Wonder what the maintenance on this will be per sq ft... will be interesting to see if something with this much landscaping alone is sustainable in Toronto.
 
Kingscourt said:
Wonder what the maintenance on this will be per sq ft... will be interesting to see if something with this much landscaping alone is sustainable in Toronto.
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If I were to buy here I would budget for $1.50 - $2.00 per sq ft for maintenance fees. This is a luxury building and there will be extra upward pressure on the fees as the residents expect a higher quality building.
 
jaco_says said:
If I were to buy here I would budget for $1.50 - $2.00 per sq ft for maintenance fees. This is a luxury building and there will be extra upward pressure on the fees as the residents expect a higher quality building.
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With hydro, heating, cooling and water (and possibly natural gas, although that was not mentioned above) all being individually metered, that takes a huge chunk of condominium's operating expenses out of the monthly common element fees, and into being directly billed to the individual units on a consumption basis. The remaining big budget items would be property management services, security/concierge, general maintenance and repairs, and the Reserve Fund. So while $0.90 psf for common element fees might be a bit on the low side, given how much is going to be funded directly by the owners on a per usage basis - the guestimate of $1.50 to $2.00 per square foot seems to be quite out of line on the high side.
 
I am not aware of a recent building that doesn't meter hydro, heating, and cooling separately. Water, while they may claim is separately metered, may or may not be in the end. My building meters all those and yet the fees are still $1.00. Add in the unconventional building material like glass blocks, plant maintenance, and the 4 different lobbies, and this will be significantly higher in cost. On top of that, I just expect a higher quality service overall and not simply the cheapest option at all times as most buildings seem to do. You can also add in 4-5 years of inflation by the time you actually get to move in.
 
The building is also LEED Gold certified so all utilities will be metered separately to encourage conscious use of utilities. Having all utilities metered separately is rare in condos here (water and gas is often included in the fees) as it is not a requirement and multiple metering hundreds of units in a building comes at an expense.
Fees of $2 or more are typically seen on luxury hotel-condo buildings (Four Seasons, The St. Regis, Shangri-La, Ritz-Carton, etc.) where there is host of available shared hotel services and amenities for residents not typically seen in other condos.

The fees are on a 4-year lock upon occupancy with no increases, according to the developer. Westbank has long term ownership and involvement in the building (just like their other developments) as they will continue to own and oversea the retail/commercial spaces (as well as involvement in the residential aspect) to ensure a high level of quality is maintained throughout and they have also a long term commitment to their homebuyers and all their buildings. They are not the type of developer to eagerly walk away from a completed building and move on to the next.

@jaco_says, $1/sq.ft. sounds pretty high even though your utilities are metered separately. Do you live in a boutique building and/or have a lot of amenities? Did your board/property management vet/audit all the maintenance contracts?
 
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SpadinaBus said:
I too have reviewed the marketing material and it is indeed spectacular. It is likely too much info for most buyers but I appreciated every word. Since it will not be done until 2023, the hope as owners of these suites is that the market continues to climb and you hit the $/sq.ft. five years from now. If you believe BIG and Westbank deliver everything as suggested and the condo corp's $0.90/sq.ft. in maintenance fees is enough to maintain it, it will be worth it. In King West, this may be indeed be the top of the hill in quality for a decade. Tridel is certainly not going to give you anything close at the Well.
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Every buyer should get this kind of information. You'd be surprised how many projects come out and they are so vague with the detaisl. Spending $1M and are still in the dark aroub so many things.
 
neuhaus said:
@jaco_says, $1/sq.ft. sounds pretty high even though your utilities are metered separately. Do you live in a boutique building and/or have a lot of amenities? Did your board/property management vet/audit all the maintenance contracts?
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Sure, smaller 7-story building with no amenities and no security. However, I know of several high-rise condos that also have > $1/sq ft. I think given the building is using a novel building material and actually wants to put plants on everything the cost is going to high. Maintenance of quality doesn't come cheap.
 
The floorplans for this one is pretty funny. Difficult to tell why they call them "master bedrooms" on many floorplans when they look like regular bedrooms with a snakey hallway leading to the living room.

I also noticed that they placed sofa renderings blocking the entrances to the terraces on occasion. ?

Shape over function rules Danish design here it seems. At least she is pretty.
 
80% of the all the floor plans are unique, so there is a wide range of different layouts, configuration, sizes and orientations for everyone. There are many quirky floor plans because of the ziggurat building form, but some are actually quite nice and unique.
 
Yes, I bought a unit there back in October, and I sold a couple units there as well.
The completion date us estimated to be in Summer 2023, and looks like construction will be starting later this spring as the existing commercial tenants have to vacate by next month. I was in Vancouver in November of 2015 and Westbank was still excavating for Vancouver House and this year the building will be occupying in the summer, so I anticipate that this building will be built in a reasonable amount of time -- Westbank knows what they are doing and they have an excellent construction and consultation team behind them.
 
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