Condoland

The market for condos in #Toronto is always going up - until they fall and the evidence hits you on the head. Some predict that 2012 sales will fall 35% from record 2011 sales of 28,190. Mortgage rules were changed in 2012 and the maximum term has been reduced to 25 from 30 years. The other thing that has shrunk is the size of the units which have reduced their average footprint by approximately 100 square feet in the past five years.

Toronto has 134 high rise buildings under construction, higher than Mexico City which is the next highest at 88, and more than New York with 86 and 17 in Chicago.

It is estimated that 40% of investors in the condo market are foreign, while only 30% of buyers are planned end users of the units. Most buyers require capital appreciation to provide a profit with rentals unable to cover their monthly costs. With sales down the downward pressure on prices is a given, scaring off potential investors just as a massive inventory continues to come online in Toronto.

The skyline continues to change with new condos 

It is fun to watch them build the high rises

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Christmas Lights in #Toronto

The holiday season brings out happy displays of bright lights that help to guide Santa to our fair city. The Downtown Yonge BIA has a lot of banner lights crossing Yonge Street welcoming visitors to the heart of the city.

Downtown Yonge Street

Christmas Tree at David Peacut Square

Candy cane CN Tower reflected in the RBC building

Santa says 'Rubbernecking slows everyone down'

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MaRS rising

Construction of the MaRS Discovery District in #Toronto is reflected in the curved facade of the OPG building on University Avenue at College Street. The new building sits on hospital row along the road to the Toronto University. The crane at top left is just the start of floors rising up from the ground.

MaRS will promote innovation and will provide — "people, programs, physical facilities, funding and networks — to ensure that critical innovation happens. We stimulate, identify and harness great ideas, nurture their development and guide the transformation of those ideas into reality. We measure our success through the companies that emerge after receiving help from MaRS."

view from across the street

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This is Paradise in #Toronto

Cameron House gets a makeover with an upside down 'This is Paradise' as well as a straight up 'This is Paradise'. No matter how you look at it, Toronto really is Paradise. See more of the older Cameron House on my post here.

The termites are attacking the building

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@TrumpToronto lavish Bond 007 package

Secret agent James Bond was on her Majesty's service when he refused to check into a cheap dive while under cover as a schoolteacher on sabbatical  instead he went to a fancy hotel and informed the front desk that he was a teacher on sabbatical that had won a lottery. If you have won a lottery you might want to check into the Trump International Hotel & Tower Toronto for an "over the top" Shaken Not Stirred: Bond on Bay package for only $17,007. (Photo at top supplied).

Live the life of James Bond, without the government sanctioned license to kill, and experience the luxury of Canada's tallest residential building at Bay and Adelaide Streets.  The ultra-reasonable package (if you are rich) is the hotel's nod to the upcoming November 8, 2012 opening of Bond's newest film Skyfall and the tiff exhibition "Designing 007: Fifty Years of Bond Style". Tiff is also running the film programme "Shaken Not Stirred: Bond on Film".

The 65 story building that opened early in 2012 and topped with an articulated spire has features like the Quartz Crystal Spa and STOCK Restaurant and destination lounge. This property is part of the Trump Hotel Collection from the celebunaire Donald J Trump and his little Trumplings - Donald Jr, Ivanka and Eric.

Here is what the "Shaken Not Stirred: Bond On Bay" package includes:

- Own Toronto with a two-night stay in a sumptuous Trump Executive 30th Floor Suite, the highest views in the city - including personal Trump Attaché service.
- Access to a Continental Bentley GT for duration of stay.
- Breakfast, lunch and dinner for two with Champagne at STOCK™ Restaurant Bar & Lounge for the duration of the stay.
- Admission for two to the exhibition “Designing 007: Fifty Years of Bond Style” and two movie passes to a Bond film at TIFF Bell Lightbox, as well return limousine service.
- Designer cocktail dress and Hugo Boss tuxedo are yours to keep, with private fitting at The Room, courtesy of The Hudson’s Bay Company.
- Spa experience at Quartz Crystal Spa™ that includes a couples massage, hair and makeup for her and manicure for him.
- Martini "Shaken not Stirred" lesson at Suits Lobby Lounge.
- In-room bespoke chocolate from the Chocolate Lab at STOCK Restaurant Bar & Lounge, as well as complimentary fruit and cigar box.
- Book from Oct. 31, 2012 to Jan. 20, 2013. Promo Code: PKG007. Certain terms and conditions apply.
- Package Cost: $17,007.
For reservations, call (855) 88-TRUMP (87867) or visit www.TrumpTorontoHotel.com.

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Brookfield Place #Toronto 20th Anniversary

Walking through the great hall of the Allen Lambert Galleria in Brookfield Place always brings a smile to my face. The place is just so cool. Plus it is usually home to some fabulous art installations - remember that Nuit Blanche is coming Saturday September 29, 2012. Right now the hall honours itself with a 20-year retrospective (1992 to 2012) that Honours the Past and Celebrates the Future. This event lasts until September 21st.

From 1992 until 2012 "The display showcases some of the highlights of the complex including its historical roots, early architectural plans, awards, achievements and points of interest including how the complex has evolved over the past 20 years."

Photos of the Galleria during construction

Scotiabank Nuit Blanche Toronto is the sleepless night with the sunset to sunrise contemporary art projects rule Toronto. Brookfield Place is located in Zone A (Downtown South)

In 2012 "Brookfield Place will host a sculpture by Saskatoon artist, Alison Norlen. Beacon is a fantastic and carnivalesque skeletal sculpture based on historic lighthouses of the 1800s. Situated within the sprawling steel and glass arcade of the Allen Lambert Galleria, Beacon is a tribute to the once futuristic dream worlds of pleasure palaces and World’s Fairs as well as to the memory of the nearby shoreline long lost beneath the city’s surfaces. Stripped of purpose and relevance like so many of its tarnished predecessors, the 30-foot architecture retains iconic significance, an expressive monument to past grandeur, wonder, and invention, capturing the vaporous zone between past and future."

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Ryerson Image Centre

@RyersonU in #Toronto will open the Ryerson Image Centre (RIC) in the new Image Arts Building on Saturday September 29, 2012. The new addition to the University will be an academic and research facility that will also showcase their artistic and cultural collections with free public exhibitions. RIC sits to the left of the rock garden and pond in the photo above - the floppy guys in Ryerson University colours seem pretty happy to hear about the upcoming opening.

"The Ryerson Image Centre is an international academic facility for teaching, research and exhibitions, but it is also a terrific opportunity to make so many of Ryerson's holdings - amazing images and works of art - accessible to the public," said Sheldon Levy, President of Ryerson University. "We are thrilled to be opening this new gallery in the heart of our campus, in the heart of our city."

The Grand Opening Exhibition will be Archival Dialogues: Reading the Black Star Collection from September 29 to December 16, 2012. New works inspired by the Black Star Collection will be shown by Stephen Andrews, Christina Battle, Marie-Hélène Cousineau, Stan Douglas, Vera Frenkel, Vid Ingelevics, David Rokeby and Michael Snow.

The downtown campus has been expanding rapidly at Yonge and Gould in the past few years as new buildings are added and additional campus satellite locations like the Ted Rogers School of Management in the Eaton Centre are opened.

The former home of Sam the Record Man and the future home of the Student Learning Centre

Construction has really just started on the Yonge Street property just north of Gould Street which will be the Student Learning Centre. Partnering with Loblaws they have completely redone Maple Leaf Gardens with a grocery store and a new sports facility. The new Image Arts building was designed by Diamond Schmitt Architects and features programmable illuminated glass walls and arts-dedicated LED screens. .

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Sharp building in #Toronto Distillery District

The building along Mill Street comes to a sharp point as it hits Parliament Street. So sharp it could cut like a knife. It makes for a scary passage through the brick lanes of the historic, bricky neighbourhood. 

If this building is sharp like a steak knife, the Flatiron Building in the St Lawrence Market area is a little more like a butter knife at its point, a little more rounded and far safer to pass by without being cut.

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