CityPlace: West One

[Edward Skira]

My brother-in-law recently sold his 525 sq ft unit in HVE D for $450 a sq ft. Bought four years ago for $290 a sq ft. Pretty nice return for doing nothing.

Says the unit he just moved into in North One should go for about the same. He bought it two years ago for $300 a sq ft. He's going to hold this one until the big initial sell-off of investor held units is done. That should take place within the next 6 months to a year. Figures he can get close to $480-$500 at that point.

 

[avatarreb]

Parade is selling now for about $490/sqrft... and that's at least 3 years off.

 

[vultur]

This kind of activity is extremely speculative. You could get caught with your pants down like all the suckers in South Florida who are on the hook for $750,000+ units that are being dumped for under $500k by the anxious developer looking to salvage whatever equity remains in the project.

Same trend, different town...

 

[avatarreb]

This kind of activity is extremely speculative. You could get caught with your pants down like all the suckers in South Florida who are on the hook for $750,000+ units that are being dumped for under $500k by the anxious developer looking to salvage whatever equity remains in the project.

Same trend, different town...

I don't imagine that South Florida has the same density or lending discipline (i.e. sub prime) as Toronto among other factors. But I agree, speculative thinking indeed.

 

[Andrew3D]

 

[interchange42]

The following posts have been grouped together to follow after Andrew3D's moved photos originally appearing in another thread:

Great pics Andrew3D. But could you point me to the suburb with townhouses like that? I'm of the opinion that the townhouses are one of the best features of W1.

Suburban in the fact they offer nothing to the street scape except for those who live in them. You have to walk around them to see what I mean.

Looks like False Creek CP on the cheap. Toronto should hire (and force developers) Vancouver-style condo landscapers. Why is it only highend condos in Toronto get nice landscaping, stone walls etc? This (even more than bland architecture) cheapout landscaping issue is the thing that pisses me off about Toronto the most.

Those townhouses are rather sad too--how soon before the wooden patio screens are falling apart, the lack of bicycle racks is very obvious, the public art is grim, the exposed concrete everywhere--not a hint of decoration or flare anywhere! 3 stories next to a highrise? come on this is downtown Toronto, not downtown Portage la Prairie!

That's my sentiment exactly. Though we should let this thread get back on topic now. I'll move these images later today unless somebody else wants to for me. Must get to work now.

Expect developers to continue to "cheap out" in comparsion to Vancouver on landscaping until we see prices in tune with Vancouver. This stuff ain't cheap and neither are low to mid range condos in Vancouver. (the twisty, high-end Ritz Vancouver is seling at $2000 a square foot!!!)




minimum 20 years depending on the fasteners they used (always fun to see galvanized posts and cedar slats being held with unprotected screws or nails )

The price per square foot in Toronto is far less than VC on average. If you want every condo to have the same features as VC than we can toss affordability out the window and ask for significant price increases on all product in Toronto.

The townhouses were great until they tacked the wooden fences on in front of them. Now THAT is tacky. But before the front yards were completed they were great!

Vancouver prices have been well above Toronto's for years. Tell any developer that they can increase their prices by 50-75% and they'll spend more on a variety of features.... No more excuses for housing affordability, let's petition developers to stop undervaluing Toronto real estate and hike prices....

Everyone can agree they would like to improve on a whole variety of things, but each improvement doesn't come for free, all costs are passed onto the consumer. Some projects are willing to fork over more cash for landscaping, while others may be focused on energy efficiency or granite counters. There is a wide variety of product being built across the city with each project having pros and cons, condo buyers have to decide where they'll get the most value for the items that they value most.

The Vancouver and Toronto market really are not comparable, housing affordability in Vancouver is terrible compared to Toronto - According to the September RBC Housing Affordability Report: an average mortgage payment on a two-storey home in Vancouver is $3230 per month, Toronto is far less, although last quarter Toronto experience it's sharpest quarterly deterioration in housing affordability since 1994.

Come on let's get over this argument; we know what the difference between the cities (other than climate) trully is: vancouver dictates to developers that in exchange for density they must ensure quality green space and landscaping while the city of toronto says give us $1 million for some ugly public "amenity" (bronze art by an american artist? yeah that really helps toronto's artists. a silly little park where the last thing toronto needs is more greenspace!) What I want to see: little surprises and flourishes (not break the bank stuff) like those leaf-motif sidewalks, stone walls around gardens, nice landscaping not just a patch of grass precast sidewalks and some weeds.

You know what I mean. No need to make excuses re: prices. No need to excuse cheap developers. No need to excuse the status quo! Look at my signature: a real solution!

 

[officedweller]

The fences do look sad.
As for the lowrise townhouses, they're probably short (along with the rec centre) to allow sunlight to hit the courtyard lawn.
The alternative is to have either a courtyard plaza open to the street (as seen in many other projects with even worse streetscape/streetwall impact) or a rooftop courtyard on the podium (as seen with Montage/Neo). The latter is really only feasible if you have a big retail use (or parking) to fill up the interior of the superblock podium.

 

[Hydrogen]

^I agree about the fences. The townhouses are better than the earlier efforts, but I find the fencing really takes something away from them. It couldn't have been that hard to find an alternate fencing material that would match a little better.

 

[SP!RE]

OR no fence? lol... But I guess if it's green space across from them, then it's fine to have the front yards made more private.

 

[officedweller]

Usually townhouses have a short hedge or a wrought iron fence atop a stone/brick wall facing the street. For the side to side dividers, steel and frosted/textured glass are usually used.

 

[junctionist]

The generic wood fences look like bad home improvement projects. They're the kind that look don't look bad initially and are kind of interesting because they're different, but after five years inspire the "what were they thinking" question. A transparent or semi-transparent stain could add a nice dimension though with some restrained colour.

 

[Redroom Studios]

I have always thought those townhouses were f-ugly! To my eye, they seem completely mismatched with these huge glass towers, both in style and scale. They seem like they could be dorm residences on the campus of York U or Ryerson. And those grass boulevards are utterly suburban... yuck! What a let down this portion of the project is!

 

[Mike in TO]

 

[RedRaptor]

Nice pics!

 

[interchange42]

I agree - nicely done with the fog and acute angles. The interior courtyard looks pretty good to me. In 10 years when the trees have grown quite a bit it will be a terrific oasis.

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