Toronto Emerald Park Condos | 128.92m | 40s | Bazis | Rosario Varacalli

amnesiajune said:
If I have to guess, I'd say that they're holding out to see what happens with Sheppard Centre. If Longo's doesn't end up moving in, they might want to occupy the space and bring the LCBO with them. But I'm sure that I'm an idiot and there's some other very long explanation that's obvious to anyone who "did their homework".
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What sunnyray is referring to are all the dots on the map representing Metro owned grocers. They’d be competing with themselves. On top of that, the countless other large and small groceries in the area. It’s hard to justify opening another Metro here. If this was still owned by Loblaws, opening a T&T would be a different story, hence why Adonis was rumoured.
 
amnesiajune said:
Metro owns Food Basics. It's the equivalent of No Frills for their company
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I know that, but it doesn't change the fact that when the FB closes, it would make an Emerald Park Metro more viable which I think (?) is what Sunny is getting at.
 
steveve said:
What sunnyray is referring to are all the dots on the map representing Metro owned grocers. They’d be competing with themselves. On top of that, the countless other large and small groceries in the area. It’s hard to justify opening another Metro here. If this was still owned by Loblaws, opening a T&T would be a different story, hence why Adonis was rumoured.
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WillTo said:
I know that, but it doesn't change the fact that when the FB closes, it would make an Emerald Park Metro more viable which I think (?) is what Sunny is getting at.
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I think he's just trolling us and floating wild theories, to be honest. It's extremely obvious that the only reason for Metro's indefinitely-delayed store is Longo's across the street. If/when that Food Basics store closes, nobody would be driving south from there - past another 24/7 Metro location - to get to Emerald Park. In any case, the No Frills at Centrepoint (the best No Frills in the whole city, if you ask me) will probably absorb most of the customers from that Food Basics, along with the FreshCo and Valu-Mart nearby.

It's very very obvious that Metro came to Yonge & Sheppard to target the Harrison Garden area that's very poorly served by supermarkets. Then Longo's came in and Metro realized they had no ability to compete. Metro does pretty badly with prices and product quality; their appeal is convenient hours and being within walking distance in underserved markets. I figure they're hanging onto the EP space in case the Longos across the street (which sells much better stuff at the same price point) doesn't end up opening.
 
WillTo said:
They are waiting for Food Basics to close when that plaza gets redeveloped?
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WillTo, the first boot to drop will likely be popular FoodBasics losing their Newtonbrook site in about 3-5 years due to large Newtonbrook redevelopment (mix-use 5 condo towers 1500+ units) with new developer, Aoyuan, publically stating they'll be targeting local Chinese buyers/new immigrants - thus, office, retail, supermarket would likely be as well.
https://urbantoronto.ca/forum/threa...-wallman-architects.18028/page-5#post-1284180

Metro will want to relocate their busy and profitable FoodBasics nearby (otherwise, Metro would just be handing over market-share and profits on a silver platter to their competitors like Loblaw's nearby NoFrills/ValuMart and Sobey's FreshCo),... since it's difficult to find large supermarket space and there's an over-saturation of Metro stores locally, they should consider a shuffling their FoodBasics VS Metro offering and/or a FoodBasics at EmeraldPark but it's expensive building a new store, no local monopoly and it'll eat into their nearby Metros. Bottom-line: will any such move be profitable for Metro overall?

Another boot need to drop, for EmeraldPark to come into play,.... otherwise, Metro will continue holding EmeraldPark empty for more than 5 years.

Note: A couple years ago when Metro bailed EmeraldPark, Northtown Metro (Doris&Church) rumoured to get new HomeReadyMade/market-station format renovations but never happened, why renovate a poor performing Metro store that's candidate for a FoodBasics? Scudder seems to be a Metro insider:
https://urbantoronto.ca/forum/threa...-rosario-varacalli.4829/page-110#post-1052360
 
steveve said:
What sunnyray is referring to are all the dots on the map representing Metro owned grocers. They’d be competing with themselves. On top of that, the countless other large and small groceries in the area. It’s hard to justify opening another Metro here. If this was still owned by Loblaws, opening a T&T would be a different story, hence why Adonis was rumoured.
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Steveve, yes, current local over-saturation of Metro stores is one reason that prevents a profitable Metro/FoodBasics from opening at EmeraldPark now,.... what needs to happen for Metro to set up shop in EmeraldPark?

Why is Metro just holding EmeraldPark location empty long term?

Yours and WillTo answers are on the right track,... just need to focus more strategically and longer term,... like Metro would,... past, present, future,...
WillTo said:
They are waiting for Food Basics to close when that plaza gets redeveloped?
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Here's another hint: What do we see a lot of here on UrbanToronto? Answer: Redevelopment! Think about it.
 
Sup guys. Don't you guys love how every single door in this building is broken and has been broken for nearly 2 years now? Great building management here!
 
Yes, the sand bags by the doors look decidedly 3rd world. So do the weeds in the street planters and the semi-dead trees. Never mind the broken escalator.
 
Also love the huge VAPE sign facing Yonge. Stay classy, EP.

BTW, still astounds me to see the tiny, cheaply built units in here selling for > $900K, when there are larger, better units available for much less in the surrounding area -- not to mention that an extra stretch could get you a modest detached on one of the quiet, leafy side-streets.

Not sure how a buyer walks in and thinks, yes, this tiny little 700-800 sq/ft box is certainly worth a million bucks -- where do I sign? Now, where can I fit my sofa?

It must be speculators, investors, money launderers, etc. It's hard not to think that some sort of racket is going on, unless people just have more money than brains. Which, in this ridiculous market, is certainly possible.
 
I wonder if the building's unique architecture explains the inflated residential unit prices. On the other hand, the poor maintenance of the grounds should have a negative effect on value bring prices down. Speaking of rackets, the same question comes to my mind when I look at some of the businesses in the EP mall. For example, the money exchange business. The location makes no sense to me and I have yet to see anyone walking into or out of it.
 
NorthYorkEd said:
BTW, still astounds me to see the tiny, cheaply built units in here selling for > $900K, when there are larger, better units available for much less in the surrounding area -- not to mention that an extra stretch could get you a modest detached on one of the quiet, leafy side-streets.
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NorthYorkEd said:
It must be speculators, investors, money launderers, etc. It's hard not to think that some sort of racket is going on, unless people just have more money than brains. Which, in this ridiculous market, is certainly possible.
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Some thoughts on the residential apartment, as someone who's actually lived in these buildings:

- There's no racket, hardly any speculators, not many investors. Most of the people living in the building are empty-nest couples or young couples, sometimes with a kid (rarely more than one). I'd estimate that 50-60% of the units are owner-occupied.

- The units aren't cheaply-built. You're not living in crazy luxury, but the apartments are all really nice, everything in them is good quality, and the building has very few problems (the glass doors being the only really noticeable one). It's also all modern design, which very few of the nearby condo buildings have (and when they do, it's because the owner renovated and the selling price is a lot higher). It's also pretty great having a direct subway entrance.

- Your idea that a bigger home is better is very uniquely North American. For most non-wealthy immigrants there's nothing special about having lots of space. Even if they could afford to spend an extra $500,000 (which very few people can), they'll often be happier with a smaller apartment that's got a more convenient location and isn't going to need tons of very expensive fixes in the near future.
 
Within North York Center Secondary Plan area (high density Yonge corridor) 35% of condo units are rental but at EmeraldPark and Tridel HullmarkCenter it’s 70% rental; both built with smaller units and direct subway connection targeting investors not so much owner-occupied market - see Stats Canada census tract data & city property records (list owner/tenant status and mailing address for tax)
https://www.toronto.ca/wp-content/u...ing_2016_Census_Profile_2014_Wards_Ward23.pdf

As for EmeraldPark residential condo quality,.... practically everyday for 4-5 years I’ve watched them build it along with Tridel HullmarkCentre,.... and well, EmeraldPark residential Condo-Board (on behalf of the condo owners/investors) is now suing EmeraldPark developers Bazis, Metropia & PlazaCorp for poor build quality. It seems when a developer build expensive leaning flair tops, cladding, offset designs, etc,.... they have to cut back somewhere else so their price point are still competitive with regular condos,...
https://urbantoronto.ca/forum/threa...etropia-real-estate.7080/page-15#post-1323325

Interestingly, don’t see that drama across the street at Tridel HullmarkCentre which was marketed, sold, and build around the same time as Emerald Park.
https://urbantoronto.ca/forum/threa...l-kirkor-architects.668/page-108#post-1274333

BTW, if you want to see what good quality build looks like in progress - go to RioCan Yonge-SheppardCentre - when completed it’ll likely win industry awards like Tridel HullmarkCentre did,....
 
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NorthYorkEd said:
Also love the huge VAPE sign facing Yonge. Stay classy, EP.

BTW, still astounds me to see the tiny, cheaply built units in here selling for > $900K, when there are larger, better units available for much less in the surrounding area -- not to mention that an extra stretch could get you a modest detached on one of the quiet, leafy side-streets.

Not sure how a buyer walks in and thinks, yes, this tiny little 700-800 sq/ft box is certainly worth a million bucks -- where do I sign? Now, where can I fit my sofa?

It must be speculators, investors, money launderers, etc. It's hard not to think that some sort of racket is going on, unless people just have more money than brains. Which, in this ridiculous market, is certainly possible.
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The 4 most northernly Yonge St frontage retail units is owned by “Oversea Investor” with “Local Signature” (accountant) who insisted TimHorton franchisee (who only wanted to rent 3 units) rent all 4; so the TimHorton franchisee sublet the unwanted fourth unit to the Vape shop,.... well, at least it’s not a weed place....yet!

The 900K EmeraldPark units are the larger 2 bedroom + den and 3 bedroom units usually on upper floors - which are quite rare since condo developers generally focus more on smaller 1 bedroom or 1 bedroom + den units that’ll return maximum profit per square foot of unit space. So now condo market is relatively “saturated” with smaller 1 bedroom units especially in newer condo building so families squeezed out of traditional house market are forced to seek these relatively larger 2 bedroom + den units with features like direct subway connections, close to highway, urban setting,.... driving up the price,.....
 
Uncle Meat said:
I wonder if the building's unique architecture explains the inflated residential unit prices. On the other hand, the poor maintenance of the grounds should have a negative effect on value bring prices down. Speaking of rackets, the same question comes to my mind when I look at some of the businesses in the EP mall. For example, the money exchange business. The location makes no sense to me and I have yet to see anyone walking into or out of it.
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Tridel HullmarkCentre which doesn’t have EmeraldPark’s eye-catching leaning flair top and green colour theme,.... has higher residential unit prices (even though their kitchen layout is stupid!)

Some EmeraldPark retailers are the actual owners opening shop because they couldn’t find tenants (trying to minimize their lost and not default after T&T left & Metro won’t open). Some might be new immigrants required to invest money in Canada for immigration purposes,.... that seems to be why we’ve seen so many turnover at Tridel’s NorthTown small retail stores.

The good news is EmeraldPark first floor retail units seem to be about 90% full now (80% is a Canadian mall average these days),.... and all without an anchor tenant like Metro or LCBO.
 
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