With a maximum of just three residences per floor, each unit at a planned tower at Yonge and St. Clair will have lots of natural light and plenty of wall space.
asserted
unit → have → space
This creates the ideal conditions for something the traditional condo buyer might not consider, but that is top of mind for the target clientele, said Jordan Morassuti, co-founder of Toronto-based developer North Drive.
uncertain
Morassuti → create → Drive
“Most of the buyers are coming from quite large homes in Midtown Toronto,” Morassuti said. “And have art collections and other things that they’ve collected over the course of their lives that they’ll be bringing into their homes here.”
asserted
they → come → homes
The project, dubbed 8 Rosehill, is envisioned as a 52-storey luxury condo building with about 115 units at an average size of just under 2,000 square feet, through a partnership from North Drive, Westdale, Originate and Cameron Stephens.
asserted
project → dub → Drive
It was originally pitched as a more traditional investor-driven condo with more than 500 units of about 500 square feet on average.
asserted
It → pitch → feet
But the builders pivoted when they realized that market had dried up and they are now targeting wealthy downsizers in the surrounding elite neighbourhoods, with prices starting at $1.95 million.
asserted
they → pivot → million
It’s the latest example of the move to luxury as builders attempt to find a way forward now that the market for smaller, cheaper units as an investment product has cooled.
asserted
market → ’ → product
While other developers have turned to rentals, some are sticking with condos but embracing bigger spaces to attract buyers who want to live in their units, but at a price tag that’s out of reach for many.
asserted
that → turn → many
“The investor product, as we knew it, is basically no longer existent or gone for the foreseeable future,” said Steve Cameron, CEO of Cameron Stephens Equity Capital, which purchased the site, zoned for retirement residences at the time, and rezoned it for condos in 2023.
asserted
which → know → 2023
“The market has changed quite drastically since then,” he said.
asserted
he → change → ?
“So the writing was on the wall that we needed to come up with another strategy.”
asserted
we → need → strategy
The team had a lunch across the street with North Drive, which specializes in luxury, and they ended up bringing them on.
asserted
they → have → them
They call it an “intimate tower,” said Morassuti.
asserted
Morassuti → call → it
Designed by architect Richard Wengle, the ideal buyers are people who have raised families in the neighbourhood, and who want to keep their same hairstylist or boutique grocer, while trading a larger detached home for something with less maintenance.
asserted
who → design → maintenance
The units have ravine views and amenities including a sculpture garden and golf simulators.
asserted
units → have → garden
Bulk purchases made up 30 per cent of new condo sales in the second quarter, according to data
Morassuti said they haven’t thought about foreign buyers (the ban on them expires next year and may be lifted), but the location would make it attractive to them.
Many buyers may have a cottage or a place in the U.S., Cameron added.
uncertain
Cameron → make → U.S.
This allows them to lock the door and go without having to worry the way they would about a house.
asserted
they → allow → house
Sean Fleming, executive vice-president and managing director of Cameron Stephens Equity Capital, said they have not started pre-construction sales yet and will need approval from the city for a minor variance.
asserted
they → manage → variance
To move forward with the project they’ll need 70 per cent of units pre-sold, which is typical for the condo industry.
asserted
which → move → industry
Developers looked to maximize profits, selling many to investors to rent out or flip, often before the buildings were even completed, as values soared, particularly during the low-interest rate era of the pandemic.
asserted
values → look → pandemic
Now many can’t sell enough units to move forward with financing, and developments are being cancelled or delayed.
asserted
developments → sell → financing
“That conveyor belt is now shut down,” said Matti Siemiatycki, director of the Infrastructure Institute and professor of geography and planning at the University of Toronto.
asserted
Siemiatycki → shut → Toronto
“So people are looking for other options.
asserted
people → look → options
One of which is selling larger units to more affluent people.
asserted
One → sell → people
Roughly 43 per cent of planned units in Vaughan’s new master-planned downtown are unsold,
There have been a few other recent examples of this.
asserted
cent → plan → this
The Gupta Group recently cut the number of units from 700 to 500 at a planned two-tower luxury development at York Mills.
asserted
Group → cut → Mills
And at 1 Marlborough, a planned 13-storey building near Rosedale and Summerhill, developers are marketing the 58 residences as homes instead of units, with high-end finishes and almost all of them two to three bedrooms.
asserted
developers → market → them
A planned luxury condo called “The Aston Residences” near Yonge and Lawrence, though, is going to the committee of adjustment in October to retool as a rental building, with a mix of units ranging from studios to three bedrooms, according to the materials on the city’s website.
uncertain
condo → call → website
The developer did not respond to a request for comment.
asserted
developer → respond → comment
Siemiatycki said location makes a “huge difference” for luxury builds, and the “market will be brutally transparent” about whether there’s enough demand.
asserted
market → say → builds
Either the units will sell, or they won’t and projects will stall.
asserted
projects → sell → ?
On the other side of the equation, governments are incentivizing shifts to rental through subsidies such as Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp. loans.
asserted
governments → incentivize → loans
Some developers are combining both strategies and advertising luxury rentals, including one at 429 Walmer Rd. in Forest Hill by Stafford and DBS Developments.
asserted
developers → combine → Developments
“There are a bunch of companies who have made it their sort of investment thesis that there’s a group of people who have been priced out of buying, but have the resources to live in a really nice apartment,” Siemiatycki said.
asserted
Siemiatycki → be → apartment
The missing rentals
Jeremy Withers, a housing policy expert, senior researcher and outreach co-ordinator for the research group New Housing Alternatives, said the new generation of rental housing is positive because it provides more stable housing, with less threat of eviction.
But on the other hand, “these units are typically unaffordable to the vast majority of renters and lack rent control.”
What’s still missing, Siemiatycki said, are larger units that are affordable for families, and the kind of things that make communities complete.
“The library and the rec centre and the school.”
asserted
communities → miss → things
There’s some of that happening, he said, pointing to the development at the old Galleria Mall in the west end.
asserted
he → ’ → end
But in general there still aren’t many affordable options, which might make people think twice about staying in Toronto.
uncertain
people → make → Toronto
“People are still questioning whether this is a place they want to put down roots,” he said.
asserted
he → question → roots
The Aporia
