Actually, it depends what time of year it is. As you can see from the pictures I posted, I face the exact same direction all north facing units will. In the summertime, it’s absolutely wonderful, we get the sunrise for about an hour or so, then around 4 o’clock, we get constant sun until sunset at 10pm. The downside is in the winter, we don’t see any sun at all. We’ve already lost our sun, and it’s only mid October. We lost the sun several weeks ago, and we won’t see it again until the spring, usually around April we begin to get snippets of the sunset. Unfortunately, once”The One”, along with two other towers being built at the very end of my street, Howard Street, where it meets up with Sherbourn, we may lose our spring and fall sun as well, receiving sunlight only during approximately three months during the summer, when the sun as at its zenith.. It’s either that, or if we face south, in our building, we’re looking right over a primary school yard, with hundreds of screaming children all day and all night long. Because the school is completely surrounded by apartment buildings, the sound just bounces off each building and echoes, making it sound even louder, that’s why we chose to live on the northside. To be honest I didn’t want to live in this building, or this neighbourhood at all, but due to circumstances beyond my control, namely fighting Crohn’s disease and intestinal cancer for over 10 years, I was unable to work, and ended up using all of my life savings just to survive and pay medical expenses that are not covered by OHIP. We got this place for a steal, it’s a rental building at 77 Howard St., built in the early 60s, and like most buildings of that era, The walls are much thicker then modern skyscrapers, and therefor much quieter, not to mention the square footage is much larger than any newer building. The only downturn is having only one bathroom, but it’s a two bedroom, 1200 square-foot apartment, with one parking space and electricity included in the rent (all that has changed since we moved in, the people that live directly below us are paying well over $2000 a month for the same size apartment, and they have to pay extra for parking or electricity). Currently, we pay a grand total of $1399 a month, for a 1200 square-foot two bedroom apartment! I know it’s far from luxurious, but I don’t live in the lobby or the hallways, and the apartments are beautiful, where else in the city, especially downtown, could you get a place that big for that cheap? The only downside is the lack of sunlight in the winter months, but after a few years you get used to it, and we’ve been here for over 12 years now, so I really don’t even notice it anymore. Because I was unable to return to work and forced to go on permanent long-term disability, there’s only two ways I am leaving this apartment, after I’m dead, or if they sell the building and decide to either demolish it or convert it into condos. There are 17 towers within my neighbourhood, all built at the same time by the same developers. It was touted as being the most modern I am technologically advance buildings of the day, in the first apartments in the city to have the heating in the floor, which is a really nice feature on a cold winter day, however, they forgot to noticed there was absolutely nothing else around here, no stores, no banks, nothing. So, when they were built, they were a total flop, but now it is one of the hottest areas in real estate, and our biggest worry is developers, who are desperate to get their hands on this much land where they could build twice as many towers then currently sits on the land. I guess you can’t have everything, but at the prices we pay, I am definitely not complaining! Hell, nowadays you can’t even get it a bachelor or a studio for that price, and part of my view is guaranteed because there is a church and a fire hall right in front of us. in general though, if you live in this neighborhood, there is never going to be a guaranteed view, this neighbourhood is growing like you wouldn’t believe, and we’ve only just begun.
Governor's Bridge Lookout by Jack Landau, on Flickr