Posts Tagged ‘savel blogs’

Trinity Lofts is running a summer special, offering buyers either $10,000 in cash back or $15,000 in upgrades on units priced over $350,000!  The  location of the lofts offers downtown living next door to the Distillery District and West Don Lands Redevelopment.

The 8 story building will have just 81 lofts plus 2 townhouses.  The building will also have a dog room on the main level, resident “bike share” program and a on-site autoshare parking space.  Below is an example of a 2 bedroom plus den.  The unit is approx. 813 sq.ft  plus a 101 sq.ft balcony.  This floor plan starts at $446,900 and includes parking, storage locker and HST!

(prices and specifications subject to change without notice.)

Give me a call or send me an email to set up an appointment to preview full floor plans and price lists!

Do you have an extra 80 inches in length and 40 inches in width in that den of yours? If yes, then that’s just enough room for 2 beds! The clip above is from New-York-based Resource Furniture. Watch in awe (as I did) as they demonstrate how a little ingenuity can give a small space a lot of room!

I’ve never been a fan of the 300 sqf studio, be it for living or an investment but as the price of land in Toronto goes up; the spaces we call home are becoming smaller! It’s inevitable as developers try to facilitate as many units possible into their towers to maximize the profit on the project. Even traditional 2 bedroom units are being built with less square footage than their older counter parts.

If you look at a building like The Esplanade, it’s very common to see 1 bedroom units pushing 700 sqf. Compare that with many of the newer buildings going up and the same square footage is now housing 2 bedrooms! Space saving decor like the ones available from Resource Furniture are the key to using every square inch in your condo and making the most out of the limited space available!

…I wonder if there’s a foldable garden available?

Ready to find your own space in one of Toronto’s many condo towers? Give me a call or send me an email… I’d love to help!

It all started a few weeks ago while shooting some video at the River City construction site…Along one of the blue walls was an advertisement for Banksy’s new film titled “Exit Trough the Gift Shop”!!  I quickly got on the phone and made plans to see it with an old friend and fellow Banksy enthusiast… Wait wait wait!! Let me first explain who this Banksy character is. 

That in its self is no easy task since no one realllly knows his identity, so I’ll start with his story to better explain my story.  Banksy is a British graffiti artist known for his political, playful and thought provoking stencils that have mysteriously popped up in many major Cities throughout the world! He’s successfully done these murals without being caught or identified, adding to the legend known simply as “Banksy” (stop by http://www.banksy.co.uk/ for more of his works).

Now back to how he applies to Toronto.  So I made plans to watch his new film on its Friday release and came out loving every second of it. The film showed the hard and sometimes dangerous work street artists go through to put up their art. I was left with a ton of questions all relating to ones perspective of the topic, some which include “what defines art” or more importantly “what defines GOOD art”… “Is it the message” “Could it be the person making work” “The story of that person” “Does its venue give it more or less credibility?” “Does any of it even matter?” These questions could be debated for hours and probably by more authoritative sources so I’ll save that convo for another day…   

Officially Banksy has never been to Toronto or even Canada for that matter, but after watching the film I couldn’t wait for the day he would!  Thankfully for me, that day came a lot faster than I could ever have imagined.  By Sunday I was hearing stories (primarily on the Torontoist and Show & Tell Gallery) of Banksy’s work appearing in different parts of the City. With the release of the film happening the same weekend, I had my doubts about these and figured this was just a publicity stunt to create a buzz.  Unfortunately for me, I tend to get suckered into “buzz-worthy events” pretty easily.

Fake or not I had to see it…street art doesn’t last long especially Banksy’s, who’s past pieces have been known to fetch large sums of money, I’m talking 1-bedroom-plus-den-with-parking-in-downtown-Toronto kind of money!!!  For that reason, the location of the stencils was left unknown.  All “Banksy hunters” had to work with were local landmarks in photos taken by others….

All those times being stuck in downtown traffic jams were about to pay off! I jumped into the Cooper and took to the streets and back alleys hoping to find me some Banksyyy!  My first stop was by The Docks, where the back of the drive through sign was used as the canvas for one of his famous “rat” stencils!  I started snapping photos around 11:30 Sunday night as an event cleared out.  A lot of people were wondering why I was so furiously snapping photos of a spray painted rat.  Looking back, I must have looked strange with my Blackberry in one hand and camera in the other….though it was totally worth it.  By mid Monday the “rat” was removed by a team of construction workers! 

I can only wonder if those construction workers had any idea as to what the value of the billboard was worth. Here are some pictures for those who didn’t get to see it:

I took to the back alleys of Dundas and Queen St. for hours searching for others….sadly nothing, so at 3am I called off the search.  Monday morning more pieces popped up including a “Spadina Rat” and an “intimidating balloon guard dog”.  Sadly, for one of the pieces, it was too late.  The stencil on an Adelaide wall (described as “0% Interest in People”) had been painted over.  Now there was 7 confirmed Banksy’s in Toronto with 2 either stolen or painted over.  I went back on my search Monday night exploring the City to find the others before it was too late. 

Finally…SUCCESS!! Here’s what we found:

To some the pictures may be of nothing more than “vandalism” or “garbage”…yet to others (myself included) it’s the chance of a life time!  By searching down the various locations of his art, I got to rediscover the City and even visit parts I’ve never been too.  A few weeks back I visited the AGO for my first time and saw a lot of beautiful works, but I found the staff to be very protective and at times even confrontational making it was hard to truly enjoy the art.  With street art, there are no boundaries…takes as many pictures as you like, touch it, discuss it, and view it any time of the day.

This whole Banksy experience brought a lot of attention to the Toronto street art scene and even showcases our own local talent… Fauxreel (pretty sure this is one of his pieces pictured below)

 

So get off the blog and out on those streets…create your own experince and enjoy Banksy in Toronto until it’s gone for good!

Ladies and gentlemen, boy and girls, movie buffs and doc-heads alike…step right up and get ready for hotDocs 2010, live from various cinema’s across Toronto!

In it’s 17th year, the hotDocs festival will be in town for 11 days (April 29 to May 9). North America’s largest documentary festival will have over 170 films from more than 40 countries!  This will be my second year attending the event.  Last year I had the chance to watch “Jazz Baroness”, the story of a white British Baroness (Pannonica ‘Nica” Rothschild) who fell in love with the musical genius Thelonious Monk. (one of my favourites!)

This year, I have my eyes and appetite set to watch “Candyman: The David Klein Story“.  He’s been called the real life Willy Wonka because of his idea for Jelly Belly jellybeans!

From docs about Canada’s own Josh Dolgin aka “socalled” to films about Choirs singing songs of complaints (you’ve gotta check this one out…they even complain about haiting their condo association! lol) hotDocs is sure to have something you’ll enjoy!  Check out their full schedule here.

If you’re thinking of moving up to “Hollywood North”, give me a call or send me an email, I’d love to help!

Yesterday I took to the streets of Trinity and Eastern to show exactly what the area has to offer…incase you missed it, check it out here! Today I’m taking it a step closer to home and looking at the features Trinity Lofts will offer. The 8 story building (shown above) will have a total of 81 lofts plus 2 town homes. Similar to SYNC and 2 Gladstone, units will be 9ft high with exposed concrete ceilings (except areas with bulkheads, as required to accommodate architectural, structural, mechanical or OBC conditions). Floors will be pre-finished engineered hardwood throughout, except for tiled area as per plan.

Expect contemporary kitchens with granite or quartz countertops, under cabinet lighting, porcelain subway tile backsplash with an under mount sink! They’ve stayed away from the frivolous amenities and kept it simple with an equipped exercise room, furnished terrace with shared BBQ, dog wash room, a bike share system and an auto share parking space. Parking is available but is only available on units over $310,900 BUT with the TTC up the street and the various transportation sharing programs in the building, it’s not such a bad thing. Also without a car (or parking) you may actually be able to qualify for more of a mortgage as you’ll have less financial commitments hindering approval!

From Thursday April 30th to Wednesday May 5th, they’ll be accepting work sheets from Realtors who’ve been invited to sell at the project. For this early launch, roughly 55 units are being released so buyers are encouraged to pick 3 units of choice. On Thursday May 6th, they’ll be confirming successful worksheet and scheduling times to sign the agreement of purchase and sale for Saturday May 8th (purchasers must be present for signing!!!) The deposit structure is $5,000 on signing with the balance of 5% in 30 days, 5% in 90 days, 5% in 180 days and 5% on occupancy. Parking is $30,000 for units $310,900 and higher, with locker/bike lockers at $5,000 and $2,000 respectively.

I do have floor plans and price lists but am not emailing them out, I’d much rather meet in person to better explain the process and go over the details (plus usually it’s just other Realtors trying to get info for their blogs/site… as much as I love them, they tend to not hire me to represent them). There’s tons of amaaaaaaazing cafes in the Distillery where we can meet to discuss buying a unit at Trinity…feel free to call or email to set up an appointment, I’d love to help!

Floor plans and prices for Trinity Lofts have now been released…instead of yapping about prices and layouts, I decided to shoot a short video showing the lofts advantageous location to 51 Division, Distillery District,   King East  and Corktown to name a view.  From today until Thursday they’ll be accepting worksheets, if you’d like to call Trinity Lofts home…call me.  I’d love to help!

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!