KA1 said:
One more piece of information for you, dt.

There will be 2 condominium corporations -- one for floors upto 55 and the other one for floors 56 and up (Executive and Penthouse floors).
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That's interesting, I've never heard of that before. I'm curious what would be the point of this, do you know? I sat on a BoD, it was a great learning experience, often rewarding but at times something of a nightmare. I can't imagine two condo corps. in one highrise trying to work out budgets on shared facilities, employees, reserve funds etc.

Thanks for the info.
 
dt_toronto_geek said:
That's interesting, I've never heard of that before. I'm curious what would be the point of this, do you know? I sat on a BoD, it was a great learning experience, often rewarding but at times something of a nightmare. I can't imagine two condo corps. in one highrise trying to work out budgets on shared facilities, employees, reserve funds etc.

Thanks for the info.
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Based on experience, I agree that this is an undesirable structure - a divided condo corporation will cause headaches for the residents. All you need is one megalomaniac BoD or micromanagerial condocommando, and let the unfun games begin.
 
AURA -- 2nd corporation

dt_toronto_geek said:
That's interesting, I've never heard of that before. I'm curious what would be the point of this, do you know? I sat on a BoD, it was a great learning experience, often rewarding but at times something of a nightmare. I can't imagine two condo corps. in one highrise trying to work out budgets on shared facilities, employees, reserve funds etc.

Thanks for the info.
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dt, just like you, I have no idea.

Upper floors are 'Executive and Penthouse' floors with supposedly superior furnishing and, definitely, high price tag. Only solace is that you get a second fridge with the price -- a wine fridge. No comfort for someone who, long time ago, gave up the creed 'Drink Canda Dry'. I can only imagine that the concerns of the reisdences on upper floors, supposedly, are different than those living on lower floors. How? I do not know. I have bought a unit in the "Upper" floors.That's how I know. I have been given documents -- Condominium documents ; upper residential condominium

Hate to say it but it smacks of "classism'. Doesn't it?

I currently live in RoCP1. We share pool, fitness areas with RoCP2. These facilities are located in the middle of two buildings. Common expenses are shared. Off hand, I can not tell you as to on what basis. Further, residences of RoCP2 can walk from Parking 1 level of their building to my building and take the corridor to the College Park Mall. A bit complicated situation. Yes. However, these 2 buildings are separate.

2 condominium corporations for the same building --beats me.

I shall keep you up to date with this situation, if it changes. You might have to wait for about 3 years -- estimated time for the occupancy or even later till such time the builnding/condo corporations are registered.

Now, you have something to look forward to.
 
It makes sense that buildings with more than one tower/section like ROCP, MLS, ICE, Radio City, The Met/Encore, Pinnacle Ctr. etc. would have separate corps. and simply split the costs proportionally for management, support staff, R&M for shared areas like the facilities etc. I presume the reserve fund would have to be divided up in some manner, one part for common areas, another for the building itself and some agreement on how insurance premiums are drawn up.

Yes, please keep us posted in a few years (about 4000 posts from now!). That will be interesting to know how two condo corps. unfold within one building and how they work that out.
 
maestro said:
Separate elevators and lobbies as well
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Separate lobby? don't think so.

Separate elevators -- most likely, but for the speed. You need high speed elevators to go up and down the high floors. In RoCP1 separate elevators serve floors 32 and higher.
 
Yes, please keep us posted in a few years (about 4000 posts from now!). That will be interesting to know how two condo corps. unfold within one building and how they work that out.
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I live in a complex that's comprised of two buildings with each being a different condo corp. The complex is 20 years old. Parking is shared, staff is shared as are the amenities (pool, fitness room). Most of the amenities are actually in the other building which we can access underground. There's no issues that I've ever heard of. The lawyers did a good job at the beginning deciding how things were to be divided.
 
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dt_toronto_geek said:
That's interesting, I've never heard of that before. I'm curious what would be the point of this, do you know? I sat on a BoD, it was a great learning experience, often rewarding but at times something of a nightmare. I can't imagine two condo corps. in one highrise trying to work out budgets on shared facilities, employees, reserve funds etc.

Thanks for the info.
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2 boards in one condo building can be bit of a nightmare, but can sometimes work too. I've experienced this at The Liberties next door to Aura (3 buildings, 2 boards). All you need is one or two arrogant board members to cause lots of friction. It takes a bit of a balancing act to make it work.
 
dt_toronto_geek said:
It makes sense that buildings with more than one tower/section like ROCP, MLS, ICE, Radio City, The Met/Encore, Pinnacle Ctr. etc. would have separate corps. and simply split the costs proportionally for management, support staff, R&M for shared areas like the facilities etc. I presume the reserve fund would have to be divided up in some manner, one part for common areas, another for the building itself and some agreement on how insurance premiums are drawn up.

Yes, please keep us posted in a few years (about 4000 posts from now!). That will be interesting to know how two condo corps. unfold within one building and how they work that out.
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I cannot imagine more than one condo board for a single development!

Radio City consists of two highrise towers and a row of townhouses. We have one board responsible for the entire development. The condo rules apply to all areas. Naturally, some issues are not relevant to all owners (e.g., townhouse owners are not affected by elevator issues). But in most cases, the issues are the same (e.g., most balcony rules in the towers also apply to townhouse decks and terraces).

At our AGM in January, we voted to enact a standard unit bylaw. It wasn't easy, requiring a majority of 50% + 1, which is no small feat when fewer than 25% of owners tend to show up for the meeting. Try to imagine having to organize three separate meetings to deal with the same issue(s). Three times the cost (venue rental), three times the amount of work - all for the same result. Makes no sense to me.

Another example is service contracts (e.g., security/concierge, cleaning, mechanical). We recently changed our property management, cleaning, and HVAC contracts, moving to different firms from those initially set up by the developer. In the case of HVAC, the more residents sign on, the better the rates the HVAC firm can offer. If two towers with different boards contract with different firms, the result is higher costs for all owners.
 
Is it possible to flip a unit at Aura. I bought way back at the beginning of 2008, before the line-ups at the sales office, and was told then that flipping was not allowed without permission, and permission would not be granted until the building was pretty close to sold. Not that I would consider getting out of this exciting building, but I am curious. I've never seen Aura advertised by anyone other than the developer and its agents.
 
AURA resale

BrianSolo said:
Is it possible to flip a unit at Aura. I bought way back at the beginning of 2008, before the line-ups at the sales office, and was told then that flipping was not allowed without permission, and permission would not be granted until the building was pretty close to sold. Not that I would consider getting out of this exciting building, but I am curious. I've never seen Aura advertised by anyone other than the developer and its agents.
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Read your purchase agreement -- especially clause 17. It says that you can sell the unit, with the developer's agreement as long as 80% of the project is sold and ..."confirming .. that the listing of such sale,, transfer, or assignment is not, never was and will not be listed on Toronto Real Estate Board, multiple listing service (MLS).. ' If you did, then, the developer has the right to cancel the purchase agreement.

It seems that you can sell the unit privately. Developer, obviously, does not wish to see the image of the project lowered by seeing condos on sale on MLS before unit is ready for title transfer. Perhaps, that's why you do not see AURA units being advertised for sale.
 
I believe that VU condos will have 2 separate boards as well - 1 for the north tower, 1 for the south, but they will try to amalgamate them quickly. I believe the creation of two condo corps has more to do with the builder wanting to register/close with one section - to get their money faster, rather than wait for the entire complex to be finished. It's a loophole that shouldn't be allowed in my opinion. When you buy into a complex, you buy into the complex, not the portion of the complex your unit is in - doesn't help for community building.
 
AURA -- 2 condominium corporations

simuls said:
I believe that VU condos will have 2 separate boards as well - 1 for the north tower, 1 for the south, but they will try to amalgamate them quickly. I believe the creation of two condo corps has more to do with the builder wanting to register/close with one section - to get their money faster, rather than wait for the entire complex to be finished. It's a loophole that shouldn't be allowed in my opinion. When you buy into a complex, you buy into the complex, not the portion of the complex your unit is in - doesn't help for community building.
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At AURA there will be 2 condominium corporations for the same tower -- 1 for floors upto 55 and the other for top floors from 56 to 75.

If you are referring to the same situation at VU -- 2 condo boards for the North and South parts of the same builddind, then your post makes sense. If, however, you are referring to 2 separate towers of the same development, then, this is quite common. For example, College Park Development has 2 separate towers 1 & 2 and 2 separate boards. AURA is referred to as College Park 3.

If you hear anything about both the boards being combined, then, will appreciate the update.
 
I picked up an information sheet on the Aura at the marketing office early last year - mostly out of curiosity. On thing I noticed at the time (don't have the sheet now) was that two different maintenance rates were quoted. From what I recall maintance was estimated to be something like 50 - 51 cents per square foot in the lower floors, and mid-to-upper 30 cents per square foot in the upper floors. At the time, I wondered how that could be enforced, once the condominium became registered, and the sheer number of lower floor unit owners would be able to out vote the upper floor owners, and force the move to a uniform maintenance rate for the entire building. I guess two separate condominium corporations, with separate boards, is the developers answer to that question.

AHK
 
the reality of the above structures is that if there is one board, whichever group stacks it may try to devise a structure which favours that group. If there are 2 groups, one can imagine that the interests of the upper vs. the lower floors will not always be the same and that group with the more influential board will likely get concessions from the lesser represented group. I do not know about Aura distinctly but I know in a condo hotel building that I purchased to be built in the next few years, the upper floor condo fees are about 50% higher than the lower floors but this is because they get more ammenities than we do on the lower floors. i would think as previously posted, all common elements in the building would be on a cost/foot basis irrispective of location and the differences would reflect specific differences of ammenities/usage on the two groups of floors.
 
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