Toronto Real Estate Blog Downtown Condos » luxury

PHOTO FRIDAY – Festival Tower

Mark Savel — Fri, 10 Sep 2010 23:20:37 +0000

As the 2010 Toronto International Film Festival rolls into town, there’s one star that rises above the rest…Festival Tower! Rising 42 stories into the Toronto skyline, the building is both condo residences and Film Festival Headquarters. The residential units above are named after Hollywood celebrities from past and present.

At the base of this King and John condo sits a 5 story podium called the TIFF Bell Lightbox. The Lightbox is features a three-storey public atrium, 5 public cinemas, 2 galleries, 3 learning studios, a centre for students and scholars, a bistro, a restaurant, and a lounge! On September 12th, 2010 the Lightbox will open its doors to the public!

Taking a Break at Sugar Beach

Mark Savel — Fri, 16 Jul 2010 16:19:03 +0000

Click here to view the embedded video.

I took a short break in between appointments to enjoy Toronto’s newest beach, appropriately named “Sugar Beach”. Located at the foot of Lower Jarvis Street adjacent to the Redpath Sugar Factory, this beautiful public space was once a parking lot in a former industrial area!

Escape the hustle and bustle of downtown and relax at the beach for a bit…you’ll be glad you did!

*minor correction* I say “Cherry Beach” in the last 10 seconds, but meant “Sugar Beach”… blame it on the sun!

Minto Skyy Now Registered

Mark Savel — Mon, 12 Apr 2010 05:40:18 +0000

Toronto now has a new condo added to its SKYYline! Minto Skyy officially registered with the City last month, meaning residents can now sell their unit on the MLS. I visited the building shortly before registration and wanted to share with my readers what I saw!

Located at 1048 Broadview Avenue, the building is perfectly positioned to allow for spectacular sunsets (like the one above and below). They took the right approach with Skyy by keeping the amenities practical. Residents have access to a Yoga studio, Fitness room, Library, Media room, and Kitchen!

With the warmer weather coming are way, most residents will want to spend their time outdoors on the massive patio. The wide panoramic views of the Don Valley Brick Works and the rest of the Cities skyline,offer the perfect backdrop for outdoor events…if you look realllllly close you can even see Minto’s other work: Minto Midtown!

Excavation started back in 2007, and even then, Minto was ahead of the game. They were one of the few at that time building with LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) in mind. Over 80% construction waste was diverted from landfills and more than 25% of construction materials were produced locally! Now complete, SKYY residents have energy saving features such as: All-Off switches (which do what the name implies), rainwater harvesting, dual flush toilets and individual metering! With a Sobeys directly across the street and the Broadview subway station a short walk away, living car free is very possible at Minto Skyy.

Check out the photos below and give me a call or send me an email if you’d like to own a place in the SKYY! (Scroll down to the bottom for a bonus video by a SOB)

Click here to view the embedded video.

Number One Bloor

Mark Savel — Thu, 25 Mar 2010 18:50:12 +0000

The wait is over! Plans for Number One Bloor have finally been made public, and I’ve been getting a ton of interest on the development. I won’t be spending too much time writing about it on SavelBlogs.com but head on over to BloorCondos.com for all the latest on Number One Bloor and other projects in the Bloor and Yonge area.

South Beach Condos…in Toronto?

Mark Savel — Mon, 18 Jan 2010 15:53:58 +0000

Yep, you’ve read the title right: “South Beach Condos in Toronto”. I’m usually judgemental towards projects that use ridiculous names to sell their project…but since this one does so well in so many other areas, I’ll save the criticism for another day!

Located on the West end of the city (Parklawn and Lakeshore) South Beach is changing the look and feel of Etobicoke as we know it. The project isn’t new by any means but it’s definitely impressive and has some great incentives still in place. I’ve been in and out of the sales centre several times in the past year, and after every visit my clients come out amazed. The setup is stunning from as soon as you pull into the parking lot. “South Beach” inspired music welcomes guests in to the massive showroom with tons of visuals to help illustrate the future plans of the site. Sitting on a huge granite slab is a replica of not just the towers but of the whole surrounding area.

Two model suites are available to preview as well as floor plans flanked around the complex. As an agent, I’m always mindful of the sales reps at new construction sites… maybe it’s just my luck, but I always seem to get the newest/pushiest/inpatient ones (though as of late they’ve been getting better). From my experience at South Beach, all have been very helpful and considerate. I’ll be the first to say “everything the glistens is not gold” BUT if the end product is anything like their presales, I think it’s going to be a goldmine!

South Beach will be home to two towers of glass and steel, with the first tower already sold out! The second is not far behind with about 70% of units already sold. A healthy variety of units are still available, and here’s the best part… their current promo has HST, ONE FREE PARKING SPOT AND LOCKER included in the purchase price! (For a limited time only, pricing and incentives are subject to change without notice)

Buying into South Beach will give you access to over 40,000 square feet of lifestyle amenities that’ll feature everything from yoga studios to kids play area! The area is definitely a work in progress, so to give it a boost the developers are planning 16,000 square feet of retail promenade with a South Beach Art Deco feel. There’s tons of exciting suite features that I would be happy to show you. If you’d like to call South Beach (in Toronto) home, give me a call or send me an email…I’d love to help!

I’m Going to Make This Year Bigger Than the Burj Dubai

Mark Savel — Tue, 05 Jan 2010 02:37:10 +0000

Click here to view the embedded video.

2010 is finallllly here! (Not that I had a bad 2009 by any means) The New Year always inspires me to work harder, smarter and better. I’ve been slacking on the post updates over the holidays but I’m back at the screen and am working on a ton of fresh new content for both SavelBlogs.com and BloorCondos.com!

On SavelBlogs, I’ll be focusing on a few new projects launching on 2010 as well spending more time discussing issues in the resale market! Although most of my energy is spent working with buyers, I plan on introducing some new and innovative ways to help Condo owners sell their places in a much more tech savvy way…and with all the preconstruction closings happening in 2010, the timing should be great! If you’d like to see more (or less) of a particular topic send me and email, I’d love to hear from ya!

And for those unsure what the Burj Dubai is…it’s the world’s tallest building (828m (2,716ft) high) and home to a few records including: highest occupied floor, the tallest service lift, and the world’s highest observation deck – on the 124th floor, the world’s highest mosque (158th floor) and swimming pool (76th floor). The Burj was officially opened today; check out the video above to see its opening ceremonies.

Happy buying and selling in 2010!!!

Toronto Pre Construction Condos

Mark Savel — Wed, 16 Dec 2009 04:05:15 +0000

What a year 2009 has been for the Toronto Condo Market! Back in the early part ’08 I remember getting invited to a new condo launch several times a month. Every time I checked the BlackBerry it was a different developer announcing a different launch… that was until the ‘World Wide Recession’ kicked in!

The broker lunch invites ceased, the glossy packages of beautiful condo renderings stopped and my cell phone usage also started to slow down. With the weak sales numbers in the resale market, no developer wanted to risk launching during the uncertain times. So for the last half of 2008 and the first half of 2009 hardly any new projects where released. It almost became the year of the “Relaunch” as most developers worked to clear old inventory and get ground broken on their projects.

530 St. Clair was about to be the first developer to launch a new product, but held off citing a redesign of units to better suit the market. Fly Condos also had their sales event, with many small sized units being released at low prices that matched. Camrost-Felcorp made a bold move in June. They erected a huge sign on the highway advertising prices for their California Condo starting at $149,900! This wasn’t their first launch, but like many others, the re-launch was necessary to move more units.

September of 2009 is when activity in the pre construction market really started to pick up. 530 St. Clair , 2 Gladstone, Reve, x2,Ice 2, U Condos 2, and finally River City (to name a few) all made their launch towards the last quarter of the year!

So what’s in store for 2010? If you’re in the market for a preconstruction condo, you’ll want to check back throughout the week, as I take a look at what’s in store for the New Year!