HOME February 22, 2012 The Magazine | Digital Edition | Subscribe | Newsletters
Advertisement
The comprehensive index of every blog post, magazine story and restaurant review that appears on Torontolife.com
ADDRESS: 1287 Birchview Drive
NEIGHBOURHOOD: Lorne Park, Mississauga
AGENT: Richard F. Vieira, RE/MAX Realty Enterprises Inc., Brokerage
PRICE: $2,699,000
THE PLACE: A dominating presence on an otherwise quiet street dotted with traditional family homes, this glass, wood and stone structure isn’t what you would expect to find in trendy Lorne Park.
Read the rest of this entry »
ADDRESS: 80 Crescent Road, Unit 3
NEIGHBOURHOOD: Rosedale-Moore Park
AGENT: Eleanor Bohm and Evan Sage, Sage Real Estate Limited
PRICE: $983,000
THE PLACE: A two-bedroom penthouse in a South Rosedale mansion that recently went condo. Each floor in the house is now a separate unit, and there are plans for a green roof and other landscaping flourishes around the property.
Read the rest of this entry »
Doug Ford and Denzil Minnan-Wong are having a bit of a tiff over whether or not Build Toronto executives should make lots of money or lots and lots of money. Last year, the city-owned real estate company paid out six-figure bonuses to its corporate brass on top of the six-figure salaries they already pull in. There have been grumblings about Build execs’ pay outs before, but the organization isn’t funded by taxpayer dollars so there’s no need to call the mayor on this one. Besides Councillor Ford says the big-time bonuses are the cost of doing business with some of the city’s best and brightest. Minnan-Wong, a fiscal conservative and dedicated member of Team Ford himself, however, isn’t convinced. He counters bringing in windfall profits by selling land for residential development in the current real estate climate isn’t exactly a challenging undertaking. Read the entire story [Toronto Star] »
(Images: Christopher Drost)
ADDRESS: 50 Elm Avenue
NEIGHBOURHOOD: Rosedale-Moore Park
AGENT: James Warren, Royal LePage, Johnston and Daniel Division, Brokerage
PRICE: $4,995,000
THE PLACE: A historic gated Victorian home—with an actual turret—in the heart of Rosedale.
Read the rest of this entry »
An income of $196,000 places you in the country’s top one per cent of earners. But does it make you wealthy?
The Western world has become chastened and frugal. The reasons are many: corporations crouched in fear of another, much worse recession; penniless governments a-toppling; and Europe, for the foreseeable future, mired in a debt debacle. But you wouldn’t know it from life in Toronto, where a luxury condo opens its doors every week and we queue for hunks of exotic chocolate at the new Maple Leaf Gardens Loblaws. We’re bouncing along in a prosperity bubble.
Read the rest of Jonathan Kay’s essay » Read the rest of this entry »
Read profiles of five Toronto households and how they spend their money »
The greenhouse at Allan Gardens (Image: Diego Torres Silvestre)
An anti-development fight is in its early stages over a property near Allan Gardens, where a proposed 50-storey condo could cast a shadow—literally—over the park. According to the Toronto Star, city planning staff object to Duration Investments’ plans for a 590-unit condominium on Jarvis south of Carlton Street, because it would block sunlight from the park’s 16,000 square feet of greenhouses and centuries-old trees. For the 156.6-metre building to move ahead, developers would have to convince the city to bend zoning rules capping building height at 12 metres. However, they likely won’t have the support of area councillor Kristyn Wong-Tam, who called the proposal “far too aggressive for that site.” We suggest Duration sidestep the debate and build a ridiculously cool and futuristic building that casts no shadow at all instead. Just sayin’. Read the entire story [Toronto Star] »
ADDRESS: 500 Sherbourne Street West, Unit 213
NEIGHBOURHOOD: North St. Jamestown
AGENT: Sofie Taskas-Kehdi and Ian Patterson, Coldwell Banker Case Realty
PRICE: $494,000
THE PLACE: A two-level loft in the podium of the newly built 500 Condos and Lofts. There’s a shared terrace on the roof, plus an in-house fitness centre, yoga studio, sauna and theatre room.
Read the rest of this entry »
ADDRESS: 138 Bedford Road
NEIGHBOURHOOD: The Annex
AGENT: Barry Smith, Chestnut Park Real Estate Limited, Brokerage
PRICE: $4,450,000
THE PLACE: Bringing a little of the 8th Arrondissement to the heart of the Annex, this Parisian-inspired townhome embodies European luxury with inlaid-pattern marble floors, traditional custom millwork, plaster cornice mouldings and fireplaces in nearly every principal room (many of them are even wood-burning).
Read the rest of this entry »
ADDRESS: 380 Macpherson Avenue, Penthouse 614
NEIGHBOURHOOD: Casa Loma
AGENT: Robert Greenberg and Andre Kutyan, Harvey Kalles Real Estate Ltd.
PRICE: $1,069,000
THE PLACE: A penthouse in the Madison Avenue Lofts, a six-storey structure that combines elements of industrial and Art Deco design. The building stored wire bundles for Toronto Hydro in a previous life, and though converted lofts often fall short on amenities, this building is stocked with an exercise facility, a sauna, a theatre and a meeting room.
Read the rest of this entry »
According to a nifty chart over at the National Post that compares the city’s new crop of super-luxe hotel-slash-condo-towers—the Trump tower, the Ritz-Carlton, the Four Seasons and the Shangri-La—it’s a tight race. While the Shangri-La earns points for scoring two Momofuku restaurants by New York chef David Chang, the Ritz-Carlton has high-definition televisions in the bathroom mirrors. Then again, a penthouse at the Four Seasons went for $28 million, more than twice the price of any suite in the other buildings. For our part, though, we give the prize to the Trump tower: as the tallest of the lot, it’ll have the largest impact on our city’s skyline. Trust the Donald to recognize that size matters. Read the entire story [National Post] »
With confusion already rife about whether or not Canada’s housing market is in a bubble, Bank of Montreal economists have further muddied the debate with a competing (and equally vague) comparison. In a special report, they suggest the housing market is actually more like a balloon, explaining that “while bubbles always burst, a balloon often deflates slowly in the absence of a ‘pin’ ” (we gather a “pin” would be an event like a spike in interest rates, a severe recession or stalled foreign investment). Switching gears, they add that even Toronto’s hot condo market will likely “cool” rather than “correct.” As far as we can tell, that’s good news. Though we think the banking folks could probably stand to drop the metaphors. They’re confusing us. Read the entire story [Globe and Mail] »
ADDRESS: 17 Lauderdale Drive
NEIGHBOURHOOD: St. Andrew–Windfields
AGENT: Barbara Banks, Harvey Kalles Real Estate Ltd., Brokerage
PRICE: $2,998,000
THE PLACE: A suburban five-bedroom that’s plain-Jane on the outside, swanky and sophisticated on the inside—with a two-storey open-concept living room, hardwood floors, and a floating glass-railed staircase.
Apparently, the heat of Toronto’s condo market doesn’t extend to luxury penthouses (those one-per-centers must be chilly up there)—nearly a fifth of the 161 high-end condos at the Ritz-Carlton Hotel and Residences have languished on the market for months, and some have even seen their prices slashed, the Toronto Star reports. While the developer is still trying to flog 12 units at $1,100 per square foot, a recently sold two-bedroom condo on the 28th floor was listed at about $825 per square foot. It all makes us wonder if a glut of luxury suites is ahead, with the Trump International tower opening January 31 and the Living Shangri-La and Four Seasons residences due later in the year. Read the entire story [Moneyville] »
ADDRESS: 49 Wellington Street East
NEIGHBOURHOOD: Church-Yonge Corridor
AGENT: Cushman and Wakefield
PRICE: $64 gross rent per square foot
THE PLACE: Stained glass windows, sumptuous hardwood floors, ominous vaults and the city’s first manually operated Otis elevator: the nearby bank towers seem so vanilla next to this historic red-brick building. Every space is rich with architectural detail, but each floor is somewhat unique: the first level, for example, offers fireplaces in nearly every office, while the fifth floor has gorgeous exposed rafters and a stunning view of St. Lawrence Market.
ADDRESS: 1 King St. W., Unit 4901
NEIGHBOURHOOD: Bay Street Corridor
AGENT: Nadine Robbins
PRICE: $2,495,000
THE PLACE: A three-level penthouse in the One King West Hotel and Residence, a 51-storey, 29-foot-wide tower that’s been aptly nicknamed the Sliver.
Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement
© 2012. All Rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or in part strictly prohibited. Toronto Life is a registered trademark of Toronto Life Publishing Company Limited
Follow Toronto Life on Twitter, Facebook and via RSS