condovo said:
I couldn't help but think that perhaps the building is a little too ambitious for a condo (i.e. Will the lobby, etc. be properly maintained in the years and decades to come?) and too ambitious for Charles St. (i.e. It overpowers everything else on what is a secondary street after all.)
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I'm a bit troubled by this comment.

Why wouldn't the lobby continue to be "properly" maintained? What do you mean by too ambitious? Why would it be too ambitious for Charles Street? What's wrong with something big and grand on a secondary street? Should it just be big and bland like the monster apartment towers on every other secondary street? Please explain.
 
Recent posts regarding BSN have been moved to that thread, which will be reopening soon.

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Leed

dventura said:
If all glass was so inefficient then why would the new top LEED rated RBC office tower be all glass?

I really don't know anything myself but what I've been told is that glass helps in the winter if it's south exposure. In some cases glass will require more energy and in some it will save i.e. when the sun provides heat in colder weather. From what I was told is that it pretty much evens out. The lobby wont require much more A/C in the winter being glass as it's north facing.
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CASA is a very pleasing building aesthetically. But I fear it will be an energy hog. You make a building green in a variety of ways. Windows should be argon or other gas filled, low-e. My understanding is that CASA has few such energy efficiency features. Does anyone have any further information?

Verve was just certified LEED Gold making it one of the most energy efficient condos in the city. And yes, I live there. Not an architectural jewel, I know, but in other ways, like environmental standards, quite a success.

Let's hope that future buildings can marry architectural skill with environmental responsibility.
 
cbaileyTO said:
CASA is a very pleasing building aesthetically. But I fear it will be an energy hog. You make a building green in a variety of ways. Windows should be argon or other gas filled, low-e. My understanding is that CASA has few such energy efficiency features. Does anyone have any further information?

Verve was just certified LEED Gold making it one of the most energy efficient condos in the city. And yes, I live there. Not an architectural jewel, I know, but in other ways, like environmental standards, quite a success.

Let's hope that future buildings can marry architectural skill with environmental responsibility.
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I did notice that at the time that I bought at CASA, most other condos were advertising their buildings as being "green" and energy efficient. I was a little disappointed that CASA didn't seem to have any regard for this. Case in point, I was quite surprised in my PDI to see that the unit didn't even come with a HE washing machine. I thought that's all you could buy today.
 
Maintenance fees might be higher in this building then "green" condos, but its hard to say. Some have mentioned that an outdoor pool might increase maintenance fees, but having a pool altogether increases the fees.

But one aspect people aren not mentioning is that it really depends on the property managment how the money is handled. I live in a tridel building (yes i know there aren't everyones choice) and there are a lot of ammenties. I have been pleased in the 2 years that i have been here that maintenance fees have gone up only 8 dollars per year.

I do believe once you are in your buliding to make sure property management are doing there job properly. You do have a choice on who is on board and how money is dispersed.

I have been impressed with the organization of Tridel and hope Cresford does the same. I believe maintenance fees will increase with poor management more so than having an outdoor pool.
 
dventura said:
I have heard this as well about any condo with west facing exposure.
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I'm thinking when you add it all up and spread the costs over all of the units how bad could it be? There are no long hallways to climatize as compared to the non-tower portion of BSN. I'm thinking Cresford has installed some sort of ventilation system in the lobby to capture the heat from above and circulate it down to the lower level (maybe, I hope). Again, I think we are making a big deal over nothing. I'm personally quite happy and CASA has exceeded my expectation so far.
 
waterscapes-guy said:
I'm thinking when you add it all up and spread the costs over all of the units how bad could it be? There are no long hallways to climatize as compared to the non-tower portion of BSN. I'm thinking Cresford has installed some sort of ventilation system in the lobby to capture the heat from above and circulate it down to the lower level (maybe, I hope). Again, I think we are making a big deal over nothing. I'm personally quite happy and CASA has exceeded my expectation so far.
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each unit owner would be responsible for their heating/cooling costs via the heat pump's electricity.
 
There is constant mention of the outdoor heated pool causing high maintenance costs. Nobody has seemed to realize that the outdoor "year round" pool was simply a sales gimmick to get people excited about a "cool" feature in a pre-construction building before they are really thinking about their maintenance costs. Even the sales office at CASA has said now that 90% of the building is sold that the pool will be heated for the first year and then they will evaluate. In English...it was a sales gimmick, and they will likely heat it for the first winter or two so that people can't sue Cresford for lying...but everyone knows that it wont remain open in the winters to follow and therefor should not be a maintenance concern.

Now can anybody answer my question about why they would have gone with the old style washer and dryer machines?
 
cdr108 said:
each unit owner would be responsible for their heating/cooling costs via the heat pump's electricity.
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Oops, I was referring to an earlier comment about all of the glass in the lobby. I realize each unit controls their own cost via a heat pump. As for the western exposure, I suppose that will be a problem for me as well. That late afternoon sun could directly beam through the units without heavy window coverings. Speaking of window coverings, does anyone have any suggestions on what would look good?
 
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