our family real estate friend who try to get a unit at 1 bloor said this building is attracting many people as it much cheaper. Either expect prices to rise fast or to sell very quickly.
 
I do like the tall buildings - it’s the tiny, tiny apartments that will cause the problem. As more and more of them become rentals, the maintenance will slide big time and the area takes on a very different character. Remember St. James town?

I agree. A little simple common sense can be applied here. Who would knowingly want to be an owner/resident in a massive building such as this, knowing that something like 95 percent of the building's residents are renters who pay their monthly rent cheques to absentee landlords.

Does a renter really give a damn about the building? Of course not. He or she has no say in the governing of its daily runnings, no vote at the meetings, ..nothing. The building starts to look shabby and run down in record time. Nobody cares. Interest in the building lasts as long as a lease. In a few short years, no agent is going to recommend this building to a client who is looking for a place to live. Unit values start to drop. Investors now can pick up even cheaper units. Rent rates start to drop.
This is a recipe for disaster.
 
...This is a recipe for disaster.


By the time the city wakes up and realizes its mistake - the developers will be sitting on a beach somewhere counting their millions - its not their problem, its Toronto's problem.
 
Or perhaps people will start buying multiple units adjacent to each other when prices and availability get to that point and just demo the walls separating them...

Though, is that even possible in buildings here? I know it's a very common practice right now in Hong Kong.
Yup, someone knocked the walls down in two or three suites near the top floor of one of the Radio City towers to create one megasuite.
 
Not all developers will allow you to break down the walls from what I know.

Would breaking down the walls end up being cheaper than say buying a unit that is around 1500 sq ft for instance?

Say you buy 3 units, each unit being 500 sq ft. How much would that end up costing you (not including the work required to remove the walls etc), compared to buying a 1500 sq ft unit?

One of my ex's lived in a small box (probably around the 500 sq ft range). I couldn't understand how she did it. You might as well commit a crime and live in a jail cell.
 
Yup, someone knocked the walls down in two or three suites near the top floor of one of the Radio City towers to create one megasuite.

THREE suites!!?? Wow thats, like, 1500 square feet, according to Aura's standards. Some of these floorplans are downright depressing.
 
Yup, someone knocked the walls down in two or three suites near the top floor of one of the Radio City towers to create one megasuite.

We snuck up to that 3 or 4 unit suite in Radio City while it was still under construction. The partition walls were being framed, and I have to say the unit layout - and the views especially - were spectacular. But I couldn't live on such a high floor!
 
I've heard of buyers combining units in toronto, but i have no idea how common it is.

This practise is becoming quite common.
Walls are not actually knocked down. It isn't that simple. A lot of those suckers tend to hold up the building, not to mention being a throughfare for major plumbing, sewage, and electrical conduits.

Walls tend to disapear at the initial purchasing stage when everything is still plans on paper that have not had final submission to the Plans dept. at City Hall.

It seems to be a win win deal for both the builder and the seller from the way it was explained to me when I did it:

The builder sells 2 units instead of 1.

The builder saves on the cost of installing a kitchen, and probably a bathroom or two. (Ceramics, cabinetry, fixtures, wiring, plumbing etc.)

Savings also on eliminating all 5 appliances in that second unit that got joined up.

The buyer gets a unique unit and usually is able to get that perfect 'dream layout' from the architect that is fairly close to what he or she has asked for.
Depending on how the negotiating went, chances are the buyer didn't get a break in price for buying the two (or three) units together, but on the other hand he or she didn't pay extra for the architects help in designing the 'perfect' unit just for her or him.

An interesting little point.. If a fair number of purchasers end up doing this in one project then the 'complexion' of the project changes also.
The percentage of original bacholor and one bedroom units in the building drop as they get swallowed up by the conversions into much larger units.
 
By the time the city wakes up and realizes its mistake - the developers will be sitting on a beach somewhere counting their millions - its not their problem, its Toronto's problem.
I'm pretty sure the city has minimum unit sizes, so if the developer meets the minimum sizes that's all the city can do.
 
We snuck up to that 3 or 4 unit suite in Radio City while it was still under construction. The partition walls were being framed, and I have to say the unit layout - and the views especially - were spectacular. But I couldn't live on such a high floor!
I wonder what they did with the extra hookups for kitchens and laundry rooms?
 
THREE suites!!?? Wow thats, like, 1500 square feet, according to Aura's standards. Some of these floorplans are downright depressing.

That suite at Radio City is around 3,000 sq. ft., it's huge.

Canderel Stoneridge hasn't blindly stumbled into this property, they've done their homework. The plans do suck but they'll sell. The sweet suites will be on the upper floors.

The good news in all of this is a prime corner is being developed into a great looking, functional project and a neglected parkette gets a makeover.
 
Just walked down Bay Street on my lunch hour and saw a long row of reserved fold up chairs (with peoples' names on them) near the sales office. The chairs are lined up against the wall of the Liberties' condo along Bay St. and curving along the walkway between the Liberties' and ROCP2.
 
A perfect residence for Ryerson. Hey, they want housing nearby - now they have it. ;)
 

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