Toronto CityPlace: Canoe Landing Community Centre & Schools | 15.85m | 3s | City of Toronto | ZAS Architects

I'm a recent purchaser of a 5th floor west facing unit in N1 Cityplace. I knew something was going to be built in front of me but (based on plans) I knew it wasn't going to completely clear out my view. Also, the buildings should look fairly decent too. So it's a matter of exchanging one view for another. Plus, by the time this is starts construction I get to enjoy an excellent view.

Anyways, I don't think I, or anyone else in a similar position, should be too concerned about condo values going down. The amount of development that is still to come will overshadow any 'negatives' that some are concerned about. A community center, park, library, schools etc. will be what people look at. I don't see how affordable housing will make or break anyones decision to move to such a great location, even if the view is slightly blocked once they are built. The fact my view would be blocked wasn't a huge concern for me because I bought here for the location. Living in downtown Toronto with numerous amenities and facilities at my doorstep.... how can you go wrong? I'm more concerned with what i've heard about property management and some problems within the buildings. Let's put more effort in changing those things. Not something we have no control over.

Well that's my 2 cents.
 
fencejack said:
I'm more concerned with what i've heard about property management and some problems within the buildings. Let's put more effort in changing those things. Not something we have no control over.
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yes, property management and I think the people who live in the building are usually the problems. If someone breaks like a leak, the issue should be brought to Tarion warranty to handle. Some like to bitch because things break easily and they have to spend money to fix. During the first 2 years, some don't realize they have warranty or just too impatient to wait for someone from Tarion to send someone to check the issue. Also people who break stuff like garbage shute handles and don't report to management then others are too lazy to bring them downstairs or to the next level down. Just leaving them in the garbage room making it stink. Then they complain it's built cheaply. It could easily be resolved if people work together which people don't seem to. It's each for themselves. If not handled carefully, things break. People should work together to report and get it fixed. If it's not fixed when it does get reported. Then you have bad management who don't do their job.

Also some of the newer buildings do have security, but if people bring strangers or ones they just meet from off the street or bars, that is harder to say. It's like a breach of security if that person happens to steal or damage property.
 
Block 31

I live in West One at Cityplace and I originally had reservations about TCHC housing, going up on block 31.

BUT
As I write this we "once again" have no working lighting in the courtyard so its pitch dark, a definite safety concern.
There are notices in the elevator about last weeks rash of stolen motorcycles from the garage.
We have had cars shot up in the garage a few months back.
A couple weeks ago I had no electricity for over 18 hours (not part of the city outage, as it was only certain floors), my hallway had power though so I and other tenants on my floor ran extension cords to out apts from there.
I have seen the elevators dripping with water from a flood that caused us to have one working elevator for over a week, and months to fully fix the others.
And when power goes off in the building you can't access your floor because the stairwell doors are lock from the stairwell. There is also no stairway entrance from the ground floor..it is outside and no handle.

so how could TCHC housing be worse run!
 
GrinTO said:
As I write this we "once again" have no working lighting in the courtyard so its pitch dark, a definite safety concern.
There are notices in the elevator about last weeks rash of stolen motorcycles from the garage.
We have had cars shot up in the garage a few months back.
A couple weeks ago I had no electricity for over 18 hours (not part of the city outage, as it was only certain floors), my hallway had power though so I and other tenants on my floor ran extension cords to out apts from there.
I have seen the elevators dripping with water from a flood that caused us to have one working elevator for over a week, and months to fully fix the others.
And when power goes off in the building you can't access your floor because the stairwell doors are lock from the stairwell. There is also no stairway entrance from the ground floor..it is outside and no handle.
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1. If the lights are broken, it should be reported to management to fix. Bulbs will go out since they're on frequently. However it's important to notify someone to fix it. Like street lights on the street. It should be reported to the city.

2. Parking garage shoot outs and stolen bikes are problems caused by residence and not the builder. I suspect those residents are going to clubland and bringing strangers into the building they pick up from bars. If they are the ones doing it, they are probably the people shooting out and doing illegal stuff at clubland. I wish those clubbers would move close to King and Queen St but we don't have a choice who lives in the building.

3. I had no electricity either. I think the whole building didn't get any. The hallways are running on back up. We have back up generators to ensure the building is operational even when power goes out.

4. There was elevator problem. WestOne is not the only building with elevator problems, other buildings also have it. It's not uncommon. However having them take a long time to fix is a problem. They had to order in parts they didn't have to fix it with. No idea why it took to long to order.

5. The stairways I can't comment on. I've heard people say you can't use the stairway to go upstairs. Once you get into the stairway you have to walk all the way down. It's suppose to be some sort of security issue. I kind of understand since I've heard from old apartment buildings where the rapist would hide in the stairway and rape the resident they notice opening the door to their apartment. I don't know if having the stairway locked is a good idea or not.
 
Stairs

With respect to stairwell security.

The way to address this is to have the stairs, front door and elevator all on a security passkey system.

No keycard, no elevator, no access, no stairs

Same as an office building after hours.

The stair doors could have card readers on them.

The way it would work could be all owners, all floors, all doors

OR

You could restrict it to ground floor/amenity floors and the floor on which an owner's unit is located.
 
That would be an idea. But the builder would have to implement it in future buildings and probably suggested to them. Having it added to WestOne isn't feasible since we don't even have the budget to change carpets --;
 
AKS said:
1. If the lights are broken, it should be reported to management to fix. Bulbs will go out since they're on frequently. However it's important to notify someone to fix it. Like street lights on the street. It should be reported to the city.

2. Parking garage shoot outs and stolen bikes are problems caused by residence and not the builder. I suspect those residents are going to clubland and bringing strangers into the building they pick up from bars. If they are the ones doing it, they are probably the people shooting out and doing illegal stuff at clubland. I wish those clubbers would move close to King and Queen St but we don't have a choice who lives in the building.

3. I had no electricity either. I think the whole building didn't get any. The hallways are running on back up. We have back up generators to ensure the building is operational even when power goes out.

4. There was elevator problem. WestOne is not the only building with elevator problems, other buildings also have it. It's not uncommon. However having them take a long time to fix is a problem. They had to order in parts they didn't have to fix it with. No idea why it took to long to order.

5. The stairways I can't comment on. I've heard people say you can't use the stairway to go upstairs. Once you get into the stairway you have to walk all the way down. It's suppose to be some sort of security issue. I kind of understand since I've heard from old apartment buildings where the rapist would hide in the stairway and rape the resident they notice opening the door to their apartment. I don't know if having the stairway locked is a good idea or not.
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1. its the entire courtyard and street are out not just a broken bulb.

2. No security cameras at all in the parking garage areas.

3. The power was not out in the entire building, I discovered this when I went to the 27th floor and found it on and and also talked to other tenants. Management originally tried to say it was a Toronto Hydro problem but finally called an electrician after 12pm the next day (I was standing there at the time) after which power was finally turned on.
 
Then it would be a management problem. I've heard the management is not good. I think everyone should put pressure on the board of directors to change management. I've heard Andrejs is not good. Some of the other building are also using Andrejs. We should try to get it changed to Brookfield. Anyhow, the management staff leave at 5pm. So I doubt they notice if the lights are out in the courtyard unless someone reports.
 
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GrinTO said:
2. No security cameras at all in the parking garage areas.
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Not that they would do anything. Im on the 'on-call' committee at my building and we have break ins all the time, despite the fact that the underground garage has cameras. Its never someone from inside the building breaking in, its always strangers who get in when people drive in and dont wait for the garage door to close before proceeding.
 
From reading the posts, some of you geniuses do know that areas such as parking lots and courtyard are shared by 3 buildings right (West One, N1/N2 and Gallery)? It is irritating that some of you put it squarely on West One. Be more clear please when placing blame.

And personally I doubt security cameras can do much. You realize the size of the underground parking on each level. How many cameras are needed to cover all angles of all 3 levels? Plus I am sure it is not residents that caused the incidents.
 
I'm sure it's not just westone. N building has had it's share of elevator problems too. As have harbour estates on the east side of Spadina. There are bound to be elevator problems.

As for the stairway, it's possible to secure it and still use the stairway, however it would be expensive.

Things like broken handles, lights, etc should be reported to management to fix. Not to sit around and wait for magic to happen.

Parking garage is an issue, however it's hard to contain who goes in and out. The elevators are already secured, but if they manage to get into the building, they can tag people downstairs as well. Or like someone says, follow the resident through the parking garage in their car. With cameras there's always blind spots as well. It would be hard to capture. I wonder if there's a solution.
 
It really does have to be a collaborative effort from everyone within the buildings. As already mentioned, we need to report anything and everything. Otherwise, we can't expect anything to be fixed.

I'm not sure what percentage are renters but I feel pride of ownership does play a part. If the building is highly occupied by renters, it's hard to expect them to respect the property as if it were their own. Since we cannot restrict people from renting here I think it is our (owners) duty to put the extra effort in taking care of where we live.

Anyone actually know the approx. percentage of renters in the N1 building? and/or of the area itself (N1/N2, Gallery, WestOne)?
 
Projectend, I wonder how the parking will be set up for TCHC? I notice in some buildings with very small plot/area of land, their parking lot end up very deep and tight. The turns become hard to make. If the whole plot is shared for parking, turns will be easier, however if the school is also sharing the parking area, it might be a security issue. So not sure how it will be sorted out.

About the balcony moving in and out. Do you have a model mark up of it? I wonder if it would look nicer if it was something like the Nautilus whose balconies form an S shape.
 
TOBoy said:
From reading the posts, some of you geniuses do know that areas such as parking lots and courtyard are shared by 3 buildings right (West One, N1/N2 and Gallery)? It is irritating that some of you put it squarely on West One. Be more clear please when placing blame.
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You are correct. I found out this morning that the controls for the courtyard lighting are in 15 Fort York.

cheers
 
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