Wait, we are talking about real estate, right?

I often just assume that everybody knows everything about real estate, since it is, and has been, the hot topic now for quite some time.

Plus, with all the real estate related shows on TV (my Wednesday night consists of dinner for one, a bottle of Shiraz, and HGTV!), the “buzz-words” are now simply common knowledge.

Here is a more in-depth look at the differences between loft styles in Toronto…

This photo above is of a unit at 90 Sumach Street, aka The Brewery Lofts.

When you think “loft,” is this what you think of?  Polished concrete floors, exposed duct-work, concrete pillars, and oh yeah—the 16-foot ceilings?

Perhaps I’ve told this story to death already, but six months after I purchased my unit in pre-construction at the West Side Lofts, they called me to let me know that the ceiling height was being reduced from 10-ft to 8-ft.  I scoffed, threatened legal troubles, and eventually order was restored.  But the point is: when did ten-foot ceilings become acceptable by “loft” standard, let alone eight-foot?

So many condominium developments these days are pawning off average condo units as “lofts” and essentially coercing the public into believing they have purchased an authentic loft.

But perhaps the problem is that no such definition exists!

Originally, a “loft” was thought to be a conversion from an old commercial or industrial space.  The ceilings in these buildings are much higher and gave the unit an overpowering sense of space, thus the term “loft.”

Nowadays, lofts aren’t being converted, but rather, constructed.

When getting an education in Toronto lofts, step one is to differentiate between “hard lofts” and “soft lofts.”

HARD LOFTS:

A hard loft is a conversion of a former non-residential-use building, often commercial or industrial, examples of which are an old office building, manufacturing facility, factory, or warehouse.  Buildings constructed for commercial use have always had much higher building standards than those built for residential use, thus the construction is higher quality.

The main difference with hard lofts is with respect to the features, which you simply would not find in a regular condominium, or a soft loft.  Since a hard loft is converted from an existing building, they may contain existing building materials also not found in regular condos such as exposed brick work and original wooden posts, beams, and even floors.  Red brick walls are usually found on the outside of a house, not on the inside of a condo!  But that’s what makes this feature so rare, and popular for anybody looking for something “different.”  Several units at The Chocolate Lofts contain original yellow brick, which is also quite rare.  The wooden beams are also a unique feature as wooden posts, pillars, and beams were quite common in earlier construction.

(Chocolate Lofts kept the original yellow brick and modernized the rest of the unit around it)

When you hear the term “original hardwood flooring,” you assume it refers to the first hardwood installed in a house or a condo, but rarely do you assume it might mean the original hardwood from when a building was constructed a hundred years ago!  Some lofts contain hardwood flooring dating back to the 19th century when the planks were thicker, much wider, and were put in place with heavy steel nails rather than tongue-and-groove planks and glue.  In fact, there is a huge marketplace for reclaimed hardwood found in old factories and timber-framed barns which has been known in some cases to sell for as much as $1000 per square foot!

(Century-old hardwood floor gives this house an antique look)

But the most important and most popular and authentic feature of a hard loft is the ceiling height.  I’ve seen lofts with ceilings upwards of twenty feet.  But you’d better ensure your heat is included in your condominium maintenance fees, because obviously it isn’t cheap to heat a room with twenty foot ceilings!  People want high ceilings because it gives a unit the illusion of space.  A 500 square foot unit with 14-foot ceilings will feel much larger than a 600 square foot unit with 8-foot ceilings, guaranteed.  Remember when your mother said “Don’t swing that baseball bat in the house?”  Well, with an original hard loft, you may as well construct a golf-net to hit PRO-V1’s into!

(14-ft ceilings give this loft volumes of natural light!)

The underlying theme to a loft stresses open concept.  The term “open concept” is so over-used in real estate, but its not for lack of popularity!  In Leaside, where I grew up, all the houses which were built in the 1940’s had a long wall dividing the living/dining room on the right of the house from the foyer/hallway/kitchen on the left.  Walk into an original Leaside house these days, and even your four year old daughter will tell you “Mommy, this space needs to be opened up!”  The idea behind lofts is essentially the one-big-room theory, where even the bedroom isn’t really a separate room, as the wall that separates the living room and bedroom is only eight feet, where the ceiling height is fourteen.

(The living space is separated from the bedroom by that “short” beige wall at the back)

Hard lofts have their both their critics and their criticisms, but they remain very popular and aren’t exactly in high supply.  A true hard loft should be converted from an existing building, and as you can see from all the cranes and construction sites across the city, most condos are built from the ground up.  Here is a short-list of authentic hard lofts in Toronto, which is my no means complete:

• The Chocolate Lofts @ 955 Queen Street W
• The Candy Factory Lofts @ 993 Queen Street W
• The Brewery Lofts @ 90 Sumach Street
• Merchandise Lofts @ 155 Dalhousie Street
• Broadview Lofts @ 68 Broadview Ave
• Massey Harris Lofts @ 915 Queen Street West
• Gotham Lofts @ 781 Queen Street West
• Imperial Lofts @ 90 Sherbourne Street
• The Knitting Mill @ 426 Queen Street E

(SOFT LOFTS to come in “Part II” on Tuesday morning)