lake, but will it ever get completed? Is any one here aware of the condo that was to be built before Nautilus was launched? Does "The Breeze" ring a bell?

Unfortunately, due to a significant amount of greed on Monarch's part, this condo was never built. The reason? Well, apparently Monarch got approval to build a taller tower. All purchasers were given their deposits back. After the cancellation, 6 months later the Nautilus was launched, and the price increase for these units was ridiculous, and no longer included a parking spot. So the answer seemed to be, why charge a reasonable price for a condo, when we can get the price they will be valued at in 2013? Interestingly, Monarch has done this several times in the past few years.

The upside? Well, Monarch is probably earning some nice interest on all the deposits they are receiving from uninformed purchasers. Hopefully this time, they actually build more than a miniature model.
 
welcome to UT condocritic ... I guess you are quite upset at Monarch given your experience with them?

I think UT is aware of the 'The Breeze Condominiums' proposal prior to Nautilus, there was a brief mentioning of it in the Nautilus @ Waterview thread ... while it was disappointing that Monarch diverged from its original master plan with symmetrical design as towers 1+2, the postive to out of it (from a City building perspective) a taller tower - Nautilus was created, which adds interest to the the West Toronto Skyline ... IMO

Solaris said:
great update ... always appreciate good pics, the last one really illustrates the overall 'Waterview' community quite nicely (looking good so far)

You are correct, Monarch's original masterplan intended phase 3+4 to be exact mirror copies of phase 1+2, however plan have since changed due to Ontario Planning legislation effectively encouraging taller buildings and increased density, as a result Monarch retracted its first design of the two buildings for phase 4 known as BREEZE (pictured below) where sales were actually started but later cancelled to create one taller building we now know as Nautilus.

I believe though phase 4 (block closer to lake) will remain as midrise buildings similar to phase 2

417106.jpg


See other BREEZE images on Emporis
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Not just a taller tower, but one with a much better, more distinctive design than those Breeze pieces of crap would have had.
 
Well, we will see what happens with the latest project, Waterscapes. IMO, judging from Monarch's website, it looks like they are having trouble selling units. Could it be they have outpriced themselves again?

Given the current state of the real estate market, why anyone would pay $350k for 715 sq.ft in Waterscapes is beyond me. All that money and you don't even get a true Toronto address. Oh, and I read that all units are getting a stippled ceiling? $350k, and you don't even get smooth ceilings? Shame on you Monarch. I didn't realize that popcorn ceilings are considered to be 'a feature'.

Oh well, all that matters is that whoever purchases a unit is happy & well informed before the deal is done.
 
condocritic said:
Monarch sure does paint a great picture for the development of their condo community on the lake, but will it ever get completed? Is any one here aware of the condo that was to be built before Nautilus was launched? Does "The Breeze" ring a bell?

Unfortunately, due to a significant amount of greed on Monarch's part, this condo was never built. The reason? Well, apparently Monarch got approval to build a taller tower. All purchasers were given their deposits back. After the cancellation, 6 months later the Nautilus was launched, and the price increase for these units was ridiculous, and no longer included a parking spot. So the answer seemed to be, why charge a reasonable price for a condo, when we can get the price they will be valued at in 2013? Interestingly, Monarch has done this several times in the past few years.

The upside? Well, Monarch is probably earning some nice interest on all the deposits they are receiving from uninformed purchasers. Hopefully this time, they actually build more than a miniature model.
Click to expand...

Condo Critic,

Monarch is one of the better developers in the GTA in terms of price point, after sales service and their record with Tarion as well as customer satisfaction surveys with J.D. Powers.

You are misinformed as to why Breeze evolved into Nautilus. It has nothing whatsoever to do with 'greed' - which seems to be a phrase people like to toss around about development when they actually have no idea whatsoever what the profit margins are or the reasons why projects change.

The margins on the new project would be virtually identical to the previous project (most developers have a general pro forma with respect to project feasibility and ROI). Or if anything Monarch is probably making far less profit given that the project had to be redesigned and re-launched. Monarch paid a steep price (as any developer does when a project fails) due to the very high carrying costs on the land, sales & marketing staff + budget spent on a failed project, plus planning, architecture, engineering etc isn't cheap – especially when you have to do it twice on a single piece of land if it fails the first time around. The last thing any developer ever wants to do is to launch a major project (Breeze contained 389 units at an avg psf of $351) and have it fail.

You've made several false assumptions:
1. You suggest Monarch cancelled Breeze because they got approval for a larger project…
That claim is 100% false - the project was cancelled due to lack of sales - they had a very poor opening weekend and little interest from the investment community. The project was canned after 16 months because nothing was selling.

2. You suggest that the motivation for cancellation was that Monarch got approval for a larger project...
This claim is 100% false once again. While Nautilus is a taller single tower than the Breeze project it contains fewer units (Nautilus has 377 units, while Breeze contained 389 units). Nautilus had a higher price point at an avg psf of $419 - but that reflects market realities of a 2007 launch vs a 2005 launch as well as higher construction material and labour costs as well as some regulatory chances and higher costs on some standard features.

3. You claim that the developer is getting away with steeper margins on the parking…
If you had any idea what is actually costs to construct underground parking facilities below the watertable in porous ground conditions right beside Lake Ontario you would question why a parking space was offered in the Breeze project – nothing is ‘free’ it’s built into the cost of the unit.

4. You claim that Monarch earned some "nice interest on the deposits"...
This claim is entirely 100% false. Deposits are held in a third party trust and any interest earned is returned to the purchaser - which is a legislative requirement. Monarch never touched a penny of the deposit money.

You should perhaps be better informed before you start claiming "shame on Monarch" when you make a bunch of completely false accusations about a company that actually struggled to get this project off the ground and likely lost quite a bit of money in the process of doing so (but I guess in your point of view having a massive project fail is the definition of corporate 'greed').

Get your facts right...
 
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