City
A condo explosion is on the horizon for Yorkville
Even as the residential property market starts to hit a few snags, Yorkville has not seen a slowdown in construction. Though many people can't afford Toronto's current property prices, the rich certainly can. The revitalization of Bloor Street between Bedford and Church (along with the expansion and introduction of marquee stores like Hugo Boss and Hermes) has also helped keep the market buzzing in this area. But Yorkville's rapid expansion is also radically changing its character. No longer even a quaint village for the rich, it has become a neighbourhood of luxury towers and high-rises. Here's 10 more proposals that will keep pushing Yorkville (and the surrounding areas) upward.
Yorkville Condominiums
Taking the place of the Moriyama & Teshima architectural offices (these architects designed the nearby Toronto Reference Library) at Davenport and McMurrich, the Yorkville Condominiums will rise approximately 31 stories on this site. For those who are tired of the hegemony of the glass box, the design by Rudy Wallman does have some nice flair to it. While the loss of the M&T offices is sad, this dreary stretch of Davenport needs something different. This could be it. The building is currently in pre-sales, and no construction has been completed.
Milan Condominiums
Continuing the Toronto tradition of giving unremarkable condos "exotic" and "romantic" names, Milan Condominiums will rise 37 stories from the corner of Church and Yonge. The site was formerly a Canadian Tire parking lot, so anything at this location is an improvement. Residents will get a lovely view of Rosedale, but they will also overhang the subway line: construction of the building was delayed for several months due to the difficulty in demolishing the previous parking structure. This one is also a slow burner. The proposal has been in official development since 2006.
Ridpath's Fine Furniture Development
Planning applications are working their way through the planning department for the Ridpath's Fine Furniture store at 906 Yonge Street. Since this is in the early stages of its development, this is likely going to be a showcase for the new councillor in the area - Kristyn Wong-Tam - to distinguish herself from Kyle Rae. Some residents in the area felt he was too pro-development, and Wong-Tam has already indicated to the Greater Yorkville Residents Association that a residents group for this development is in the works. Ridpath's Fine Furniture, a high-end antiques shop, is housed in a Tudor Revival building that has been around since 1907. The development would put a thirty-five storey condo/hotel tower facing onto Yonge Street and a 28-storey tower on McMurrich. Portions of the current Ridpath building will be incorporated (read "facade") into the new development.
One Bloor
The site was originally going to hold the tallest residential building in the city, and nearly the tallest building overall: One Bloor East. Orchestrated by Bazis International, a Kazakh (!) development company, the building launched to line-ups and shoving matches. Plans for the building fell through when the credit crunch destroyed the development company's financing - but not before the buildings on this corner were demolished in 2008. Great Gulf has bought up the site, and plans are now in place to build a shorter (approximately 65 stories) Hariri-Pontarini designed tower. (Comparisons are being made between this tower and Chicago's Aqua.) Sales reportedly went briskly, but now the developers are "catching their breath" (according to their advertisements) before opening a new sales centre in 2011 and beginning construction. Fingers crossed that this very important corner does not remain vacant much longer.
Cumberland Terrace Proposal
The Cumberland Terrace, home of such high-end stores as "Fragrance Bar", "Calendar Club" and - my favorite - "Fashion Concepts," is probably at the top of almost everyone's list of "let's tear this sucker down and replace it with something better." The proposal for this site does plan to tear it down, but the replacement will be very dense: a thirty-six storey tower and a forty-eight storey tower on a seven storey podium. The podium will be large because the Cumberland Terrace straddles the Bloor-Danforth subway, making sufficient below-ground parking impossible. The application was approved by city council, but the approval was - strangely - appealed by the developers to the OMB. It will be interesting to see what happens at the hearings in the new year, and what specific concessions the developers are looking for.
94 Cumberland Street
This proposal is also in the early stages. Minto - the developer of Minto Midtown at Yonge and Eglinton - wants to tear down the existing office building and replace it with a 26-storey tower. The city's official policy is that no residential buildings should displace commercial buildings, so this one is heading towards a big fight.
Four Seasons Hotel Proposal
When the new Four Seasons Hotel and Residence is completed on Bay, it has been proposed that the old concrete building will be torn down and replaced with two new towers. One of the towers will reach approximately forty stories. This one has already caused a bit of tussle. When it was originally proposed, the towers were taller, and their height would have made them visible in the "postcard" shot of Queen's Park. Since then, a compromise between the city planning department and the developers has been worked out. However, the long timeline for this proposal - demolition cannot begin until approximately 2012 when the new Four Seasons hotel will be completed - combined with the sputtering property market have made this proposal less certain. There are even rumours that only one tower will be built. While many people would not be upset to see the current building go, some concrete heritage fans are hoping that this long-standing landmark of Yorkville won't have to go just yet.
Exhibit Residences
The stretch of Bloor between Bedford and Avenue has almost completely altered in the last ten years. All three of the sporting and cultural institutions on the south side of the street have been renovated: Varsity Stadium, the Royal Conservatory and the ROM. On the north side, two new condos have sprung up. Exhibit will make three. Originally proposed by the same Kazakh development company that proposed One Bloor East - Bazis - the building proposal stalled when Bazis ran into financing trouble. Now back with two new development partners, this proposal is steaming ahead with a revised, intriguing, 32-storey stacked box design. The proposal will clear out the last of the cheap food joints and slightly hokey bars on this strip: McDonald's, Gabby's, Pho Hung will all go (strangely, the nearby former Lobby bar is not part of the proposal). Although this rag-tag collection of buildings will not be missed, the cheap eats options in this increasingly expensive neighbourhood will be.
The St. Thomas
For nearly a decade, a row of Victorian houses - former residences for nearby Victoria College students - sat mouldering on this lot. In 2008, they were demolished, along with the southernmost of the two "University Residence" buildings on St Thomas. When the developer, Minto, had to put the project on hold in 2009 due to some remaining financial turbulence, it looked like all of that destruction was for nothing. But recently, with the unveiling of a brand new - and pretty slick - sales centre, it looks like things are back on track. With the new condominium at 77 Charles Street rising out of the ground to the south, and the One St Thomas towering over both of these sites, the area is gradually being absorbed into Yorkville's luxury high-rise hood. One wonders how long the last remaining holdouts from the area's previous low-rise Victorian character - like Theatre Books - will last.
St. Basil's Proposal
My least favorite of the proposals. St Basil's is a former Catholic school that was built in 1928. Like many schools in downtown Toronto, it had to shut down due to declining enrollment. A developer proposes partially tearing down the current building (portions of the facade would be kept) and building a seven-storey building in its place. Originally rejected by both Heritage Toronto and the city planning department, the application was - surprisingly - approved in 2009 by city council. The proposal is in the sales mode now. While its sad to see St. Basil's go, the partial destruction of the building has a wider importance beyond Yorkville: as a contributing building in the Yorkville Hazelton Heritage Conservation District, its destruction calls into question the real power of these districts to shape development.
Here's a map of the developments:
For more info, also check out the Greater Yorkville Resident's Association.
Discussion
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Gabby's is moving into the Lobby space
toronto has something like twice as many condos going up as new york right now. all this in a 2nd-tier financial hub of a small country.
of course it's nothing as bad as vancouver, but one must wonder where actual people with actual jobs (some of them even good jobs) will live when even condos in etobicoke sell for over $500-$600 per square foot.
it will sting when it happens but i cannot imagine anything but a drop of 30%, whether it's very quickly or over a number of years.
real estate is ultimately about what people can actually pay, not about some magical land where money is created from thin air because you have lived in a place for 5 years.
Like Gabby's Pub?
It's nice to see the concrete hideousness (inspired by Anglo days of yore) of Bloor, east of Spadina to west of Sherbourne, smashed to the ground by illuminating glass and steel.
It's about time that this city grows skyward.
http://www.towerrenewal.ca/
and LOL @ there not being a housing bubble in Toronto. Canadians per capita have more debt in housing then the Americans did before there slide. Foreign money is rushing in in the form of useless American dollars, and people think this is good?! This is the start of all dollars, foreign money comes in to pick up crumbs before it collapses, same thing happened in Australia, England, etc. Canada is next for the bubble burst.
Sorry, but trading living space using the overpriced services of glorified monopolists (realtors) does not add anything of VALUE to the economy - it only adds more debt.
...err...I mean....
zomg more condos! the horror! outrage! loud noises!
But, there are still a lot of "transitioning" neighbourhoods in inner Toronto--Parkdale, Junction, Brockton, Bloor west of Ossington, much of the east side and the neighbourhoods along St. Clair. Given that they still have rough patches, some of these may stall out in terms of price appreciation as the market goes into a correction, even as standbys like the Annex and the Beach hold onto their value.
Anyway, if it's a bubble it's a small one, but I think we can all say with certainty that at the very least prices aren't going up for a couple more years. The enormous price appreciation we saw between 2001 and last year is finished.
As to a crash or deflation, I do know of several sites where upwards of 80% were sold to 'investors:' all who plan to either try and flip or rent their units when they are built over the next 2-4 years. I say, good luck with that.
Especially when a lot of the suckers moving here from other, smaller Canadian cities (looking for jobs) or who are transplanted here from overseas realize what they have really gotten themselves into.
Most of the buildings are truly ugly and can go, BUT how stupid it is to turn St. Basil and Ridpath's Fine Furniture into a mere facade of a glass condo?
Well, those conservation people either have no real power, or don't understand anything or were bought off. All three options are equally bad, because it means that real decisions are made by "Kazakh development companies" (and alike), who care only about profit, not the face of this city.
It's mainly the comments suggesting that these buildings will just simply fall apart that I contest. With regular maintenance a cast concrete structure will last longer than anyone here, so you won't get the satisfaction of seeing them go. Nor can I see it being economically feasible to demolish such large structures within the next few years, rather than reuse them.
I don't understand your last sentence though, are you saying the Yorkville condos will last longer than the waterfront condos, but they're all cheap anyway? The finishes and amenities vary between project, but the construction methods are very similar. All these buildings will undoubtedly be around for a long time to come.
I lived in Yorkville for awhile and I often find myself questioning whether I would move back there over other neighborhoods in the city, and despite it's lack of character you really can't compete with it's location.
Fear keeps you glued to the 11 PM news and buying books about collapse. Will you sell at 30% off today's prices because a collapse is coming? Why not?
OK so lets look at it differently, one third of Canadian homeowners are mortgage and debt free, mortgage default in Canada is 2% or less of the entire mortgage portfolio. The average mortgage is 153K at a variable rate of 2%.
People continue to migrate to Toronto, for jobs, eduation, medicine, financial and banking security, employment and yes housing. They are welcome and we are open for business and investment.
Living in Toronto and Loving it!
David Pylyp
As well, the figures that you "quoted" (I would like to see some sources) are for all of Canada. I personally do not think that all of Canada has a real estate bubble. I think Toronto, Vancouver, Regina, Edmonton, and Calgary all do. Calgary is already seeing its real estate prices declining significantly from their highs about a year and a half ago.
I personally love the condo development happening in the city. I think density is the way of the future. (From a design and urban planning standpoint I'd like to see more family-sized units being built, because frankly who the heck can raise a family in a 1 bedroom?)
However, even small condos are now largely out of reach for first time buyers - i.e. people with no previous "equity" built from having lived somewhere for 5 years.
I would refer you to the IMF's recent report, specifically page 12, which has a couple of very interesting graphs on price-to-income and price-to-rent ratios. Price-to-rent is actually the highest for Canada for all of the G7. This means that people who buy a property spend right now about 1.9x as much as people who rent a similar property. This also means that all of the "investors" (speculators, rather) can no longer make any money purchasing condos to rent out in this market.
Condos in particular are overbuilt and overpriced right now, particularly in Toronto. I still think that we can have a vibrant, healthy market but for that to happen prices need to fall about 30% or more. (Back down to 2006 levels would even be enough.)
And yes - as long as it's well done, density in large cities is a good thing. If you don't build up, then you have to build out. That means more cars on the road, longer commute times and sprawling suburbs that eat up the country side. I agree - there should be more family sized condos.
1) What evidence do we have that the recent arrivals have the same value system that made Canada such a safe, stable country? I know of at least 1 bank (HSBC) that will take a client's claim of income, without any T4 or investment back up, just because of their ethnicity. That bank knows that particular ethnic backgroung work very hard but hide all their income, so from the point of view of tha bank, they are a safe party to lend to. From Canada's point of view, they are free-loading: driving up real estate prices while paying virtually nothing into the tax base necessary to keep this country 'first tier.'
Secondly, I would agree that density is a great thing, but how many people born and raised here are going to tolerate the hodge podge this city is about to become? Sure, recent arrivals from Asia might think this place is paradise - they are used to living in a 400 sq ft box, staring into another 400 sq ft box across a narrow laneway. But for the rest of us, it is a pathetic joke the way buildings are being stacked on top of each other without any regard to INFRASTRUCTURE.
Just a quick look at the 40 storey towers going up along Charles, Jarvis, Balmuto, Bay St., 4 planned for Sherbourne/Bloor, a half dozen more being shoe horned into the Yorkville/Bloor area - just exactly how are these 50,000 or so people going to get around? Streets are being blocked off for bicycle lanes that nobody uses. The 'downtown relief line' is 25 years away, at best. The Front St extension was cancelled by Miller and his cronies. Do you think none of these huge condos have cars? Take a look inside their garages: they all have 400+ parking spaces and they are full.
A couple of our former socialist Councilors pack off to Asia, then come back like they are transportation experts. It would be funny if it wasn't so obviously pathetic.
If you're thinking of buying a TO condo as an investment, you may want to check this out first.
http://financialinsights.wordpress.com/2010/12/09/note-to-toronto-condo-investors-get-out-while-the-gettings-good/
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