Too Many Condos?

[greenleaf]

This is just not true ... how many dry cleaners do you see on King East, alas the condos which generally get such retail (i.e. dry cleaners) can't support much else, or the vicinity it self can't, at least for the time being.

In terms of noise, yes that's true, but in regards to a chain restaurant vs an independent one that has nothing to do with the fact the unit is a condo; Most retail leasing agencies would prefer clients they know can stay put for a long time. Really this has nothing to do with the fact the unit is in a condo.

In all honesty we put a lot of retail in our new condos, many of the time they're not replacing older retail strips (actually the majority of time), they either on empty plots of land or commercial industrial space. You really can't expect indpedent shops to setup in all of these.

Let's talk about banks; Sure they eat up retail space but this has nothing to do with the fact its in a condo; if empty retail was built you'd see the same thing, with cityplace there wasn't much in terms of banking options in the area so they flooded the area, this is unfortunate I agree but it's not the condos that are at fault. Maybe there wasn't enough retail overall to provide space for all the banks and other more interesting retail (which may not pop up right away).

From the main page: http://urbantoronto.ca/news/2011/11/wanted-better-street-retail-new-condos

 

[taal]

I think if anything that essentially conveys the message I was trying to convey.

Newer spaces will often carry higher rents, this has nothing to do with the condo it self; If an independent retail building was constructed you'd likely see the same thing.

To a certain degree it's similar to the differences between class A and C office space;

Now one thing that article didn't touch on but Glen did; The older retail space will be cheaper sure; But are a lot of older spaces extremely cheaper as they're not paying the full tax rate based on the value of the property due to the phasing in policies the city has ?

That's a little more scary because does it imply the mom and pop chains can only afford tax rates of 20 years ago ?

 

[Glen]

But are a lot of older spaces extremely cheaper as they're not paying the full tax rate based on the value of the property due to the phasing in policies the city has ?

That's a little more scary because does it imply the mom and pop chains can only afford tax rates of 20 years ago ?

Since I have the info at hand let me give an example. 615-617 Queen St West had an assessment of 863,600 with CVA taxes of $35,070. Due to capping and its age, in 2008 it was paying only $13,065. That is a difference of $22,005 PER YEAR OR $1,834 per month. So yes taxes and tax differentials make a difference.

 

[taal]

The city must be reaping in tons of money, and even more so over the next 5 years.
What do they plan on using the money for ?

 

[taal]

Actually one other question, what do other large city in the US for their taxation system i.e. take Chicago / New York ?

 

[OttoSchloss]

New York City has its own income tax. So you pay federal, state and city tax there. Not sure about other metropolitan areas but certainly none of the others I've lived in in the U.S. had a city tax like NYC.

 

[taal]

New York City has its own income tax. So you pay federal, state and city tax there. Not sure about other metropolitan areas but certainly none of the others I've lived in in the U.S. had a city tax like NYC.

Right but that's not what I'm referring too, new york city has property tax like everywhere else, on top of that, the lucky folks get to pay income tax as well !

 

[greenleaf]

I think if anything that essentially conveys the message I was trying to convey.

Newer spaces will often carry higher rents, this has nothing to do with the condo it self; If an independent retail building was constructed you'd likely see the same thing.

To a certain degree it's similar to the differences between class A and C office space;

Now one thing that article didn't touch on but Glen did; The older retail space will be cheaper sure; But are a lot of older spaces extremely cheaper as they're not paying the full tax rate based on the value of the property due to the phasing in policies the city has ?

That's a little more scary because does it imply the mom and pop chains can only afford tax rates of 20 years ago ?

Yeah, I am not familiar with how the tax rates work for commercial space. It is a bit scary.

 

[DM613]

It's about time that parallelism started making more headway in the routine stuff. The issues of parallelism were identified in the seventies when I was an undergraduate student, but rarely implemented anywhere except in academia for a long time, but this decade has shown great advances in the practical application of parallelism and there are now mechanisms appearing that are leveraging solid implementations of parallel processing technology.

 

[ducati0000]

Oh brother, not the Jamestown thing again.

I guest you havent been following the negativity from some local newspapers or the pending lawsuits from owners about crumpling units,shoddy workmanship,lack of security,or iffy repairs.I could name 10 better condos within shouting distance of CP that is closer to the city action and offer a lot more quality results than CP..

 

[hawc]

I could name 10 better condos within shouting distance of CP that is closer to the city action and offer a lot more quality results than CP.

Go for it:

1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.

 

[Thanos]

I guest you havent been following the negativity from some local newspapers

We were also told they'd find weapons of mass destruction. I guess you're one of those that believes everything that the media says.

or the pending lawsuits from owners

1 lawsuit. At the same time i can find you many lawsuits against developers whether it be condos, single familly houses, office towers. Heck my condo board threatened to take the developper to court. Btw, i live in the yonge college area.

about crumpling units, shoddy workmanship

The lawsuit is not about crumbling units. Please show me pictures of crumbling units.

lack of security

You're really just saying anything at this point. Yadda yadda yadda.

 

[BobBob]

Can you explain how politicians have "focused" on residential intensification? Is it not market pressures which fuel this process?

If anything, politicians have focused on screwing up infrastructure expansion for decades, so development has to go where infrastructure for it already exists. Hence, condos.

Not that that's a bad thing...

 

[Memph]

Ummm... urban planning is NOT dictated by the market... unless you're in Houston or something. Things are zoned as high density residential or whatever.
The housing market is the most government controlled market. To even suggest it is a market is kinda sad.

Urban planning... government controlled.
Demand... predominantly government controlled via immigration
Supply... controlled via urban planning and things like the green belt
Property taxes... controlled by government

There is a myth around urban planning that if you just intensify residential planning... then you get all these live and work communities...
Except they forgot about the work part. Someone else in this thread posted about a similar issue in Vancouver. Where companies can't find office space and have to relocate to the burbs.
When it comes to intensification, more land around major transit nodes should be dedicated to commercial interests and keep costs low. This way companies will locate at major transit stops. So the most people need to do is get a major transit node and then they can take transit to work.

It is a balance of course and high density residential will appear... but the planning has been completely backwards. intensify the companies first... that takes care of most of your transit issues.

I largely agree with you. A lot of the focus seems to be on making it easier for people to take transit to downtown Toronto, but a pretty big chunk of people who work downtown take transit already and downtown only has about 15-20% of the jobs in the GTA. The remaining 80% are not very accessible by transit, and if that doesn't change, automobile use won't change much in the GTA.

 

[W. K. Lis]

It would be better if the buildings they put up are mixed use. Stores at the bottom, offices above the stores, and residential on top of the offices. I don't like turning the downtown into a bedroom community, with offices in the suburbs.