Now my most recent worry is what if Bazis simply has no money? The doors down here and wall paint which should be covered by warranty have not been fixed for months. No way would Bazis suicide their public image over mishandling this one project when they have 4-5 more developments in the works. They perhaps may be over-leveraged.
In addition to my previous reply here,.... on Bazis development pipeline looks to be ending,....
http://urbantoronto.ca/forum/thread...-rosario-varacalli.4829/page-154#post-1191168
Bazis' long construction time is what will ultimately kill Bazis! Note, I'm blaming Bazis not Bazis' contractor TMG Builder!
Look through Bazis EmeraldPark thread and Tridel HullmarkCentre thread,.... both went to market summer 2008, both got development approvals in early 2010, both started construction early 2011 (HullmarkCentre site demolision in Fall 2010 whereas EmeraldPark really had nothing to demolish except 1 bungalow!),....
Tridel HullmarkCentre 35-storey SouthTower open December 2013,... Tridel HullmarkCentre 45-storey NorthTower should have completed around the same time as SouthTower but was delayed almost 1 year since they had to redesign their underground pedestrian tunnel due to conflict with existing northbound Yonge to eastbound Sheppard subway WYE turning tunnel underneath the open-space plaza of that site; it open December 2014,... about 3-4 years of construction.
Bazis EmeraldPark is the smaller project, it's 30(+2)-storey WestTower open in March 2015 and it's 40-storey EastTower in late Summer 2015, retailers occupancy in Fall 2015 and office in January 2016,... almost 5 years of construction. That's a year after a 1 year late HullmarkCentre NorthTower,...
thus, Bazis EmeraldPark really took almost 2 years longer than it should in construction stage! Why?
When high cost construction that should have taken 3 years ended up taking almost 5 years,.... that extra 50% or so in construction cost eats away at any profit. Why does Bazis construction time takes so long,... because Bazis constantly redesign during construction! That's why the blame is on Bazis and not Bazis' contractor TMG Builder.
http://urbantoronto.ca/forum/thread...-rosario-varacalli.4829/page-147#post-1179860
Example: Bazis' EmeraldPark 30-storey WestTower was 5 feet shorter than allowed for maximum residential occupancy height,.... because Bazis can't do simple grade 2 addition, this wasn't discovered until during construction. They could have just let it go but greedy Bazis decided not to just cut a couple inches off each floor to add one new floor,... but instead chop off about 8" off each floor ceiling height to add 2 new floors!!! CommitteeOfAdjustment approval was granted when WestTower had already poured 8 floors of forming,.... so the floors above got chopped!
Another example, just 2 months before WestTower opened,... January 2015 CommitteeOfAdjustment approvals for severance of 2nd floor retail space (Metro/LCBO units), redesign of loading docks for Metro and private freight elevators replacing common area food-court washrooms which were relocated to hidden Mezzanine level between 1st & 2nd floor! All this after both towers already topped-out.
https://www1.toronto.ca/City Of Tor...to/Files/pdf/J/January-8-2015-NYdecisions.pdf
Look at all the changes in 1st floor retail before and after,.... and many of these changes had to be done because Bazis failed to design the space with their clients in mind,.... greedy Bazis focused on maximizing their dollar per square footage via small Pacific-Mall type cubicle stores.
City Planning Final Report (original development approval):
Pre-Construction:
Final Product Built:
Retail-condo unit buyers/investors who could afford Yonge Street frontage stores insisted on larger stores stating they won't be able to rent out small Pacific-Mall type cubicle stores, so all these Yonge frontage stores were elongated to become larger,... and Bazis' customers were right! All these large Yonge frontage stores are now occupied, under renovation or have tenants waiting for renovation. Yet most of the Pacific-Mall type cubicle stores especially along Poyntz are still vacant!
Bazis was way over their head with EmeraldPark! Not just financially where Bazis had to take on two more established developer partners just to get financing,... but Bazis Canada had never designed a Mixed-Use development before! And the combination of mixed-use at Bazis EmeraldPark has never been done before,... 1st floor PacificMall type cubicle retail-condo stores, 2nd floor traditional retail shell for large format supermarket, 3rd floor office-condo (a first here & at HullmarkCentre), then two residential-condo towers above,.... challenge was to get all these components integrated together with direct subway connection and street-level pedestrian flow,...... Bazis surely failed in this regard. All components are basically segregated with poor pedestrian flow design. For office-condo all 4 elevators were redesigned into one corner, there's no office lobby area on 1st floor - let alone security desk or even office directory information board or even floor map! And look how dangerously residential lobbies are placed right beside loading docks and parking entrance.
It's these last minute design changes that causes major delays in construction delivery for EmeraldPark project,.... and since Bazis has a tight condo tower development pipeline of 2 years between condo-development,.... and because Bazis uses TMG Builders exclusively,.... any delay in one project will impact the next,... and any delay in the next project will impact the subsequent project,.... it's a snowball effect!
http://urbantoronto.ca/forum/thread...-rosario-varacalli.4829/page-154#post-1191168
Since Bazis EmeraldPark took 2 years longer to build then it should have due to all the last minute redesign during construction due to poor original designs,.... Bazis next project, Exhibit, took at least 2 years longer to build than it should have, not merely because Bazis' TMG Builder were stuck at EmeraldPark longer than expected but because Bazis was doing so many last minute redesign changes to EmeraldPark during construction that they didn't do a good original design for Exhibit thus, Exhibit would go through last minute design changes during construction as well,.... so guess what'll happen to Bazis next project, e-condo?
Bazis' long construction time due to last minute changes caused by poorly thought out design,.... is what will ultimately kill Bazis! A developer can't spend 50% longer on expensive construction stage VS the competitor,.... and still expect to remain competitive.