Selling high-end condos, one cinephile at a time
Apr 23, 2007 04:30 AM
Martin Knelman
Entertainment columnist
Today represents a milestone for the Toronto International Film Festival, with the official groundbreaking for its long dreamed-of year-round home (known for now as Bell Festival Centre) on a parking lot at the corner of King and John Sts.
More than a thousand guests have been invited to a bubbly celebration at the Fairmont Royal York Hotel, featuring speeches by Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty, federal Heritage Minister Bev Oda, architect Bruce Kuwabara, festival CEO Piers Handling, and movie tycoon Ivan Reitman (whose family owned the site).
But perhaps what is most significant for the future of downtown Toronto is the phenomenon this project epitomizes: the glittery alliance of culture and showbiz with the lifestyle of high-end condominium buyers.
Two other soon-to-be-built luxury towers – one by architect Daniel Libeskind adjacent to the Hummingbird Centre, the other named Museum House because it is directly across the street from Libeskind's new Crystal expansion of the Royal Ontario Museum – have also been conceived to satisfy the appetite of high rollers who want a major cultural connection in their everyday life.
Consider the pitch to potential buyers of the 378 apartments in Festival Tower, Kuwabara's sleek, slender residential building joined at the hip with the festival's five-storey podium and rising 42 storeys alongside it: "One part condo, one part film festival – a world first."
It's a marriage that works for both sides. The condo tower, a joint venture of Daniels Corp. and the Reitmans, is being sold by its link to one of the city's most loved cultural institutions.
"Live the glamorous life atop Festival Centre," prospective buyers are urged. "Residents will enjoy all the amenities of an exclusive club." Membership privileges include being first in line for coveted tickets to the festival.
But once it moves into its new home in 2010, the TIFF group will be more than ever a year-round presence, featuring Cinematheque screenings and special events in its five auditoriums, plus a museum-like space designed to house major film-related exhibitions.
Without the driving engine of the condo tower, it's doubtful the festival would have been able to secure the land and money needed for its dream home.
Because of the strong interest from prospective buyers, Daniels Corp. did not feel it necessary to take the precaution of selling half the units (with price tags ranging from $300,000 to $2 million) before starting construction, beginning with a five-level underground parking garage. In fact, not a single unit has been sold, and it will be months before buyers can sign on.
As Daniels Corp. vice-president Tom Dutton explains, the apartments could not be sold until it became clear the festival would be able to pay its $129 million share of the costs. With confirmation of $25 million from the federal government, $25 million from the Ontario government and $30 million from Bell (for naming rights), the festival has raised $104 million for its building – enough to get a green light from its bank.
It's slated for completion in 2010. Given the strong response of buyers, the developer decided not to wait.
"We're extremely confident based on the response we've had," says Dutton. "We're taking advantage of a tremendous opportunity, bringing to market something you can't get anywhere else. There is only one Toronto International Film Festival, and it's here."
Arts-minded condo buyers with deep pockets will have to choose between Festival Tower and two other projects in the works that seek to fulfill the wishes of those who want major cultural institutions as part of their environment.
A key element of the Hummingbird Centre's ambitious plan to renew and re-invent itself is Libeskind's startling tower, which looks like a piece of sculpture in the shape of the map of Italy – and is integrated with a box at its base meant to house expanded cultural activities, linked to the original 1960 theatre designed by Peter Dickinson. (Construction won't begin until mid-2008, but the sales office is about to open.)
Museum House, a modern 19-storey condo tower to be built on the north side of Bloor St. W. across from Philosopher's Walk, has no official connection with a cultural institution, but the name tells you it is making the most of its proximity to Libeskind's Renaissance Crystal expansion of the ROM – visible from many suites.
"Culture is showcased at your feet in the historic architecture of the Royal Ontario Museum, the Royal Conservatory of Music, the University of Toronto, Philosopher's Walk and Queen's Park," promises the marketing brochure for the project, which will replace Pizza Hut midway between the Park Hyatt and Inter-Continental hotels, and bills itself as "the modern Utopia."
Museum House, which offers its penthouse for $10 million, is clearly occupying the turf that was conspicuously left open by the museum. Because of fierce community opposition, William Thorsell, the CEO of the ROM, had to drop his lucrative plan to have a development partner build a highrise tower on the site of the former planetarium adjacent to the museum.
All of these projects are following the lead of the Manhattan condo tower that soars next door to the expanded Museum of Modern Art.
Still to be answered is this question: Is there a limit to the willingness of Torontonians to pay a hefty premium for the privilege of waking up every morning smack in the midst of the city's cultural renaissance?
mknelman@thestar.ca
