Posts Tagged ‘first time buyer’

And the award for Best Building Design goes to……….*drumroll*

RIVER CITY!!!

Congratulations to all that have been involved in making the project so special.  And even bigger congratulations goes to the purchasers who now live in the best designed building according to BILD (Building Industry and Land Development)

The first phase is over 70% sold with a variety of layouts still available.  Designed by Saucier + Perrotte, River City will be a four phased community of over 900 loft-style condominiums and townhouses, together with street level restaurants, cafes and boutiques!  I’ve been covering the project extensively since it first launched back in 2009 and will continue to as the West Don Lands transform into one of downtown Toronto’s newest neighbourhoods!

For floorplans, prices, and availability…give me a call or send me an email, I’d love to help!

Ever wonder why some people call their place of residence an apartment and others a condo?  I sure did!

It was about 7 years ago when my curiosity had gotten the better of me (I wasn’t yet licensed as a Realtor).  At the time, many of my friends were either buying or renting a place of their own.    It was common to hear my renter friends say “come to my apartment this weekend” while the purchasing friends would say “you’ve got to check out the views from my condo”…or something like that.

For the most part I thought I had the terminology all figured out…the renters lived in apartments and the owners lived in condos. I’m sure some of you have thought…or at least asked the same question! After correcting numerous people on the differences, I’ve decided to put together a simple explanation that should clarify this often confusing use of terminology!!!

Here we go:

An apartment is a word used to describe the style of building!  For example an apartment can take the shape of a high-rise or low-rise.

A condo (or condominium as they’re legally known) is a style of ownership and could come in a variety of forms…townhouses, detached houses, high-rise, low-rise, industrial or even retail!  Therefore, a condominium is not defined by its physical structure but rather the way in which owners have agreed to share the ownership of the common elements of the property while retaining individual ownership of parts of the property which make up their units!

Now that we’ve gotten that straightened out, let’s get you a condo of your own…send me an email or give me a call I’d love to help!

Check out the progress at the Don River Park…what is no more than piles of dirt will soon be a 17 acre park in the West Don Lands part of the City (which is actually the East side of the City. Confusing, I know!).

In this video update, I take a look at the early evolution of the Don River Park. Once complete, the green space will link residents of River City to the future site of the Pan Am Village. See for yourself in the video above!

If you’re interested in calling River City home, give me a call or send me an email… I’d love to help!

The Deoxyribonucleic Acid (or DNA) of Canderel Stoneridge latest project, DNA3, is really starting to come together! The developer is no stranger to the King West/Liberty Village area having already built DNA, DNA2 and The Massey Harris Lofts! For DNA3 I particularly like the rectangular highlights placed along the condos facade as shown in the rendering above.

Approximately 600 units will be constructed on the King and Shaw site with suite finishes designed by Cecconi Simone. Other amenity spaces will include an outdoor terrace space, sundeck and misting station, private lounges and dining areas, a state of the art fitness facility and relaxing yoga lounge.

You may remember me talking about DNA3 back in October as the site was also used as the headquarters for LG Fashion Week…since then, the catwalk has been cleared and the curtains closed to make way for a new star. With all the interest surrounding DNA3, I’ll be posting more details as well as preview opportunities in the coming weeks!

River City announced the start of Underpass Park earlier in the week.  The public space will be located under and around the Eastern Ave overpass.  It will be the biggest park ever to be built under a bridge in Canada.  The Underpass Park is scheduled to open in spring 2011 and will we a welcomed addition to the future residents of River City!

A few posts back, I wrote about how much I liked the 500 and 530 St. Clair project… now that a Starbucks opened up on the main level of 500, add another reason!  I actually don’t drink coffee (per-say) but I do love their green tea and the occasional moca-frappucino!

So why is a Starbucks such a big deal??? After all, it’s just another coffee shop right?  Well yes, but Starbucks doesn’t just open a place on any corner.  It’s not very often you see a Starbucks close down, and I believe it’s because of all the research and surveying that’s done before one actually opens. I was prepared to write a whole post on the “Starbuck Effect” and the type of positive changes that one brings to an area….BUT another blogger beat me too it!  Instead of rewriting what he’s already written, I encourage you to check out David Fleming’s post entitled “The Starbucks Effect“ He pretty much sums up all the areas that have benefitted from having the popular coffee shop open up in their area!

I firmly believe that the strip of St. Clair (From Bathurst to Oakwood) will be seeing positive changes in the coming years.  It already has streetcar AND subway access, not to mention the massive Loblaw’s for shopping, and Cedervale Park for leisure.  With big name chains like Starbucks moving in, it’s only a matter of time before others set up shop!  Local residential hot spot “Ferro” also looked like it was expanding its space in anticipation for more business along the strip!

Property values aside, there is another reason why this particular store deserves attention.  It’s the first (at least to my knowledge) Starbucks in Toronto that was built to LEED standards!   LEED is an internationally recognized green building certification system, and a system that more and more Toronto developers trying to incorporate into their buildings.  Though ordering your moca-froca-whatever from a LEED Certifies Starbucks won’t taste and different than any other Starbucks… It is good to see the massive coffee chain reducing their environmental footprint through energy and water conservation, recycling and green construction.

Drop in to the new Starbucks; it has a very loft-like look to it with a decent combination of wood and concrete finishes!

I was at the River City sales office the other day getting some updates on availability of units…after chatting with the wonderful staff (I can truthfully say that from experience) I took a walk over to the see the progress at the site! To the average person it pretty much looks the same, but from what I saw back in October to how it looks now is quite substantial. For a project of this size, tons of parts must first be put in place before the actual project gets off the ground. In the coming days I’ll have some video footage showing some of the changes at the site….

BUT the bigggggest update I discovered was almost camouflaged by some graffiti on the hoarding. Posted towards the end of the construction wall was a white sign that read “Daniels”!!! I instantly got on my laptop and started searching to see if anyone had picked up on this! (As of writing this post, no one has)… before I go on, let me take a step back to explain why this finding is so HUGE!

Currently all that’s on the site is a ton of dirt and a bunch of construction workers getting ready to carve the River St extension. Once complete the street will run through the River City development (on the East side of the street. To the West of the extension will be a dedicated area for mixed use and affordable housing. Since the project launched back in November, I’ve been searching all over the City (and internet) for information on who will be building the housing. All that I was able to find was a short note reading “Toronto Community Housing Corporation is developing the first complex comprised of three buildings of affordable housing. Construction of the 243 unit development designed by Baird Sampson Neurt Architects will start in spring 2010 and occupancy is expected in early 2012.” from a March 10th Waterfront Toronto release. Even the Toronto Affordable Housing website lacked the details I’ve been looking for!

If my findings are true, and in fact Daniels is the developer selected to build at the site…this is great news for all! Daniels has an excellent reputation, already building AND selling out their One Cole project a few blocks away in Moss Park. They’re also the developers who practically sold out their Mississauga townhouse complex in several hours back in March. I couldn’t find anything on the Daniels website announcing their involvement in the River City project BUT if that little white sign is any indication of what’s to come, it’s should be a welcomed addition to the neighbourhood!

There are some great layouts available at River City! If you’re interested in calling River City home, give me a call or send me an email… I’d love to help!

Look for more video updates in the coming posts!