Toronto Condo and Real Estate Blog

By Sydnia Yu - Globe and Mail

At a time when fewer industrial buildings are becoming available for authentic loft conversions, Beaverbrook is completing the Printing Factory Lofts in Leslieville. The cornerstone of the project is a two-storey brick structure at Carlaw Avenue and Queen Street East, where Rolph Clark Stone Ltd. once printed textbooks. The hard loft development will include 254 units - some in the old building and the rest in a new structure.

“It’s the only real warehouse loft conversion in the marketplace of this size,” says Brad Lamb of Brad J. Lamb Realty Inc., which is handling the sales and marketing.

Other hard loft conversion projects his agency represents, such as the Garment Factory Lofts next door and Queen City Vinegar Co. Lofts on River Street, have only 150 and 38 units (authentic and new), respectively. “There are no more warehouses to convert,” Mr. Lamb adds. “We’re running out.”

Since the Printing Factory Lofts‘ opening, almost all of the lofts have been sold. “What consumers in Toronto want in a loft is… something different,” Mr. Lamb says. “One of the nice things about this building is that it preserves its history.”

Original features of the building, where Rolph Clark Stone established its printing press in 1913, will be restored throughout, starting with its facade and neo-gothic entrance, which opens to a grand wooden staircase below vaulted ceilings. “It’s extraordinarily ornate, it’s all original … It’s going to be one of the nicest entranceways and lobbies of any loft in Canada,” Mr. Lamb says.

Some of the two-storey lofts in the original building also will feature unique characteristics such as triangular skylights that are more than 24 feet high. “What they provide for is a very unique loft feeling and a unique way of getting light into your apartment,” Mr. Lamb says.

The factory will house the authentic hard lofts, though some of the building’s interior was removed to create a U-shaped, three-storey podium that will feature a new mid-rise glass tower and courtyards in the centre. Stacked townhouses will border the site along Boston Avenue.

The Printing Factory Lofts will range from one-bedrooms to two-bedroom models with dens; many will be live/work spaces. All but two plans include a balcony or terrace.

Units in the main building and tower will have loft features, such as high ceilings with exposed ductwork, concrete floors and columns.

The open-concept kitchens will have stone countertops, undermounted sinks and four stainless-steel appliances. All units include laundry machines.

Parking is $20,000 and lockers $3,500. Residents will have access to a meeting room and multipurpose area with a bar and kitchen.

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Contact the Jeffrey Team for more information - 416-388-1960

Corktown was originally settled by working class immigrants in the early 1800’s. Many of these families came from the County of Cork in Ireland, which explains how this neighbourhood became known as Corktown.

Most Corktown residents found employment at one of the local breweries or brickyards. These families were very poor and could not afford the lofty pew rents at nearby St. James Cathedral. This led to the building of their own “Little Trinity Church” in 1843. Little Trinity Church is still standing today at 417 King Street East.

The Trinity Schoolhouse on Trinity Street, just south of Little Trinity Church was built in 1848. This was Toronto’s first ‘free school’. Its benefactor was Enoch Turner, a prominent Corktown brewer, and one of Toronto’s great philanthropists.

A century and a half later children and adults are still being educated in the Trinity Schoolhouse, which is now run as a museum designed to replicate a mid-nineteenth century classroom.

Corktown is one of the more affordable downtown Toronto neighbourhoods. It has recently become popular with young professionals, who find this location extremely convenient to Toronto’s downtown business and entertainment districts.

New and more relaxed zoning bylaws in the Corktown district have resulted in the speedy conversion of many of Corktown’s commercial buildings into live/work studios, lofts and professional offices, all of which has helped to revitalize the entire neighbourhood.

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Contact the Jeffrey Team for more information - 416-388-1960

The land on which the St. Lawrence neighbourhood is built was originally part of the shoreline of Lake Ontario. Immediately to the north of here, above Front Street, was the Town of York, the forerunner to the City of Toronto.

The site of the present day St. Lawrence neighbourhood was created from landfill in the early 1800’s. It was originally intended to serve as a public promenade with a grand Esplanade along the waterfront. However the city turned the land over to the railways, which in turn attracted industry to the St. Lawrence area.

By the early 1900’s, St. Lawrence had become one of Toronto’s most prominent industrial centres. It remained a vital industrial area until the late 1940’s, when Toronto’s industrial base began moving outside of the city.

Consequently, St. Lawrence went into a period of decline which lasted until the 1970’s, when Toronto politicians made the decision to create the present day St. Lawrence neighbourhood.

Planned and developed by the City of Toronto in the 1970’s as a mixed use housing development, the St.Lawrence neighbourhood has been critically acclaimed as a major success story in urban planning. It has become a model for the design and planning of new neighbourhoods across North America.

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Contact the Jeffrey Team for more information - 416-388-1960