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Rouge Bijou (Downtown Markham, Remington, 10 + 3x 7s, Quadrangle)

^ Please re-read the second last paragraph in the article above.
 
You're right, though townhouses meeting the street are hardly anti-urban. Not every street can be lined with retail on both sides.
 
Sales Update:

Rouge Bijou Building A:
105 units, 10 storeys, avg $321 psf
Quadrangle Architects
Sold out on opening day
LEED Certification Candidate

Rouge Bijou Terraces Building B:
82 units, 7 storeys, avg $327 psf
Quadrangle Architects
Sold out opening day
LEED Certification Candidate

Rouge Bijou Promenade Building C:
152 units, 7 storeys, avg $335 psf
Quadrangle Architects
Sold out
LEED Certification Candidate

Rouge Bijou Arbor Building D:
92 units, 7 storeys, avg $341 psf
Quadrangle Architects
Sold out
LEED Certification Candidate

The next buildings are planned to be launched this fall following the success of 431 sales at Downtown Markham.

Downtown Markham is a $3 billion, 243-acre master-planned development. When complete there will be 9,500 full-time residents and 16,000 employees: 3,900 residential units in 175 townhomes and 3,725 mid to high-rise condos, 455,000 sf commercial buildings, 460,000 sf retail buildings, 3.7 million sf office buildigns and 72.1 acres of park/open space.
 
I wish I could go into the future and learn what will become of the farm on the SE corner of Warden and #7.
 
I wish I could go into the future and learn what will become of the farm on the SE corner of Warden and #7.
picture this....

Heat/power plant to be built

Oct 19, 2006
Joe Fantauzzi
Courtesy: Yorkregion.com

(Markham) - A combined heat and power plant will be built in the new Markham Centre lands now that a long-term contract has been signed between Markham District Energy and the Ontario Power Authority.

The five megawatt facility, fuelled by natural gas, will be put up at Warden Avenue and Hwy. 407 and has the capacity to power 5,000 homes, the town said in a statement.

"This project is very strategic for Markham's developing district energy system and Markham Centre," Mayor Don Cousens said. "Our goal in Markham Centre is to deliver cost effective, efficient and environmentally superior energy to the new developments and this combined heat and power plant will advance all these objectives."

The move has come after a provincial directive was given to up energy capacity across Ontario.

The plant will be good for Markham, Councillor and Markham District Energy board chairperson Dan Horchik said.

"Projects like Markham's combined heat and power facility are needed and accepted by the community," Mr. Horchik said. "They operate invisibly and provide significant local benefits. Our council is unanimous in their support of this project."
 
^ Don't think that plant is going on the farm that Scarberiankhatru is talking about. The power plant will definitely be on the west side of Warden, either next to the Powerstream offices or in the hydro corridor south of 407.

Speaking of farms, the farmhouse on the Downtown Markham site is being saved, to be incorporated into one of the parks in the future neighbourhood.
 
"I wish I could go into the future and learn what will become of the farm on the SE corner of Warden and #7. "

probably the same as most other farmhouses in Markham - moved to the heritage sub-division
 
I'm talking about this farm's land:
maps.google.com/maps?f=q&...9&t=k&om=1
If memory serves me correctly, it's still being farmed so it's not just a permanently fallow field. Downtown Markham is only on land south of the Rouge. A few roads are planned to cut through here but for the life of me I haven't heard a single thing about what's actually gonna get built here...this land is more important to Markham Centre than Downtown Markham is.
 
Downtown Markham

Starting off with a Post article

Link to article

905 condos better late than never

Peter Kuitenbrouwer
National Post

Wednesday, May 23, 2007

Walking yesterday through the meadows, woodlands and swamps that the Bratty family plans to transform into "Downtown Markham," I came upon fresh deer hoofprints in the mud.

The development coming here, southwest of Warden Avenue and Highway 7, will push the deer out. Still, it is nice to see that builders in the 905 are attempting something environmental, a community where people can live, work, play and shop while walking or riding trains, buses and bicycles.

"I've been a developer for a long time, and I know the names people call developers. Greedy and black-hearted," Rudy Bratty, co-owner of the Remington Group, which owns this 243-acre tract, told me later over the telephone. "There was a time when people wanted sprawl, a white picket fence and a two-car garage. In fairness to my fellow developers, we only gave what the market wanted."

Today, the market appears responsive to something different. Buyers have snapped up the first 350-odd units in four seven-storey condominium blocks. (Typical price for two bedrooms and a den, 1,200 square feet: $416,900).

This morning, Michael Chan, Ontario's Minister of Revenue, and David Caplan, Ontario's Minister of Public Infrastructure and Renewal, will join Markham Mayor Frank Scarpetti in the official groundbreaking.

The Bratty family bought the land 22 years ago and sat on it after the city asked them to develop a mixed-use community with condos, shopping, offices and parks within walking distance of each other, Mr. Bratty says. It was only five years ago, he said, that "there was an acceptance of condo living in the 905." He adds, "Sprawl has got to become yesterday, it can't be tomorrow."

Dawn Fletcher, 27, a nurse at York Regional Hospital in Richmond Hill, grew up in Markham and now lives with her parents in Stouffville. Six months ago, she went to check out the Downtown Markham sales office just as investment idea, she says, but liked what she saw so much that she decided to buy -- and move in. The next day her sister Candice, 24, went back with her boyfriend, Dave Peloski, and they bought a condo, too, just down the hall.

"The whole idea is impressive, and if they can pull it off it's going to be the place to be in the next 15 years," Dawn says.

Candice Fletcher and Mr. Peloski don't just want to live here. Mr. Peloski right now owns Judy's Italian Pizzeria at 16th Avenue and Stonemason Drive. He has put in his name to get a space in a future part of Downtown Markham, which the designers have labeled the "Piazza," for another Judy's.

I took a drive up to 16th Avenue to understand Mr. Peloski's dream a bit better. For $4.50, I ate a Brio and a slice of "marguerita," which he explained contains sliced tomatoes seasoned overnight with salt and sugar, home-made pesto, minced garlic, extra-virgin olive oil, six secret spices and a bit of cheese. Yum.

"I've lived in Markham my whole life," Mr. Peloski explained. "We had just gotten back from Spain and Amsterdam-- the way things are set up in Amsterdam, you can ride a bike everywhere. Here in the suburbs it's not designed for people to be people."

In his dream future of Downtown Markham, he and Ms. Fletcher walk from their condo to their pizzeria -- and see all their friends along the way.

The sales centre for this dream features giant, soft-focus photographs of Berlin,London and Paris, along with a wall of plants and a tape playing the chirping of birds. Serena Quaglia, director of marketing at the Remington Group, explains, "When you go to Europe everything is walking distance."

There are other examples of urban cores where people walk and ride bikes; I think of downtown Toronto. It has taken a halfcentury for Ontario's developers and planners to see the folly of post-war city design. Better late than never, and I look forward to my next slice of Judy's, in Downtown Markham.

*****

While I'm optimistic about Downtown Markham, the comment by Mr. Bratty sounds pretty inconsistent with what Remington Group is building in other parts of the GTA fringe.

http://www.remingtonhomes.com/brampton_1.html
 
Today, the market appears responsive to something different. Buyers have snapped up the first 350-odd units in four seven-storey condominium blocks. (Typical price for two bedrooms and a den, 1,200 square feet: $416,900).

I'm not quite sure why anyone would buy these units in Markham, when you can buy a comparable space in Toronto for that money. Anyone want to enlighten me on this point???
 
I guess people want to pay double the taxes for less than half the civic amenities and services
 
Property taxes for a $400,000 house in Markham are about $4000, while in Toronto its about $3400. Streets are plowed and garbage is picked up in Markham, and most of Toronto's civic amenties are open to anyone. If you work in Markham or your famiily and friends live in Markham, why wouldn't you consider living in Markham?

The real question is why you wouldn't just buy a house in Markham...for $416,900, you can get a decent house. I'd understand 'overpaying' for a condo if, say, you're downtown or on a subway line or in a walkable neighbourhood, but Downtown Markham just isn't going to be as wonderful as they say it will.
 
A lot of people like the lack of maintenance and upkeep on a condo. If you feel like going away for a month or two, you can pretty much just pick up and leave. That's definitely not the case in a house. 905 condos also tend to be a lot roomier than Toronto condos, and in many cases have better layouts. Empty nesters who've lived most of their lives in Markham seem like a pretty large part of the Market.
 

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