G Connect with us: @globeandmail facebook.com/theglobeandmail EDITOR: D’ARCY McGOVERN ..................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... Globe Real Estate FRIDAY, OCTOBER 28, 2016 SECTION G ..................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... STREETSCAPES Mark Garner wants to find a home for Toronto’s vanishing neon heritage PAGE 11 AMENITIES THAT WORK Toronto’s high-rise landscape is littered with gimmicky and neglected public spaces that residents don’t use and often resent. Some owners are speaking up PAGE 4 Jasmine Artis-Longhurst stands in one of her building’s libraries, built after consultations with residents. CHRISTOPHER KATSAROV FOR THE GLOBE AND MAIL
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Connect with us: @globeandmail facebook.com/theglobeandmail EDITOR: D’ARCY McGOVERN
STREETSCAPES Mark Garner wants to find a home for Toronto’s vanishing neon heritage PAGE 11
AMENITIES THAT WORK
Toronto’s high-rise landscape is littered with gimmicky and neglected public spaces that residents don’tuse and often resent. Some owners are speaking up PAGE 4
Jasmine Artis-Longhurst stands in one of her building’s libraries, built after consultations with residents. CHRISTOPHER KATSAROV FOR THE GLOBE AND MAIL
G4 G T H E G LO B E A N D M A I L • F R I DAY , O C T O B E R 2 8 , 2 0 1 6• GLOBE REAL ESTATE
When home buyers visit thesales centre for a three-
phase Vaughan, Ont. condo pro-ject known as Cosmo III, they’llencounter the usual buffet ofshared facilities – pool, exerciseroom, party spaces, patios andso on – as well as one particularproposed feature that seems abit, well, out of this world.
Marco Filice, senior vice-presi-dent with Liberty Development,says the firm spent a year figur-ing out how to design an ob-servatory and fit it out with aserious telescope. The firm’s alsotalking to local astronomersabout creating programming forthe star-gazers who will live inthe 36-storey, 400 unit building.Response, Mr. Filice claims, hasbeen enthusiastic. “I am soastonished by the number ofpeople who say, ‘I’ve never seenanyone put a telescope on thetop of a building.’ ”
So, will the Cosmos observato-ry become a well-used amenity,or is it merely a marketing ploy,meant to differentiate Liberty’sproject from similar ones near-by?
While Mr. Filice insists the ob-servatory will foster a sense ofcommunity among astronomy-minded residents, it’s difficult toimagine that the 36th-storeyspace, five or ten years hence,will come close to fulfilling itsdestiny.
Indeed, the city’s high-riselandscape has plenty of towersfitted out with neglected or gim-micky amenities that residentsno longer use but nonethelessactively resent because of theirimpact on maintenance fees.
“A lot of these spaces areheavily underused and unneces-sary,” says Igor Dragovic, a 29-year-old civil servant who haslived in three condos over thepast decade. He has watchedfeatures such as squash courtsand hot tubs in his currentbuilding languish. In anothercondo, the board moved toremove an unwanted but priceyhot tub by filling it in to createa low-maintenance Japanese gar-den.
Even developers acknowledgethe problem. “Residents don’tactually use those spaces,” ob-serves Shamez Virani, presidentof CentreCourt Developments.
It’s not true in every complex.A former resident of The Sum-mit, at King and Bathurst,described her building’s “well-used” amenities as “one-stopshopping.”
Robyn Hughes, who lives in anolder midtown building withfewer than 70 units, cites abasement workshop with a largeindustrial fan, workbenches andtool storage space. “It works in asmall building where people arerespectful of the space anddon't clutter it up,” says Ms.Hughes, who uses the workshopto fix her bicycle.
The question for developersand buyers, however, is how oreven whether to preprogram the
shared spaces that such projectsare required to have. Mr. Dra-govic wonders why more build-ers don’t follow the approachhe’s heard about from friendswho live in condos in some Eur-
opean cities. There, developersbuild “bare bones” apartmentcomplexes, with lower fees.“Everyone seems to get alongfine.”
Jasmine Artis-Longhurst, a
social-services manager,describes another approach usedby the Junction condo she andher husband acquired in 2011.One of the first owners and adirector of the condo corpora-tion, Ms. Artis-Longhurst saysthe developers of the 643-unitHeintzman Place – a joint ven-ture by Deltera and Options forHomes – hadn’t programmedthe shared space before theoccupants moved in.
“I wanted a building that hadsome amenities but not thehuge swimming pool and saunaand all those things that driveup maintenance fees.”
Early on, the board distributedsurveys soliciting input fromresidents about what sorts ofshared spaces they thoughtthey’d need and use.
When the survey came back,the residents asked for a chil-dren’s play space, two libraries,a dog-washing room and a spacefor yoga, as well as more typicalfeatures such as a patio. “Weasked the people in the buildinghow they wanted to use thespaces,” says Ms. Artis-Long-hurst. “I know that’s very rare.”
Most developers still prefer tomarket buildings using specificamenities as a come-on anddon’t worry about whetherthey’ll end up being used.
Mr. Virani, who is building a572-unit tower at Church andCarlton, opted for another solu-tion to this dilemma. Instead oftrying to provide something foreveryone, his firm has doubled-
down on two demographicallyfriendly ideas: a 7,000-square-foot fitness room several timeslarger than the typically smalland spare condo gym, as well asa 4,000 square-foot shared com-munal workspace, not unlikevenues such as We Work, Quan-tum Coffee or just about anyStarbucks in the city. (He’s alsopromising access to a pair ofshared Teslas.)
Those choices, he says, arelinked directly to the way thebuilding is being marketed: tohealth conscious young profes-sionals used to open conceptoffices and flex hours. For afocus group, Mr. Virani lookedno further than his own office.“We really looked at ourselvesand said, what would we wantin our building?”
What’s less clear is whetherthese features will change thehabits of buyers who alreadybelong to a gym or have theirown established work routines.
For those who are skepticalabout a developer’s ability toanticipate the tastes of futureowners, Ms. Artis-Longhurstpoints to another benefit ofleaving those choices up tobuyers. After five years, 85 percent of the Heintzman’s resi-dents are owners, and marketvalues have risen over 25 percent. “It’s a community,” shesays. “In other condos, [resi-dents] don’t even know theirneighbours.”. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Special to The Globe and Mail
DEVELOPMENT
Does condo gimmickry work?New buildings often come with interesting amenities, but they may be more marketing ploy than useful feature
Jasmine Artis-Longhurst, a social-services manager who lives at Heintzman Place, says her condo board asked residents what shared amenities theywanted in their building. That survey resulted in useful spaces, such as the children’s play space seen here Tuesday. CHRISTOPHER KATSAROV FOR THE GLOBE AND MAIL
The Cosmos III condo project in Vaughan, Ont., will have anastronomyobservatory for residents. LIBERTY DEVELOPMENT
Mattamy Homes and BiddingtonHomes will provide a vast collec-tion of suites to satisfy differentdemographics, but a unifyingfeature will be components toshowcase the lake and city sky-line.
The entire 53-storey tower,called Vita on the Lake, willessentially be wrapped in glass,so windows and balconies willspan the perimeters of its one-to two-bedroom-plus-den suites.
“We certainly made sure wehad a good selection of designs,so we’ve got something for
everyone,” vice-president ofhigh-rise sales and marketingLinda Robinson says. “We’ve gotwraparound balconies and everysuite has a balcony, which makessense when you’re selling on thelake and you want to have thosebeautiful views.”
The 489-unit high-rise – thefirst of two on site – will belocated on the west end ofAnnie Craig Drive, which bisectsthe master-planned communitybetween Lake Shore Boulevardand Marine Parade Drive inMimico.
“There’s not a lot left on thewaterfront, so if people want tolive in a new condominium onthe waterfront, then this is theiropportunity,” Ms. Robinsonstates.
“So there is some sense ofurgency being created here.”
The competition of sister tow-ers has spurred a revitalizationaround the development, whichabuts Humber Bay Park andMartin Goodman Trail.
“We’ve got transportation andlocal restaurants just minutesdown the street, so it has a moreneighbourhood feel as opposedto back in the beginning whenthere wasn’t anything,” Ms. Rob-inson notes. “Now, there’s alsogreen spaces and parks thathave been created as part of themaster-planned community.”
Radiating further outward areschools, hospital, supermarketsand shops, including many onthe Queensway.
“You can just hop on the QEWand the Gardiner Expressway isright there, so it’s very easy toaccess,” Ms. Robinson adds.
Graziani + Corazza ArchitectsInc. – the same firm behind pre-vious phases – will design thecontemporary façade of thishigh-rise and U31 will fashionthe two-storey lobby, fitness andsocial facilities, as well as indoorand outdoor lounges.
“The building is very clean andsleek looking, so it stands outfrom the busyness and crazinessof other buildings, so we’ve gonefor simplicity on this one,” Mr.Robinson states.
“We have a beautiful fifth floor,outdoor salt-water pool, which ispretty huge, a full-sized gym,party room and a Muskokaroom, where you can shoot agame of pool or sit and relax.”
Individual units will exhibitnatural materials, such as woodand marble, as well as sixappliances and a locker. High-lights in select plans will includewine fridges, walk-in closets andlaundry rooms, plus parking.
