We have just about run out of parking lots on which to build gargantuan condominiums, but that doesn’t mean that the condominium and construction boom is going to stop!
Those people with foresight, patience, and deep pockets, who can bide their time and buy up smaller pieces of land to assemble them into one larger parcel, are going to represent the future of development in our city.
150 and 155 Redpath Avenue are two projects in the Yonge/Eglinton area that are the direct result of a land assembly. Have a look…
Geez, sorry for the poor audio, and my faint, raspy voice. I’m still trying to kick this cold…
But the projects at 150 and 155 Redpath Avenue are, in my opinion, the future of development in Toronto.
HERE is the B.N.N. interview with Barry Fenton, the president of Lanterra Developments, where he talks about how there is no land left in Toronto for developers to purchase, and on which to build condos. He talked about submitting an offer for $330 Million for a land assembly – an office tower, and 800,000 square feet of residential, and getting outbid.
And of course, HERE is one of my favourite pieces on blogTO with photos from the CBC archives, called, “Remember when Toronto was a city of parking lots?” It’s crazy to see these overhead shots, with one building surrounded by six parking lots.
But times have changed, and land is scarce.
The parking lots are gone, and most of the land assemblies with residential are gone too. The next step is for developers to buy mid-rise buildings, whether office space or residential, and construct towers three times the size.
Condo buyers often look out the window of the unit they’re considering purchasing to see if there are any parking lots outside, which would one day become a condo, and obstruct the view. But nowadays, you can’t be sure that the 14-storey office building outside isn’t going to be bought, torn down, and replaced with a 75-storey tower.
This is how our city is going to be developed moving forward.
Appraiser
at 8:09 am
The “Manhattanization” of Toronto continues unabated.
Jeremy
at 12:12 pm
Manhattan is an Island.
Boris
at 1:53 pm
We can strive for that too.
Chris
at 9:40 am
the myth of Toronto “Manhattanization” continues unabated – through you…. Manhattan has 7x the population density of Toronto….
http://www.urbanone.com/is-your-city-manhattanizing-charts
“Is your city Manhattanizing? Probably not within the next few hundred years.” – they mention Toronto actually….
jeff316
at 10:17 am
The only thing lamer than people banging the “Manhattanization” drum is the people who go out of their way to post this article, over and over, even though they fully understand that when people reference “Manhattanization” they’re really just using it as lazy short-hand for identifying the trend of increasingly dense urban development in cities that have traditionally not been used to this kind of development. The point is not that Manhattan has seven times Toronto’s density. But you know that. Yawn.
Chris
at 4:39 pm
Sorry to make you yawn. “Over-and-over” is a bit of an exaggeration – but I understand your frustration with not wanting to revisit ideas that have already been explored. I think that when people use the “Manhattanizing” term, they are more often than not attempting to correlate high real estate values in Manhattan with real estate values in the city they’re comparing it to (in this case Toronto). Using the term in a blog posting where Larry Fenton is referenced predicting the condos he builds and sells here will increase in value 30-40 percent over the next 3-4 years – it seems related to this interpretation of the term. If it’s simply a “lazy short-hand” for “increasingly dense urban development” then one would probably use a term with less spin like “developing”. Spin doesn’t help any conversation – it’s not really designed to.
Manhattan is pretty dense – and this is exacerbated by their lack of tall buildings outside of downtown and midtown: https://nyoobserver.files.wordpress.com/2012/01/downtown_midtown_skyline.png
Toronto of course is developing – what else would happen in a decade where money has been cheap to borrow and so easily available: http://news.nationalpost.com/news/canada/toronto-skylines-absolute-transformation-captured-by-two-photos-taken-13-years-apart , but to call that process “Manhattanizing” seems misleading – there are fundamental differences between the two cities that will never be bridged in our lifetimes…. You can tell that just by looking at the photos….
Jeremy
at 6:10 pm
It’s just lame to compare Toronto to Manhattan. We aren’t Manhattan. What it people in Barrie started talking about the “Toronotization of Barrie”. That would be equally pathetic.
Appraiser
at 8:10 pm
@ Jeremy:
There is nothing more lamentable than the over-used term “lame”. It’s just so well…lame.
Is Barrie the largest city in Canada? Is Barrie the financial capital of Canada? Does Barrie have the most sky-scrapers and densest population in Canada?
Are you comparing Barrie to Owen Sound? Idiot.
Appraiser
at 9:09 am
Speaking of foreign ownership (?). Here’s the latest stats for 2015, from the U.S. according to the National Association of Realtors (NAR):
Highlights include:
4% of sales in the U.S. in 2015 were to foreigners, representing 8% of total dollar volume.
Five countries accounted for 51 percent of purchases by foreigners: Canada, China, Mexico, India, and the United Kingdom.
Four states had 50 percent of international sales: Florida, California, Texas, and Arizona.
http://www.realtor.org/reports/profile-of-international-home-buying-activity
Chris
at 9:46 am
“For some real estate investing just got a lot more complicated. With NAR busted for inaccurate housing statistics who should investors trust?
…the truth is that investors shouldn’t rely on any data or statistics being 100% accurate. Sadly all statistics can be twisted or interpreted in favor of those releasing them or they can just be based on poor data or faulty calculations.”
http://www.fortunebuilders.com/which-housing-statistics-can-you-trust-now/
Appraiser
at 9:38 am
StatsCan jobs numbers are out this morning:
Employment in Alberta may suck, but on the other hand…
“For a second month in a row, Ontario was the lone province with employment growth, up 20,000 in January. However, the unemployment rate was unchanged at 6.7% as more people participated in the labour market. In the 12 months to January, employment in the province increased by 100,000 (+1.5%).”
Assuming that the majority of new jobs are in the greater golden horseshoe, the data tends to support continued upward pressure on real estate prices in the GTA, which adds credence to David’s theory on Land Assembly and future development in T.O.
http://www.statcan.gc.ca/daily-quotidien/160205/dq160205a-eng.htm
jeff316
at 10:18 am
Hey Appraiser – you’re killing a forum that has been such a great source of real estate discussion. Calm down and use your discretion.
Appraiser
at 10:23 am
Hey jeff316 – aside from banal criticism, what have you added to the discussion?
Talk about lack of discretion.
Jeremy
at 11:01 am
Appraiser- you really do add nothing to this forum.
Other people like Jeff316 I will sometimes agree with, sometimes disagree with, but I generally like to hear what his opinion is.
You on the other hand, just regurgitate positive real estate stats without adding any real insight, and when confronted with a different opinion resort to name calling.
Squidward
at 10:28 pm
Hey David…The photos are actually from the City of Toronto Archives, not the CBC. And there’s plenty more where those came from! Check out this real estate focused set on Flickr….
https://m.flickr.com/#/photos/torontohistory/sets/72157646545197546/
Sonipat
at 6:45 am
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