urbandreamer is not familiar with the area either. Neither does he perceive many gradations between The Bridle Path and the third world. The area may not be the best in the city, but to use the term ghetto to describe it is ignorant, somewhat repugnant, and totally callous.

I think even that is understating it - yes the strip of retail here on Kingston rd is extremely tired looking, but the residential areas in this neighborhood (as well as the neighborhoods to the east and west) are chock full of $1M+ detached properties.
 
I was going to take some pix of the sales centre, but never got around to it. The wife just delivered a kid, and everything else fell by the wayside. :) So the three of us all are going to be living here just a stone's throw from The Bluffs development site for as long as we can foresee. However, we live on the south side, near the lake. As mentioned, $1+ million detached properties are very common here. In fact, there is a teardown nearby up for sale now on the lake on Fishleigh, listed at $900000: E2514038

Personally I think $900000 represents an overpriced listing, but nonetheless I think it's quite possible for them to get 90%+ of asking price, which would mean well over $800000... for a teardown.

That said, I understand where some of the negative comments come from. Certain pockets relatively close by aren't the nicest, esp. north of Kingston Road. But then again, that's true of a lot of neighbourhoods. It's also true the shopping on that strip isn't great, but I suspect a big development like that would bring better shops. In the meantime I do more shopping near my workplace, as well as at Gerrard/Victoria Park, further east on Kingston Road, and sometimes at The Beach (which is a 5 minute drive away). I use the No Frills on the strip there just for basic stuff when I'm in a rush. I do use the Shoppers frequently, as that's a standard nice Shoppers (and better than a bunch of them on Danforth).

The other issue one should be aware of though is transit. It's just bus to the area, connecting to street car at Vic Park, or else subway at Kennedy station or else Go at Scarborough Station. I'd like to see bus Rapid Transit introduced on Kingston Road, and the study of the area came up with a final design that includes provision for BRT, but according to the TTC, BRT (or LRT) on Kingston Road is currently quite low on their priority list. So low as to not really be a consideration at this point, because the density is too low. As density increases with projects like this, that may change though.

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BTW, here are the prices for their units: http://thebluffs.ca/prices-and-plans.php

$370000 for 3 bedrooms + den over 955 square feet, with lake view, and one parking spot and one storage unit. Holy crap that's cheap! Esp. so considering it includes 9' ceilings, marble countertops, and stainless steel appliances. It also includes FTTS with cat 5 wiring of the units. If that means what I think it means, it could mean 100 Mbps DSL sort of like City Place, depending on the internet provider. (For my detached home, I'm on FTTN --> DSL, which gives me max 25 Mbps download speeds currently.) The other thing I find attractive: NO pool. NO squash courts. Etc. So, NO need to pay for them in condo fees.
 
According to the local free newsletter, Bluffs Monitor, approximately half of the 250 units were sold in the first three weeks of November.
 
The buyers are all locals and investors. Now that the initial tranche has passed, I'd be interested to see if they could sell the rest in a relatively short time.
 
I live in this area and the "eyesore" coffee shop is frequented by a great deal of of the neighborhood residents. It would truly be missed if they bought it and tore it down. Since this picture was taken, the owner has actually done some upgrades to the outside of the building, painting the top section and adding new signs and awnings.

I think the addition of the condos will be an asset to the neighborhood and bring some much needed life into the area.

No tearing down the Coffee Dome. Cliffside needs it. People stop there on their way to work from Peterbourough. Where would I buy my smokes?
 
urbandreamer is not familiar with the area either. Neither does he perceive many gradations between The Bridle Path and the third world. The area may not be the best in the city, but to use the term ghetto to describe it is ignorant, somewhat repugnant, and totally callous.

I admit I was totally ignorant! What a db! :p

Now that I've finally been to this area, I gotta say I love it! It feels very "English" which is nice.:D My favourite area is slightly closer to the Beach, ie Birch Cliff where I could imagine moving to someday (ie South of Kingston Rd) but this area--Cliffcrest has a very suburban Waterloo feel to it (ie 1950s suburban Waterloo which is close to Uptown area.) Would I buy a condo here? No. Buy a SFH which imo is much better value longer term.

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This was posted to YouTube by VHL developments a few months back, but I only saw it today, and thought some of you might appreciate having a look:

Haven on the Bluffs: CGI flyover and tour

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In one of the interior shots of one of the lake view units, they managed to capture a pic of the Loch Ontario Monster, and his mate.

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Apparently female residents will be BBQing on the patio in their bikinis.

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BTW, are propane tanks even allowed on condo patios in Ontario? I thought they needed to be natural gas. Plus I wouldn't be surprised if they decided to forego the patio BBQs even if they were natural gas, since this rooftop patio is a lot lower than many of the condos, which means smoke could get into the units.
 
Thanks for posting! I like these buildings, and I hope they serve as a catalyst for future high quality, midrise developments along that stretch of Kingston Rd. God knows that area needs all the help it can get!
 
New story up on the front page here.

It's been quiet on the forum for a while because we are always obsessed by the latest, newest thing… but I want to see this project happen. While it's not super flashy, (not everything should be), it seems like quite a decent development for Cliffside Village (which has a bit of faded Canadian/American Dream charm), the terraces facing the lake will be well loved, and it brings new retail to the Kingston Road sidewalk. What's not to love?

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I was back in the sales office in August to sign some paperwork on my unit, the sales lady said they were approaching 60% sold. Also said, their new target completion will be spring 2016.
 
New story up on the front page here.

It's been quiet on the forum for a while because we are always obsessed by the latest, newest thing… but I want to see this project happen. While it's not super flashy, (not everything should be), it seems like quite a decent development for Cliffside Village (which has a bit of faded Canadian/American Dream charm), the terraces facing the lake will be well loved, and it brings new retail to the Kingston Road sidewalk. What's not to love?

42

Love this place and hope it spurs more of it - even with the huge amount of artistic license included in that new render. If you really want some nostalgia from the CDN/US dream, stop by the Duckworth's F+C on the north side of the road from this development and check out the photos they have up. They're all aerial shots blown up from the late 40's and early 50's shortly after that entire stretch south of Kingston Rd was converted from a golf course to suburbs. All the trees are tiny and it looks like a b/w Pleasantville - oh and they also have awesome fish and chips.
 
I was back in the sales office in August to sign some paperwork on my unit, the sales lady said they were approaching 60% sold. Also said, their new target completion will be spring 2016.
They really seem to be taking their time. At least it appears to be selling decently though, and have a (soft) target date.

Anyhoo, here is yet another front page article from Urban Toronto on Haven on the Bluffs. I'm kinda surprised there have been several articles now on this project.

http://urbantoronto.ca/news/2013/12/beyond-core-within-budget-haven-bluffs
 
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