Toronto King West Life Condominiums | ?m | 25s | Plaza | Gabriel Bodor

I'm just curious... was there this much hatred for zip/vibe/battery park? Or was that different because they weren't all build at once. The three of those buildings share a podium. It's pretty close to the same style as king west. Or is this just a hatred of all things plaza by all of the Brad Lamb enthusiasts?
 
dc01231 said:
I'm just curious... was there this much hatred for zip/vibe/battery park? Or was that different because they weren't all build at once. The three of those buildings share a podium. It's pretty close to the same style as king west. Or is this just a hatred of all things plaza by all of the Brad Lamb enthusiasts?
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I think far more people hate Brad Lamb than they do Plazacorp. This is a pretty crappy looking project. They're using fake brick for pete's sakes.
 
TheKingEast said:
I think far more people hate Brad Lamb than they do Plazacorp. This is a pretty crappy looking project. They're using fake brick for pete's sakes.
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I agree about the fake brick thing but I actually drove by 2 days ago and I think the project is looking quite descent.
Yes it is a huge project and a Limosine is never going to be as sexy as a sports car. I think one can apply the same car analogy to a large scale construction project. I am not saying it is impossible to achieve but it is difficult.

I guess the real tell tale sign will be what happens on resale and which product in the end commands the highest price/sq.ft. compared to purchase price. The market will dictate the answer and will decide whether those who hate one or the other project/builder are representative of everyone as a whole.
 
is it fake brick or are you calling it fake-simply because they are painting over the brick to make it another color?
 
The fact is, their are alot of disgruntled real estate agents-who hate the project simply because of the way Plazacorp choose to sell the units. They gave the Chinese real estate association ( CREPSO) first dibs or maybe even exclusive ability to buy up all the best units for their clients and investors..my understanding is a lot of agents were shut out.
 
suzieq said:
The fact is, their are alot of disgruntled real estate agents-who hate the project simply because of the way Plazacorp choose to sell the units. They gave the Chinese real estate association ( CREPSO) first dibs or maybe even exclusive ability to buy up all the best units for their clients and investors..my understanding is a lot of agents were shut out.
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I guess I must be a disgruntled agent LOL.
 
suzieq said:
is it fake brick or are you calling it fake-simply because they are painting over the brick to make it another color?
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On post 478 Automation Gallery suggested it is patterned concrete to look like brickand then they paint the concrete.
I am guessing it is more expensive to get brickwork done and hence this is the alternative they chose.
 
Wouldn't the colour of those painted bricks fade after a while? The brick looks terrible in it's unpainted form. This building looks OK from a distance but I hate the way it looks at street level. Maybe when the whole neighbourhood is fully built out, it won't look so bad. (I hope)
 
Reality is I would think patterned concrete can be effectively painted. I really don't know but I am guessing it will be the residents responsibility when the building needs repainting. It would be very short sighted on Plazacorp's part to do something that would require repainting in say 3 years because the word would get out and they would destroy their reputation. This company sold 1400 condos last year (making them one of the larger builders in Toronto) so I don't think they would jeopardize their reputation with substandard materials. However, maybe that is giving Plazacorp and for that matter other developers too much credit.
 
I'm not defending the use of precast painted patterned concrete as 'brick', but it seems like this is quite common in multiple GTA projects .... it has been 5+ years since Tridel's CIRCA 1 project in Markham has been built with the painted fake brick treatment, and to this date it has continued to look suprisingly well done with no discolouration nor colour fading

Solaris said:
Pre Paint Job vs Finished Product
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Is real brick that much more expensive? (or even the precast brick panels) It can't be that expensive, since so many low income buildings use it.
 
I don't see the correlation between "low income buildings" and precast brick panels, could you provide some examples?
 
I don't think it's the actual material cost that the are saving on. It's the labor. Installing individual bricks would take forever on a project of this size.
 
dc01231 said:
I don't think it's the actual material cost that the are saving on. It's the labor. Installing individual bricks would take forever on a project of this size.
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Yes it would be a lot more work and let's be honest. If it looks reasonable and wears well as Solaris suggested, then is this not just a good business decision. I am sure it is much more expensive to lay brick and probably takes much longer than the precast and painting. I am sure the developer is neither ignorant nor stupid and has made a business decision based on knowledge, facts, and yes almost certainly cost.
 
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