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Originate Developments' most recent project – Six99 – is on the way. Located at 699 Sheppard Avenue East in the Bayview Village area of Toronto, the luxury boutique condominium will rise 12 storeys. The srm Architects-designed development will be well-situated in terms of local amenities, being just steps from Bessarion Subway Station and the brand new Ethennonnhawahstihnen’ Community Recreation Centre and Library, as well as the popular Bayview Village Shopping Centre.
The condominium development has been successful since its sales centre opened, with purchasers loving the bespoke nature of the building. Although it is early in the sales process, Originate’s unique development approach of building for everyone is proving to be a big hit. UrbanToronto sat down with Adam Sheffer, Founder of Originate Developments to talk about what Originate does differently when approaching the art of home building.
"Functionally, we want to be the best," said Sheffer. "We wanted to work with a design team on this project who focused first on the function of the suites and amenity spaces, and then started to layer in high-design. In selecting srm – a highly experienced and end-user focused architect – we knew we were starting off on the right track. We then added Truong Ly and his incredible team into the mix, which really brought the well-designed spaces to life."
Six99 has a distinctive tiered design, while rising skyward in a cascading form. The condo features a thoughtful mix of spacious one, two, and three bedroom layouts, each completed with a close attention to detail, and featuring luxury finishes appointed by Truong Ly Design.
All south facing suites, as well as a selection of north facing suites will have a roomy outdoor terrace. There will also be amenity terraces for all residents to share and enjoy. The terraces will all offer unobstructed views of the surrounding neighbourhood.
With functionality at top of mind, the layouts of the suites at Six99 are unique in themselves – having received a considerable amount of thought from both the architects at srm, and the Originate team.
"At Six99," said Sheffer, "rather than bisecting the building in half, the corridor is off-centre – allowing for smaller, highly efficient units for the kind of person that spends a bit less time at home, on one side, and larger units with dens and extra living space for residents who work from home or regularly entertain, on the other."
Originate's philosophy is that they build for an inclusive mix of residents, from single students, to young families, and even down-sizers. "I was picturing my mother-in-law who's in her 60's and lives in the neighbourhood. I thought, what is she going to want?" said Sheffer.
Sheffer asserted that it's about varying the types of unit layouts that there are in the building, while keeping with the same tenure. "Six99 has 1,200 ft² three-bedroom units, which is what someone like my mother-in-law, downsizing from a single family home in the neighbourhood would want," he said. "Every building has the same selection of one, two, and three-bedroom units, but what kind of units are they? Are they two bedrooms that are tight, meant for roommates in their early 20's, are they spacious twos that are meant for a family that has a child, and somebody who works from home? The layout of the suite really impacts that."
Originate also leaves opportunity for homebuyers to make changes, and work with them to create the unit that best suits their needs. Floor plans feature dotted lines that show how certain aspects of specific suites can be altered to the buyer's specific liking.
The suites aren't the only thing that Originate considers when they are planning their projects – amenities are another part of a building that the developer spends a lot of thought on getting just right.
"We were trying to be a little more thoughtful about who the amenities were designed for. In a bigger building, you've got more space so you just check things off your list. When working on a smaller building, you can't always include one of everything," said Sheffer.
Sheffer explained that Six99 has three separate bookable party rooms. The thought process behind that was that a down-sizer is going to want to make sure that they can have their family over after they've lost a a considerable amount of space coming from a house. "We really tried to create a ton of common space for people to share and enjoy, and Six99 has one party room for every 50 units," said Sheffer.
At Six99, all of the amenities will be able to be booked through a virtual scheduling system that will make it simple to reserve the amenity spaces.
Six99 will also feature a lobby lounge. "The idea behind that was to find additional work-from-home space for remote or flexible workers," said Sheffer. "We added a large table in the lobby for people to work, and every seat is meant for someone with a laptop. There will be a coffee machine in the space as well," he added.
There will also be individual seating for those who prefer a more secluded workspace.
Six99 will also offer a gym, which will have equipment specifically curated to the residents needs. "When it came to gyms, we're right next to the biggest and newest community centre in North York that is 86,000 ft² – so we said, let's not compete with it. We ultimately decided to offer a gym that has things that facility won't have, like Peloton, and other smart work out experiences that cater to residents who might not be interested in the more traditional gym next door," explained Sheffer. "We put ourselves in the residents' shoes and asked, if we lived here, what amenities we would not have access to within a five minute walk – and that's where we put our focus."
As Originate experiences continued success with Six99, they are simultaneously working on other projects around the city that follow their ethos of building for everyone.
"When considering sites for future projects, I'm always looking for the ones that speak for themselves – transit-oriented, community-focused, with an obvious investment upside," said Sheffer. "Today's buyer is savvy. So, I just need to do my part to bring them projects that make good sense." Sheffer shared that Originate's next site after Six99 is going to be Bathurst and Richmond – which is a great location, for many obvious reasons including being in an already established neighbourhood that is well-serviced by transit, as well as other neighbourhood amenities.
Sheffer said that Originate's future developments will be in areas where residents will be well-connected to the community, so that they could live without any vehicle, or could even walk, if they want to.
You can learn more from our Database file for the project, linked below. If you'd like, you can join in on the conversation in the associated Project Forum thread, or leave a comment in the space provided on this page.
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| Related Companies: | Citi-Core Group, Goldberg Group, Harlo Capital, Originate Developments Inc, Platinum Condo Deals, RDS, Sigmund Soudack & Associates |
