Posts Tagged ‘Toronto’

Wednesday September the 8th marked another milestone for the West Don Lands revitalization…although work has been going on at the site for over a year, yesterday marked the official ground breaking at the Don River Park!

Everyone from Mayor Miller to Jim Flaherty were on hand to mark the momentous occasion…by now you’re probably asking yourself “What’s so big about a park, and why do these high paid politicians need to be there to break ground?” The second part of the question, I don’t have an answer for, but in regards to the park…

The Don River Park will transform an abandoned post-industrial site into a dynamic, year-round, public space for the River City residents!  Renowned design firm Michael Van Valkenburgh Associates, has been assigned the task of transforming the 18 acre site!  Once complete, the Don River Park will be offer playgrounds, sports fields and open parks and other leisure activities for Torontonians to enjoy.

Aside from all the above mentioned features, the transformation of the land also acts as a flood plain! The Don River Park will double as a protection landform covering over 245 acres including the West Don Lands AND  Toronto’s financial district.

The construction of this park is a brilliant move by all involved!  They’re taking a barren brown field, creating a flood protection plain out of it,all the while transforming it into an open space for the public to enjoy.

To tie it into River City… Once the land transformation of the Don River Park is complete, Waterfront Toronto will hand over the land to Urban Capital to allow for the construction of River Cities Phase 1! 270 of the 348 units have already been sold at River City, but some great units are still available.  If you’d like to get a unit before they’re all gone …give me a call or send me an email, I’d love to help!

Goodbye Leslieville Lofts…Hello Riverside Towns!

Back in 2008 Lamb Development Corp and Hyde Park Homes (think The King East) had plans of building Leslieville Lofts at Queen E and Broadview.  The plans were calling for a 9 story loft to be constructed on the site…only problem was, the City and the residents weren’t behind them.  The City had issues with height and the residents weren’t too keen on having a project in Riverside being named Leslieville (Leslieville starts a few blocks East). The site has sat vacant for the past few years with not much changing.

And now the good news…

On a recent sushi lunch in the area, I noticed new signage posted over the vacant building announcing the new RIVERSIDE TOWNS!  The redesigned site will eventually be home to one and two bedroom stacked town homes! According to the application amendment (pictured in the gallery below) approximately 65 units will make up the Riverside Towns.

Early renderings show the exterior taking the shape of a red brick Victorian home, with the potential of rooftop terraces for upper units and patios for the lower units!  Based on the projects registration page, units should range from 500 to 1,100 + square feet! No launch date has been announced, but if you’d like to be kept in the loop with this project …give me a call or send me an email, I’d love to help!

Ever since the “Big Stink of ’09“, there’s been nothing funny about garbage pickup in Toronto…Thanks to Chuck and Vince all that is about to change!

The City of Toronto has a new viral Youtube video announcing to the people of Toronto:  If you have any  unwanted electronics…”THEY WANNNT IT!”. Yes that’s right, if you have any dated electronics kicking around your house, send it to the curb and the City Of Toronto’s e-waste department will pick it up!

Printers, Cell Phones, Computers and of course speakers, speakers and SPEAKERS are just a few of the items residents can now safely dispose of.  Check out the City of Toronto’s E-Waste website for more info

This weeks Photo Friday takes us 25 storeys above Toronto in the Lanterra built building know as Murano!  The Murano is made up of two towers (35 and 45 storeys respectively) that rise up from a two story podium along Bay St (north of College).  The developer was inspired by the “glass making” island off of Venice, aptly named: Murano! Architect Peter Clews definitely made the historic connection of island apparent with the fusion of glass cladding around both buildings!

The cladding allows for some of the most desirable sweeping views of the City. In the above picture (looking North East) you can see Casa and X condos emerging in the skyline! The North towers lobby is also quite significant with it’s two way fireplace, sitting area, library and travertine floors.  All of these elements are tied together by a beautiful blue and gold glass sculpture that greats residents and guests as the enter the building…just like the ones found in the art galleries of Venice.

I came up with the name “Business as Usual” for this photo because the breath taking views of Toronto are what I usually see on a daily basis!  If you’d like to buy a place with similar sights…give me a call or send me an email, I’d love to help!

It seems like just yesterday I was writing my inaugural post to announce the start of Toronto FC’s 2010 season…so I guess it’s only fitting that with this one I announce the end of it as well!  On October 16th, 2010 “the boys in Red” will be playing against the Columbus Crew for their final regular season game (fingers crossed that they make the  playoffs).

If you’ve yet to make it down to BMO and catch the team play, I highly suggest you take advantage of the deal the UBC and U of T Alumnus have put together:

Tickets are $52 each and gets you access to the exclusive Rogers Club, let’s you mingle with fellow UBC and Uof T alumnus, watch the soccer game at BMO Field, AND most importantly… help the Regent Park youth! For every seat sold, the two alumnus will donate $5 to sponsor Regent Park youth from the Pathways To Education™ program. The goal is to raise enough funds to bring at least 5 students to the game!

You can purchase your tickets and read more about this great intiative at the UBCTO Alumni website.

Goooooooooooooooooooooooooo REDS!!!

Looking for the 530 St. Clair sales centre? Try across the street!  The old sales centre on the North side of St. Clair has closed down to allow for demolition of the remaining structures.  The new sales centre is now located in the old TD Canada Trust building on the South side of St. Clair (521 St. Clair Ave West, next to Shoppers Drug Mart).

It’s been a little less than a year since sales started at 530 and already construction is starting to begin!  On my last visit to the sales centre, several units were still available for those wanting live at 530. The building is scheduled to be built by Fall 2012.  For those looking to move it a bit sooner, 500 St. Clair is fully complete and selling on the resale market! Whether your plans are long term or short, if you’d like to live in either of these great condos…give me a call or send me an email, I’d love to help!

In an effort to bring even more content on a consistent basis, I’m pleased to announce PHOTO FRIDAYYY!

I’ll be posting a new photo every Friday from my Savel And The City PhotoBlog.  With the photoblog I post a daily photo from my travels around the City.  It’s typically just a picture with very little description.  With Photo Friday I’ll be picking my favorite shot from the blog and describing the image further!

For my inaugural Photo Friday post I picked a picture that I took a few weeks back from the newly completed Maple Leaf Square!  Taken from 40+ stories above and looking down at Lanterra Developments latest project “ICE Condos”, the picture captures the condo during it’s earliest stages of development…hence it’s title “From Soil to ICE”

This southern part of the City is really starting to take shape! In anticipation of this, Longo’s grocery store is opening up a location at the base of Maple Leaf Square and across from ICE condos this fall!  Both condo’s are minutes from the Air Canada Centre and Union Station!

If you’re thinking of moving into this growing part of the Toronto Send me an email or give me a call…I’d love to help!