Posts Tagged ‘Toronto’

What was once a tiny and dark one bedroom bungalow is now a two level, 3 bedrooms with 3.5 bath dream home. 25 Hanson has been transformed into the perfect family house. The stone veneer facade at the front of the home stands out from the others on the street. A granite driveway and cedar porch complete with security cameras are just a few of the executive upgrades waiting for you.

Inside is a completely open main level. Bamboo floors can be found in all other areas of the main level. In the living/dining room there’s an electric fire place, surrounded with a stone facade and two large columns. A Bay window lets the light shine in. Up top are pot lights with set regions set to dimmers for movie nights.

The kitchen has a unique two toned finish. The lower cabinets and drawers have a wood finish to compliment the floors. The above cabinets have a white finish. Both feature a quite close system meaning you’ll never hear a slammed door again! The Countertops are quartz, with a beautiful sparkle finish to them. A breakfast bar was added to maximize the space. Stainless appliances include a built in dishwasher, stove and microwave (with fan) and double door fridge. The sink is extra deep with an industrial faucet. A built in wine rack completes the kitchen!

A walk-out takes you to your private backyard complete with a newly built fence on each side. A large custom built patio allows for tons of entertaining room. Two flower beds were built using the same stone veneer as at the front of the house to tie the two themes together. The custom built shed with cedar doors and window provide ample storage for all your gardening needs.

In order to keep with the open concept theme, the powder room was placed a short flight down the stairs. The laundry room, electrical panel furnace, central vac equipment and water system are all conveniently placed in the lower level. A separate walk out can be found at the front of the house. Another electric fireplace adds to the warmth of the basement. At the rear a fourth bedroom or office with a private 3 piece bathroom is available.

Take a walk up the oak staircase and you’ll find three well appointed bedrooms. Two sky lights were installed to let the light in from the upper level to the lower. At the peak of the hallway, the ceiling height is approx 12 feet. The shared bathroom at the end of the hallway features a Jacuzzi tub and shower system with jets. Porcelain tiles cover the floors and wall. A mosaic tile accent wall carries from the floor to ceiling!

Each bedroom has wiring for phone, cable, and data and each has its own closet. The master has his and hers closets, a large picture window and a separate skylight. The ensuite bath comes complete with a large two person shower. River rocks accent the floors and ceilings and a therapeutic touch to the experience.

You can view all photos of the home in the gallery below:

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For a walkthough of 25 Hanson, check out this video:

Feel free to contact me for your own private tour of 25 Hanson by filling out the form below:

The Gladstone Hotel is known to many as a popular hipster hotspot on Queen west… but look back only 12 years and you get a story of a much different crowd! In keeping with last weeks post on the 2012 HotDoc Film Fest, I wanted to spotlight a documentary about the Hotels transformation. Last Call At The Gladstone Hotel first screened at HotDocs in 2007. While picking up my tickets for this years festival, the title of the film caught my eye. I did a bit of googling and came across this trailer for the film:

The official write up for the film says: “In 2000, developers purchase the crumbling, century-old Gladstone hotel to turn it from skid row flophouse to arts and music hotspot. They think it’s empty… until they meet Marilyn, the chambermaid with a heart of gold; Shirley Ann, the cynical front desk clerk; and a motley crew of residents, including Maryanne, a sweet ex-bag lady who has turned her room into a toxic zone. Staff and residents—some who have been there for over 30 years—worry they’ll be squeezed out during the hotel’s imminent revitalization.

The developers’ plan— a gradual restoration with staff and residents remaining upstairs, while downstairs the bar serves designer drinks to new, affluent clientele—doesn’t work. When experimental film-maker, Christina Zeidler inherits the mess and forms a “business model that includes social change,” the hotel has the last word. City inspectors demand complete rewiring, the boiler blows up leaving the hotel without heat, ceilings leak, walls are crumbling and Zeidler now has to decide what to do.

Shot over five years in a cinema direct style, Last Call at the Gladstone Hotel is an intimate portrait of the effects of urban renewal on the poor—a compelling tale of urban conflict put under the lens of class, money and social consciousness, chronicling a heart breaking clash of cultures between down at the heels hotel residents, artists and developers. More than a story about haves versus have-nots, this film exposes a pattern of displacement repeated in cities worldwide, and reveals the unintentional roles we often play in the process of gentrification.”

The film is available for purchase at the HotDocs box office (783 Bathurst Street) or can be streamed online in the HotDocs Library - http://www.hotdocslibrary.ca/en/detail.cfm?filmId=11105

Look along our downtown skyline and you’re guaranteed to see two things – cranes and highrises!  It’s beauty to some, but often times sad to me (and no, not because a catastrophic bubble is about to pop).  For you see, once you peel back the glass and concrete cladding… they’re all pretty much the same on the inside!

The formula for developing a condo in Toronto these days is pretty straight forward:
1. Buy downtown lot (bonus points if it’s “steps to” anything.)
2. Select from a one of five “starchitects” to design your glass box.
3. Once you have the outside mapped out, start on the interiors.  Here you choice is even more limited… there’s roughly 3 to select from.  Who you select won’t make much of a difference as they will typically suggest any or all of the following – granite in the kitchens with a  modern or European cabinetry (from what I’ve seen, the words are used interchangeably), some form of hybrid hardwood/laminate concoction in the main living areas and a natural stone tile for the bathrooms.
4.  Now that you’ve got 3 of the main ingredients in play, you’re going to need choose from one of the 2 big name preconstruction brokers.  Both are equally good, it really comes down to who can sell a better story about your project.  They’ll suggest a few marketing firms to bring the “vision” to life – actions words and pretty people are a must for all glossy brochures.
5.  Hold a few VIP releases to the ever busy real estate community, and voila you’ve sold a condo.

I’ve left a few sub steps such as floorplan design, coming up with a price, and my personal favourite - music selection for flash based/non smartphone loading website… but i’m sure you get the (sarcastic) point i’m trying to make!

I recently stopped into the sales centre of 277 Davenport, expecting the same as usual. What I found was anything but!  They used the same formula I described above, but did it soooo well it doesn’t seem wrong at all!

Let’s start with step 1 – Location.  As the name signifies, the condo is being built at 277 Davenport Rd. just a few doors down from Chef Massimo Capra’s Mistura and across the street from Brian Gluckstein’s gorgeous courtyard. The development is being built in a tucked away part of Davenport and the sales centre is almost hidden from plain sight. Panning out, you’ll notice that the project is smack in the middle of 3 of the most sought after neighbourhoods in the City – Casa Loma, Annex and Yorkville.

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Hop on the 63 bus, and head down to Ossington for drinks, dinner and condos!  The former sleepy street that was once home to factories and commercial business has quickly transformed into a hot bed of action with new bars and restaurants popping up everywhere… and I’m not just selling the hype here, i’m also partaking in it!  You’ll often find me at BQM for a burger or hanging out at The Ossington while the Secert Models dj a set to a packed house on a Saturday Night! I’m probably not the first to tell you this but the Ossington neighbourhood is quickly becoming the “it” place to be!

A few years back, Reserve Properties was the first to embrace the strip and bring to it a modern and well appointed development known as Motif!  With the success of their first project, they’re back again with a second project at 109 Ossington, the former Mondial Auto Repair shop! According to the press release:

Building on Ossington’s character and dynamic street line, 1090Z offers a contemporary design that reads to the eye as four intimate structures. “We wanted to create a built form that really suited the eclectic rhythm and dimensions of the street,” says Shane Fenton VP of Reserve Properties.

Catering to Ossington’s active pedestrian traffic, new retail on the ground floor will reanimate 150 feet along Ossington’s vibrant north-south corridor.

“Staggering storeys back and forth as you move up the building provides a variety of angles and gives each element its own identity,” says lead architect Roland Rom Colthoff of RAW. “Dark brick, zinc and glass materials used on the façade further enhance texture, while mimicking the memory of the existing lot division.”

Emphasizing the angular façade, balcony enclosures will be punctuated with different colours, co-designed by purchasers, giving them the opportunity to personalize the exterior of their new home.

“With 109OZ we really wanted to capture the essence of the local attitude and diversity of people who live there,” says Dan Menchions of II BY IV Design Associates.

Drawing the Ossington vibe inside, the 109OZ marketing centre is animated with pops of tangerine orange, canary yellow and fuchsia and a monochromatic gradient herringbone pattern on the floor. “The presentation centre is designed to make you feel like you are walking into the actual lobby itself,” adds Menchions.

Capturing the creative culture of the area, a multi-coloured pendant fixture by neighbourhood design darling Castor Design, crafted from recycled fire extinguishers, is surrounded by graphic elements and artwork reminiscent of 60’s and 70’s pop-art movement.

“We know from our recent success with Motif Lofts & Towns on Ossington that this is a very savvy neighbourhood when it comes to design. We wanted to create a project that local residents would appreciate and represents where design is going,” says Shelley Fenton, President of Reserve Properties.

109OZ offers 85 generously sized lofts with open concept layouts. Providing purchasers a flex space for work, dining and entertaining, European styled kitchens feature oversized islands that double as a chef’s table. With private outdoor space off of almost every suite and a second floor amenity terrace that overlooks the main street, purchasers can stay in and still engage with Ossington.

“People from around the city travel to Ossington in order to play. They come here to do their boutique shopping, do dinner at Union or hit up Foxely,” says Johnston. “But now with 109OZ people won’t just be visiting the neighbourhood to enjoy it, they are going to be able to live in it and truly take part in everything by foot, and that’s just good neighbourhood building.” Read the rest of this entry »

The wait is over for The Bold Towns at Broadview and Danforth!  Floorplans and prices for the project were just released to the public.  In total only 14 towns will be built on the site. The collection is comprised of 6 different configurations.  Each town comes with a parking spot (included in the price), a rec-room, a terrace, and 3 bedrooms.  The master bedroom makes up the entire 3rd and comes with a walk-in closet and a private ensuite with a separate shower, tub and bathroom!

Preview pricing has homes starting at $809,990. Purchasers are required to put down a 15% deposit on the towns. Move-in date is scheduled for approximately Spring 2013. You can preview the floorplans below:

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During last weeks “peak and enter” at the newly completed Don River Park… I stopped by the River City development to take a few photos of phase one under construction!

The 7 storey River St. building is well underway and already taking shape.

The two storey townhomes line the base of the building along River St.

Here’s a close up of the King St. building… eventually the two will be connected by a bridge!

Interlocking stone was used in the construction of sidewalks and roads for the area!

Looking for more updates from River City?  Waterfront Toronto recently relocated one of its web cameras to capture the construction progress of the development! The web camera, which was previously used to capture the construction of Sherbourne Common north, is now on the rooftop of Edge Loft condominiums at 625 Queen Street East.  Still images of the site are taken every 15 minutes and can be viewed on Waterfront Toronto’s construction webcam page and on the River City page.

Images are archived and once the project is complete, a two minute time lapse video is created that showcases the transformation of the project from start to finish.

One of the most exciting things about being in the business of selling the City is watching how it changes over the years. In 2008 I started focusing on the West Don Land (or River City) part of town.  At the time it was no more than a contaminated brown field with a bunch of old industrial buildings.  With the announcement of Toronto hosting the Pan Am games in 2015… plans quickly got underway to improve the look of the area.

A new school, daycares, and condos are just a few of the things planned for the area… but before any of this could happen, the City had to deal with a potential flood hazard at the base of the redevelopment. Reshaping the floodplain would not only protect the West Don Lands but also a 99 hectare (245 acre) area, including Toronto’s financial district, from sinking underwater!

The solution they came up with was both practical and useful for the area residents and the overall look of the area! Approximately 400,000 cubic metres of fill is being used to construct the Don River Park.   According to WaterFrontToronto’s website: “The centrepiece of the West Don Lands, Don River Park will be a 7.3 hectare (18 acre) active, vibrant and inviting park that will not only serve the local community, but residents from throughout Toronto and visitors from far and wide. Construction of the park, which will occupy the south eastern portion of the neighbourhood and will run along the Don River from King Street to the rail corridor in the south, started in September 2010. When completed, the beautiful green space will invite people to the Don River and offer inspiring experiences along the river’s edge as well as spectacular views of downtown and Lake Ontario.”

I’ve visited the site several times since 2009 and been blown away by it’s progress each time! Shortly before the park opened, I took a self guided tour of the almost completed park!  Check out the photos below: