casaguy
Senior Member
Article from the National Post:
http://www.canada.com/nationalpost/....html?id=552beeb8-5281-408b-b036-5706d8434215
Action-packed living for urbanites
'It's For Someone Who Wants To Step Outside At Four In The Morning And Be Able To Get A Cab; Or Go To Yorkville For Dinner Or Go To Holt Renfrew -- Someone Who Wants To Be In The Core Of The City, Who Doesn't Want To Miss Any Action' --Veronika Belovich
Sherry Noik-Bent
National Post
Saturday, August 18, 2007
CREDIT: Peter J. Thompson, National Post
Julia Mele looks forward to being in the middle of everything once her suite at Crystal Blu is built near the corner of Balmuto and Bloor streets.
Condominium developments are often plotted along a subway line. An attractive proposition -- proximity to the TTC makes it easier to travel around the city. In the third article in an ongoing series, This is My Stop, Post Homes looks at new condos and their neighbourhoods along the Yonge Street subway line.
Safe to say, Bloor and Yonge is one of the most colourful corners in Toronto, the intersection where the city's two solitudes meet: the suited and the pierced, the boutique shoppers and the vendors, buskers and those who want to save your soul from hellfire. For many, the place where the Yonge and Bloor subway lines meet is also the de facto dividing line between uptown and downtown.
Veronika Belovich, director of sales and marketing for developer Bazis International, describes it this way: "It's happenin'. It's for someone who wants to step outside at four in the morning and be able to get a cab; or go to Yorkville for dinner or go to Holt Renfrew -- someone who wants to be in the core of the city, who doesn't want to miss any action."
That's exactly why Julia Mele wants to live there. "It's going to be busy, but I don't mind that," says the 25-year-old restaurateur. "I mean, that's the city, that's what happens."
Ms. Mele has bought a two-bedroom suite at Crystal Blu, a 130-suite boutique building now under construction on Balmuto Street. Only a few suites remain, including the full-floor penthouse for $4.5-million.
Crystal Blu is one of several condos that are transforming the city's hub into a residential destination. Just steps away, the Pemberton Group is building the Up-town Residences --a 48-storey Art Deco-inspired glass-and-precast building of 284 swish suites, most of which have been snapped up by the kind of "happenin'" people who prefer red carpets to green grass on their doorstep.
Apropos of the fame-and-fashion district, the lobby at Cresford Development's Casa will be all Armani furnished, just as the award-winning model suite was before construction began. It's one of two Cresford buildings going up on Charles Street, just a block south of Bloor and Yonge. The other is BSN (Bloor Street Neighbourhood), with interiors selected by Toronto's own design superstar, Brian Gluckstein.
"I think the people who buy, especially at our project ? they have a defined sense of style, given the fact that it's in the high-fashion area," says Cresford's Maria Athanasoulis. "What we're offering is, I think, more than current."
If this is all part of the ongoing Manhattanization of Toronto, then Bloor Street West is our Fifth Avenue. But then, Yonge Street is our 110th Street -- the do-not-cross line. Kazakhstan-based Bazis wants to change that with its second Toronto project, tentatively named 1 Bloor.
"We are extending Bloor West to the other side of Yonge Street," Ms. Belovich says. "We are going after the same kind of class and style as Bloor West has." The developer's 80-storey mixed-use condo will displace the unsightly block on the southeast corner of the intersection and dramatically reshape the streetscape. Details of the retail/hotel/residential tower with an underground connection to the TTC are still in the works, due to be revealed this fall.
"I think it's going to change the neighbourhood," Ms. Belovich adds. "It's going to make people want to cross the street and [stay] on Bloor."
The Times Group is counting on that, recently launching The 500 at Bloor and Sherbourne. Less boutique but just as chic for downtown living, the 34-storey tower breaking ground later this summer has a wide variety of suites, from 600-square-foot one-bedrooms starting at less than $200,000 to 2,500-sq.-ft. units at more than $1-million.
With those larger suites and a per-square-foot price of around $331--close to the average for the city, yet lower than the prices on the other side of Yonge --The 500 has even attracted some families, says on-site sales manager Sofie Taskas. And a soon-to-come Shoppers Drug Mart is "a great indicator for this spot [being] an up-and-coming residential area."
Indeed, whenever gentrification takes hold, a Shoppers can't be far behind. Even so, Ms. Taskas says homeowners are embracing the true downtown lifestyle as it was originally intended -- all the conveniences within walking, cycling or red-rocket-riding distance. "I have a lot of people buying units here who aren't even buying parking. They like the fact that the subway stop is right across the road, and they don't have that extra expense of having a car."
That's Ms. Mele's goal, too. Though she currently lives not far away, at Yonge and Summerhill, and operates her restaurant, Capocaccia, at Yonge and St. Clair, the young, single entrepreneur is looking forward to being what she considers even more centrally located, surrounded by shopping, dining and the 24/7 buzz of the core. "I used to live north of the city. I don't really see myself going back, even when I do have a family," she says. "There's so much to do. It's so easy to get around, too. You can't really lose."
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WEB SITES
-crystalblucondos.com
-pembertongroup.com
-casacondominium.com
-thebloorstreetneighbourhood.com
-1bloor.com -the500condos.com
© National Post 2007
http://www.canada.com/nationalpost/....html?id=552beeb8-5281-408b-b036-5706d8434215
Action-packed living for urbanites
'It's For Someone Who Wants To Step Outside At Four In The Morning And Be Able To Get A Cab; Or Go To Yorkville For Dinner Or Go To Holt Renfrew -- Someone Who Wants To Be In The Core Of The City, Who Doesn't Want To Miss Any Action' --Veronika Belovich
Sherry Noik-Bent
National Post
Saturday, August 18, 2007
CREDIT: Peter J. Thompson, National Post
Julia Mele looks forward to being in the middle of everything once her suite at Crystal Blu is built near the corner of Balmuto and Bloor streets.
Condominium developments are often plotted along a subway line. An attractive proposition -- proximity to the TTC makes it easier to travel around the city. In the third article in an ongoing series, This is My Stop, Post Homes looks at new condos and their neighbourhoods along the Yonge Street subway line.
Safe to say, Bloor and Yonge is one of the most colourful corners in Toronto, the intersection where the city's two solitudes meet: the suited and the pierced, the boutique shoppers and the vendors, buskers and those who want to save your soul from hellfire. For many, the place where the Yonge and Bloor subway lines meet is also the de facto dividing line between uptown and downtown.
Veronika Belovich, director of sales and marketing for developer Bazis International, describes it this way: "It's happenin'. It's for someone who wants to step outside at four in the morning and be able to get a cab; or go to Yorkville for dinner or go to Holt Renfrew -- someone who wants to be in the core of the city, who doesn't want to miss any action."
That's exactly why Julia Mele wants to live there. "It's going to be busy, but I don't mind that," says the 25-year-old restaurateur. "I mean, that's the city, that's what happens."
Ms. Mele has bought a two-bedroom suite at Crystal Blu, a 130-suite boutique building now under construction on Balmuto Street. Only a few suites remain, including the full-floor penthouse for $4.5-million.
Crystal Blu is one of several condos that are transforming the city's hub into a residential destination. Just steps away, the Pemberton Group is building the Up-town Residences --a 48-storey Art Deco-inspired glass-and-precast building of 284 swish suites, most of which have been snapped up by the kind of "happenin'" people who prefer red carpets to green grass on their doorstep.
Apropos of the fame-and-fashion district, the lobby at Cresford Development's Casa will be all Armani furnished, just as the award-winning model suite was before construction began. It's one of two Cresford buildings going up on Charles Street, just a block south of Bloor and Yonge. The other is BSN (Bloor Street Neighbourhood), with interiors selected by Toronto's own design superstar, Brian Gluckstein.
"I think the people who buy, especially at our project ? they have a defined sense of style, given the fact that it's in the high-fashion area," says Cresford's Maria Athanasoulis. "What we're offering is, I think, more than current."
If this is all part of the ongoing Manhattanization of Toronto, then Bloor Street West is our Fifth Avenue. But then, Yonge Street is our 110th Street -- the do-not-cross line. Kazakhstan-based Bazis wants to change that with its second Toronto project, tentatively named 1 Bloor.
"We are extending Bloor West to the other side of Yonge Street," Ms. Belovich says. "We are going after the same kind of class and style as Bloor West has." The developer's 80-storey mixed-use condo will displace the unsightly block on the southeast corner of the intersection and dramatically reshape the streetscape. Details of the retail/hotel/residential tower with an underground connection to the TTC are still in the works, due to be revealed this fall.
"I think it's going to change the neighbourhood," Ms. Belovich adds. "It's going to make people want to cross the street and [stay] on Bloor."
The Times Group is counting on that, recently launching The 500 at Bloor and Sherbourne. Less boutique but just as chic for downtown living, the 34-storey tower breaking ground later this summer has a wide variety of suites, from 600-square-foot one-bedrooms starting at less than $200,000 to 2,500-sq.-ft. units at more than $1-million.
With those larger suites and a per-square-foot price of around $331--close to the average for the city, yet lower than the prices on the other side of Yonge --The 500 has even attracted some families, says on-site sales manager Sofie Taskas. And a soon-to-come Shoppers Drug Mart is "a great indicator for this spot [being] an up-and-coming residential area."
Indeed, whenever gentrification takes hold, a Shoppers can't be far behind. Even so, Ms. Taskas says homeowners are embracing the true downtown lifestyle as it was originally intended -- all the conveniences within walking, cycling or red-rocket-riding distance. "I have a lot of people buying units here who aren't even buying parking. They like the fact that the subway stop is right across the road, and they don't have that extra expense of having a car."
That's Ms. Mele's goal, too. Though she currently lives not far away, at Yonge and Summerhill, and operates her restaurant, Capocaccia, at Yonge and St. Clair, the young, single entrepreneur is looking forward to being what she considers even more centrally located, surrounded by shopping, dining and the 24/7 buzz of the core. "I used to live north of the city. I don't really see myself going back, even when I do have a family," she says. "There's so much to do. It's so easy to get around, too. You can't really lose."
---------
WEB SITES
-crystalblucondos.com
-pembertongroup.com
-casacondominium.com
-thebloorstreetneighbourhood.com
-1bloor.com -the500condos.com
© National Post 2007
But, I also have other interests--urban toronto being among them so I restrict my obsession to about 2-3 hours/day. (1 hour to read biz news, investorshub.com and yahoofinance posts.)