Toronto's Mega Boom

[oceanmdx]

Intensifying urbanization driving Toronto's condo boom:

For the article:

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/life/...rticle2407607/

[oceanmdx]

"The average office vacancy rate across the GTA declined to 5.1 per cent in the first quarter of 2012, down from 5.6 per cent in the fall of 2011, according to Collier’s semi-annual report." Compare this with post #20 of this thread.

For the rest of the story: http://www.thestar.com/business/arti...-jobs-downtown

[oceanmdx]

What's Behind Toronto's Luxury Hotel Boom?

For the answer:

http://www.forbes.com/sites/forbestr...ry-hotel-boom/

[Svartmetall]

Originally Posted by isaidso

I agree with you. The Gardiner Expressway was built in the 1960s and cut Torontonians off from their water front. That giant park with the pond is called High Park and used to stretch right to the water's edge, terminating at Sunnyside Pavillion. It was a huge magnet for Torontonians in the summer time attracting tens of thousands of people. It had a Coney Island atmosphere to it. After the Gardiner was built, Sunnyside fell into immediate and steep decline from which it has never recovered.

Toronto is only now improving north-south links to the water to mitigate the effects of the highway. The Gardiner should have been a tunnel, but we're likely stuck with it now. On the bright side, it's a great drive into the city and the waterfront has remained green. There's a bike path, beaches, and boating. All are heavily used when the weather permits.

Fantastic history lesson, thank you! It's interesting to hear about how large, grade separated roads have constantly cut cities off and caused decline in previously viable and loved areas, yet are still being built at the rate that they are worldwide.

Looking forward to more photos!

[oceanmdx]

For some more photos from Toronto's past:

http://www.blogto.com/city/2012/04/t...nto_went_boom/

[isaidso]

Originally Posted by Svartmetall

Fantastic history lesson, thank you! It's interesting to hear about how large, grade separated roads have constantly cut cities off and caused decline in previously viable and loved areas, yet are still being built at the rate that they are worldwide.

Looking forward to more photos!

No problem. Many cities destroyed cherished buildings/neighbourhoods, so its good to revisit these experiences so we can avoid repeating them. The following photo is interesting in that it's a rare view to the east showing 6 projects U/C at the same time.

In the bottom you can see work starting on the Union Station rail shed. In the middle, the 205m L Tower is rising. Directly to the right a pit has formed where another condo tower with rise called Backstage. The crane to the left of L Tower is a mid rise U/C in the St. Lawrence District. The building U/C further down the rail corridor is Market Wharf while way in the distance another tower rises in the Distillery District.

Although you can't see it in this photo, the Pan American Games athletes village will rise just beyond the Distillery District. It will be an entirely new neighbourhood after the games called West Don Lands on the banks of the Don River in the Don Valley.

image hosted on flickr

Down Town Toronto Sunrise by FunkyPepper, on Flickr

[oceanmdx]

Toronto’s housing market continues to be red hot, bucking the trend in other parts of the country.

The country’s largest city had 10,350 transactions in April, an 18% jump from a year ago, according to the Toronto Real Estate Board. Prices also continue to climb with the average transaction price reaching $517,556, an 8.5% jump from a year ago.

Toronto’s numbers come a day after Vancouver —the country’s most expensive market — showed it was suffering from sluggish sales. April sales in Vancouver area were down 12.3% from a year ago and 2.6% from March 2012. It was the worst April since 2001 but prices do continue to hold in British Columbia’s largest city with Vancouver’s benchmark price in April up 3.7% from a year ago to $683,800.

For the rest of the story:

http://business.financialpost.com/20...ontinue-climb/

[oceanmdx]

image hosted on flickr

Toronto Skyline with the SuperMoon by Chris Tanouye, on Flickr

image hosted on flickr

Experimentation with Photoshop .. by debajyotidash, on Flickr

[oceanmdx]

Nice view of the new Trump Tower (middle), recladded First Canadian Place (left), and the Scotiabank tower.

image hosted on flickr

White Blue Green Red by Seekdes (Mike in TO), on Flickr

[CULWULLA]

they dont build em like they used to. scotia bank is awesome

[ChrisJudd83]

Originally Posted by CULWULLA

they dont build em like they used to. scotia bank is awesome

Yeah the office towers of the 70s in Toronto are pretty impressive. Does Toronto's condo boom remind you of any particular city

[Dimethyltryptamine]

Soctiabank Tower is amazing. As is the reclad of FCP but Trump is hideous (so is just as well it's basically hidden!)

[oceanmdx]

I'm not terribly impressed with the Trump building either...although people who have seen it from the inside are quite impressed by what they saw... I just thought that the above was a nice photo of the Trump tower. At any rate it will just be lost in the Toronto building boom.

[oceanmdx]

Luxury condo glut about to flood Toronto housing market

"The Trump project, a 65-story paragon of glitz with a “champagne and caviar” theme, appears the most troubled. Plagued by bad press, construction delays, disgruntled buyers and a hybrid model of residences and pooled hotel condos, the project has the largest proportion of unsold units despite being the first to open its sales office, in 2004.

Talon said 80% of the tower’s 379 units have sold, powered by the hotel condos, currently priced from $967,000. But 40% of the residential condos, priced between $2.3-million and $6.3-million, remain unsold....

The Ritz Carlton, Four Seasons and Shangri-La projects have kept their condo and hotel rooms separate. The condo owners have access to hotel amenities but no direct stake in its operation.
Trump, on the other hand, is trying to sell all its hotel rooms to private investors as condos. Owners can live in the suites, or put the rooms into a rental pool and take a cut of income from the hotel guests staying there.

The business structure means buyers of the pooled hotel condo units are subject to commercial tax rates rather than lower residential rates, and the bar for financing is higher.

“I called every major lender regarding Trump, and the only one I could find that was willing to finance was HSBC,” said Callum Ross mortgage consultant Jason Friesen.

“There were some units that had $20,000 (annual) property taxes for an $800,000, or 1,500 square foot, unit because it was zoned commercial. So lenders wouldn’t touch it.”

Real estate lawyer Bob Aaron, who represents “a handful” of disgruntled Trump buyers, said some are trying to get out of their contract or walking away from $250,000 down payments.

“The monthly costs are too high, or they realized too late that they had overpaid, or can’t finance it, or didn’t realize they were getting into a business venture superimposed on property ownership,” he said.

“They had very smooth sophisticated marketing, and I think buyers were dazzled by being partners with Donald Trump.”

The American property mogul has licensed the Trump name to the project but has no part in owning or operating the tower.

Some 90% of the Four Seasons 210 condos have been sold, including one last year for $28-million, the highest price ever paid for a Canadian condominium. That buyer is foreign, but the family intends to move to Toronto, Fox said.
"

To read the article in its entirety:

http://business.financialpost.com/20...ousing-market/

[oceanmdx]

image hosted on flickr

May Toronto Skyline at Night by Catoctin, on Flickr

[oceanmdx]

image hosted on flickr

http://www.flickr.com/photos/mikioka...n/photostream/

[oceanmdx]

image hosted on flickr

ROM by kcmp2002, on Flickr

[isaidso]

Originally Posted by Dimethyltryptamine

Soctiabank Tower is amazing. As is the reclad of FCP but Trump is hideous (so is just as well it's basically hidden!)

Trump is certainly the weakest of the 3, but I feel it gets unfairly lambasted because it's not architecturally modern. Things that aren't current are labeled tacky. Trump won't appeal to those who covet new buildings that are also modern, but it's quite successful on many levels.

It meets a long list of demands placed upon it while sitting on an impossibly small lot, its architecture is a nod to the established area, and it amplifies an already impressive street apron. I'm in the minority, but would argue that Trump offers texture to the area. The block is better for not being another minimalist glass box like Bay-Adelaide across the street from it.


Original courtesy of Ramako

[oceanmdx]

Originally Posted by Dimethyltryptamine

Soctiabank Tower is amazing. As is the reclad of FCP but Trump is hideous (so is just as well it's basically hidden!)

BTW, the Scotiabank tower was just sold today for $1.266 billion (Canadian)... a record for the country.

Here's another view of it:

image hosted on flickr

fly over commerce court by ronnie.yip, on Flickr

[oceanmdx]

image hosted on flickr

Dave A7 at Flickr