http://www.thestar.com/news/article...-highest-listed-price-in-toronto?bn=1#article
Toronto’s priciest home is going for $27M
By Tony Wong
How large do you live?
If you’re the owner of 9 High Point Rd. in Toronto’s pricey Bridle Path neighborhood, it’s all a matter of perspective.
At least for Margaret and Lee Ka Lau. They’re selling their mega-mansion for $26.8 million, currently the highest listed price for a property in the Toronto area.
Even by ostentatious Bridle Path standards, the home rates high on the bling factor. The living space is more than 40,000 square feet, making it one of the largest properties in the GTA. The estate is also on an extremely rare double Bridle Path lot, encompassing four acres.
One lot has the imposing living quarters with 22,935 square feet of space. The second two-acre lot has a sports complex (call it your very own Deerhurst Resort) with 17,645 square feet of space.
“It is absolutely magnificent,” says Elise Kalles, listing agent for the property. “It’s an estate that’s beyond anything else in the city.”
While tennis courts are a dime a dozen in the Bridle Path, 9 High Point is the ultimate in neighborhood oneupmanship.
For one thing, the tennis court is indoors. So no excuses about the sun being too hot, or the wind whipping the balls around. It also has a bowling alley and an indoor pool.
There is, of course, a cinema, and the tunnel leading from the main house to the sports complex has an indoor putting green. Just in case you get bored on the long walk from one part of the house to another. And no, a GPS is not included if you happen to get lost. But there are 13 washrooms throughout the house in case you need a pit stop.
The owners were certainly thinking big, which is why they ended up purchasing two lots. Homes on High Point Rd. and the Bridle Path were purchased and knocked down, before the new digs were built by society architect Joe Brennan about seven years ago, according to Kalles.
“This is very rare to have this kind of self-contained entertainment centre on this kind of scale,” says Kalles.
“But as large as it is, the home is in perfect taste, it’s not overdone.”
That may be a matter of opinion. In the main house, ceilings are 19 feet high. There is also a soaring 46 foot arboretum, the kind of scale that would dwarf some hotel lobbies.
Indoor parking is available for eight cars.
Fittingly, the Laus were hosts in November to perhaps Toronto’s splashiest charity party held in 2010.
Tickets for tables went for $10,000. And the 500 well-heeled guests included Warren Buffett, the world’s third richest man, and Canadian composer David Foster.
Singer Lionel Richie apparently serenaded fellow guest Muhammad Ali at the dinner, which raised an astonishing $3 million for children seeking organ transplants in Canada and around the world.
“It was a really incredible affair where you had a gathering of so many luminaries in one spot. There was a waiting list to buy tickets to meet Warren Buffett,” says Kalles, who attended the event.
The owners, who made their money in technology, (Lee Kau was a founder of Markham-based graphic chip maker ATI Technologies Inc.) decided to open their home to the fundraiser after hearing it was for children.
They will likely downsize once they have sold the house. (Although after owning this palace, downsizing is likely the only option.)
No word on what it costs to heat the place. But think about this: Property taxes alone are $115,341. That works out to $316 per day. And don’t forget to tip the gardener.
I see all these mansions with bowling alleys, wealthy folks don't strike me as bowling type people
