[Edward Skira]

"While heritage worthy, it was deemed too structurally deficient to retain"

What a crock.

And your expertise in this building comes from?

Agreed. But, hey, this is the paid advertising section of Urban Toronto, so don't expect any truth in their advertising. Instead, expect lots of virtual tours espousing the positives of newly completed condos by writers moonlighting as realtors.

Not true and none of us are realtors.

This puts a whole new slant on this forum. Half the gabage that gets said here is hard enough to take, but knowing that it's laden with thinly veiled advertising makes it almost pointless.

I think it would be in far better taste for the promos to be revealed as such and not disguised.

Sorry but that's bull. This article was not paid for and we've never run an ad for Concert Properties or the Berczy. Get your facts straight.

 

[interchange42]

The accusations above beg a response.

This is not 'the paid advertising section' of the forum, but yes, Urban Toronto is supported by ads from the development industry. How do you think we manage to pay for the bandwidth? Your donations? There have never been more than a trickle. Maybe you would like to propose another way to pay the bills.

Don't like this project? Fine: you may disagree with what some members say about this or any project, but to automatically assume that anyone with a positive spin on something you don't like is a realtor in disguise in ludicrous and paranoid. Taste is subjective, and it's not a case of ordinary joes have it and (thinly veiled) realtors do not. This particular project is sold out, so no-one trying to sell a unit is wasting their time here. Similarly, no-one is paying UrbanToronto to follow this project.

We do not censor your comments (unless they contravene our code of conduct, which you can read at the top of any forum), so developers know that they can come in for criticism on UT. They still talk to us, however, so good on them. The virtual construction tours are here because most readers of this forum want to see them: people read UT because they are interested in all aspects of development.

Finally, the writing: you may not like it here, but in fact we try to keep it to the facts, and let images do the rest of the story-telling, so that you can make your own mind up about what you are looking at. Our apologies if you find it lacking. (Why spend your time here then? Sorry we've wasted so much of it.)

 

[Toronto1]

Even if it is not a paid advertising section, which actually surprises me, I sincerely doubt that Urban Toronto would be asked to visit and report on developments if it didn't spin such a positive light on so many projects. Disregarding the members' forum, where I acknowledge that the true evaluation of projects occur, articles that appear on the home page and that are officially written by Urban Toronto are overwhelming positive in tone and, from time to time, outright misleading.

Your review of Scenic is a good example. Did your article mention that south-facing units will look down on a large, semi-abandoned industrial park? No. Just like the developers' marketing, you chose to highlight the beauty of the Don Valley to the north. You even included the incredibly misleading artist's rendition of a beautiful, tree-lined residential community to the south that doesn't exist (and likely never will). Just like the developers, you wrote that the shops on Bayview are "right down the road." That's only true if you care to drive for ten minutes. Yet the big box stores on Laird, Scenic's true "walkable neighbourhood" are not mentioned at all. An oversight? Maybe. Or just not the most marketable story that the developer wants told. More likely. Contrary to your article, Scenic is not in the slightest located in a prime location.

Finally, your own words about real estate articles:

"The Real Estate subforum has been about buying and selling since it was set up. If it did not have a different flavour from the Projects & Construction subforum, we wouldn't have separate ones!

42

(And for what it's worth, I haven't actually seen the brochure... although the text has been extracted from marketing materials, having been mashed through an hyperbole strainer first.)"
http://urbantoronto.ca/showthread.p...os-(Aspen-Ridge)-Real-Estate&highlight=scenic

I never said that you were realtors, I merely inferred that you are in the pocket of realtors and developers. Whether or not a property is sold out by the time you report on it is irrelevant, your credibility demands a more critical evaluation of the project.