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A mid-rise condo building that would feel right at home in Downtown Toronto is being planned by Firmland Developments Corp., set to join a rapidly-regenerating stretch of Kingston Road between Lawrence Avenue East and Military Trail in Scarborough. The 11-storey building known as Perch Condominiums aims to form a standout eastern bookend to Kingston Road before it crosses the scenic Highland Creek ravine and becomes a highway linking to the 401, while adding much-needed housing stock to the doorstep of the fast-expanding education district occupied by the University of Toronto Scarborough and Centennial College - Morningside Campus.
The building has been designed by Core Architects to uniquely interact with both the adjacent natural landscape of the Highland Creek Valley and the regenerating strip of Kingston Road it will occupy. Perch embodies its marketing name with a northeast elevation following the organic lines of the valley's edge, and offers views over its treetops—which the project contributes to with a planned land dedication to the Toronto Region Conservation Authority—while taking on a rectilinear form with two stacked volumes that add an urban feel to its Kingston Road frontage.
Michoel Klugmann, President at Firmland Developments Corporation, tells us that "We love this location for its connection to the great outdoors, parks, and trails systems. The project’s forever views are protected by its adjacency to the ravine controlled by the Conservation Authority. We are proud to contribute a portion of our lands to expand the ravine and conservation lands. There can be a feeling of calm and health when living next to protected nature and beauty."
The project will bring 163 condominium units and five integrated condominium townhomes with private street entrances to the site, ranging in size from 466 ft² to 1,385 ft², and available in a mix of one-bedroom to three-bedroom layouts.
Residents are set to enjoy interior spaces appointed by Cecconi Simone, including a stylish lobby with curving features and a minimalist palette of finishes.
These design cues carry over to amenity spaces, which have been planned to maximize space and functionality for residents, while minimizing associated maintenance costs to keep fees reasonable for residents. In place of high-upkeep/low-versatility spaces like a pool, Perch instead focuses on spaces that encourage resident interaction and connectivity with the adjacent ravine. Perch exceeds City requirements for amenity space, and is set to offer residents common amenity features like a gym, party room, and pet spa, as well as less-common spaces like a karaoke room, an outdoor dog run, a wine tasting area, and a stroller parking area designed to handle increasingly wide strollers.
As with other projects that Firmland has been involved in, like B.streets Condos and the trio of Sonic, Supersonic, and Ultrasonic, the developer is seeking to capitalize on competitive land values to create a foothold for future investment in the neighbourhood by building luxury-geared units offset by lower land costs. In creating a distinctly urban-styled development in an up-and-coming area of Scarborough, Firmland foresees Perch as being a catalyst for a surge in local development, similar to what is being witnessed in the wake of their previous projects. Perch is already part of a wider wave of development in Scarborough, located within a hotspot for residential demand attracting both end-user families as well as investors seeking to meet the student housing demands of the nearby University of Toronto Scarborough Campus.
Perch Condos saw success with its limited VIP sales launches in 2020, and is gearing up for a public launch. For now, a website is available for registration, and a presentation centre has been set up—complete with a model suite, scale model, and other previews of the development—in advance of the upcoming public launch.
Additional information and images can be found in our Database file for the project, linked below. If you'd like, you can get involved in the discussion in the associated Forum thread.
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| Related Companies: | Bousfields, Cecconi Simone, Core Architects, L.A. Inc., Milborne Group |
