Tag Archives: feature wall
Context King West will be transformative
Ryan Starr – Toronto Star
Context King West represents an innovative approach to urban development that could set a standard for building condos in Toronto’s built-up areas.
The 450-suite condo building — with four fronts and no back — will run 400 feet down the middle of a block bound by Adelaide, King, Portland and Bathurst Sts.
The site was created through the parceling together of two separate properties within a block that’s occupied by old warehouses, offices and a handful of vintage homes.
Context King West rises from 10 storeys along King and Adelaide to nearly double that height in the middle of the site, where the highest portion of the building will be 18 storeys.
“Normally you get a building that has a lot of frontage along the street, but this doesn’t,” notes Context Development president Howard Cohen. “It has about 100 feet on King and 120 feet on Adelaide.”
The project illustrates an important urban design principle, he says. “You put your highest component mid block. That’s the best way to intensify but not detract from the streetscapes. Then you don’t see (the taller portions of the building) from the street.”
The first phase of Context King West, dubbed The Lanes, goes on sale this month. It includes suites on the building’s first 13 floors, which range from 375-square-foot studios to 785-square-foot two-bedroom units. Prices start in the mid-$200,000s.
The condos, designed by Burdifilek, will have nine-foot ceilings and engineered hardwood flooring.
Kitchens come with stone countertops, back-painted glass backsplashes and undermount stainless steel sinks. Bathrooms will have a tiled floor-to-ceiling feature wall.
Context King West’s second phase, The Arches, will include larger upper level suites, many of which will have private terraces and green roofs. There will also be live-work townhouses at the ground-floor level.
The unique design of the building — with varying heights and a facade that moves in and out — means ultimately there will be 87 different varieties of suite types available. “The building changes, therefore the suites have to change,” says Craig Taylor, Context’s director of marketing and design.
Context King West will have 10,000 square feet of amenity space, including a two-storey gym, lounge, multi-purpose room, media room, party room and bar, and a second-floor terrace with barbecues. There will also be a rooftop terrace.
The project will generate considerable interest from local, end-user buyers, Cohen says. “In this location we think there’ll be a strong demand from people who bought a condo in King West a few years ago and want a bigger one, or they own a house in the west end and want to get into a condo.”
“A significant portion of the market that doesn’t want to live or buy in towers,” adds Taylor. “They want to live and buy in more of a midrise project in an established neighbourhood.”
Comprehensive block plan
Context’s team went to considerable lengths to work with the local neighbourhood association and the city on a master plan for the development of the entire block that surrounds Context King West, a strategy that focuses on enhancing the public realm.
To that end, a pair of brick laneways will traverse the Context King West site, leading pedestrians through a courtyard lined with shops, cafés and galleries. The developer is going for a Distillery District vibe.
Red brick arches will frame the storefronts and the two passageways that run through the base of the condo building. The red brick continues up the lower portions of the building, tying it in with the 19th century warehouses that characterize King West.
“We designed the ground floor before we designed anything above that, which was interesting for us,” says David Pontarini of Hariri Pontarini Architects. “We didn’t really start from the top down, or start from an idea of massing. It was about how this thing is going to fit into the neighbourhood.”
The upper parts of Context King West are clad in white precast concrete, with balconies and full-height windows that punch in and out of the exterior, giving the building a dynamic and distinct character.
With the moving facade and a variety of elevations throughout the structure, Context King West appears at first to be a series of five or six different buildings, Pontarini notes. “It’s not a contiguous facade. It’s broken into a series of vertical building forms joined by glass corridors.”
Precedent setting
Cohen thinks Context King West will set a precedent for the development of tricky urban sites such as these, areas where more density is called for but highrise condo towers are almost impossible to build.
“There are lots of old industrial blocks in Toronto that lend themselves to this urban design principle,” Cohen says. “Everybody recognizes that we need more people living in this neighbourhood, but people want to maintain the streetscape. So this is the way to do it.”
Urban planner Ken Greenberg, a long-time King West resident who is serving as a consultant on the project, has called Context King West “transformational.”
“This could really be a model for how development can occur that is more than just a piling up of condos.”
That being said, developing a complex building like this on such an awkward, mid-block site has created a bit of a headache for Cohen and his team. “It’s much easier to do a 40-storey tower, where every floor is the same, a simple straightforward building,” he says.
In the end, though, Context King West will be as large a development as many of those highrise condos and it will deliver just as much density, he points out.
“I realized the other day, looking at the model, that this is actually a tower on its side.”
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Contact the Jeffrey Team for more information – 416-388-1960
Laurin & Natalie Jeffrey are Toronto Realtors with Century 21 Regal Realty.
They did not write these articles, they just reproduce them here for people
who are interested in Toronto real estate. They do not work for any builders.
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Market Wharf fights for ‘every square inch’
Rafael Brusilow – Metro Toronto
Trendy designs often impress with gimmicks, but they also age quickly. That’s why Market Wharf, located near the St. Lawrence Market, demonstrates the power of tasteful modernity instead.
Market Wharf’s director of interior design and marketing Craig Taylor says the goal of the overall design at the development was not to chase trends but to create them.
“We really tried to stay away from flashy, trendy designs and just give our purchasers something that’s simple, elegant and modern. Flashy designs date very easily so we wanted to provide a product that endures with time,” Taylor said.
When it comes to commanding a space, kitchens are king and Market Wharf’s kitchen area shows off a few unique, modern twists with quartz countertops, dark cabinetry with horizontal wood grain, a full-sized stainless steel vent hood over the stove, an undermount sink and a European-style fridge that is tall and sleek instead of the usual chubby food box standard in so many condos.
“One of my pet peeves is short, fat North American fridges. We’ve gone with a European, extra tall, true counter-depth fridge with a full depth gable on both sides. It’s not something you typically see in Toronto — this is just another way for us to up the ante,” Taylor said.
The kitchen floor brightens up the space with large porcelain tiles that can be extended throughout the entire apartment, should the purchaser request it, to expand the look of
the suite, though a hardwood finish is also available.
“Every time you break up the flooring material, it makes the space smaller, the porcelain really opens up the space. You’re always fighting for every square inch downtown, so anything we can do to enlarge the space, we’ll do,” Taylor said.
In the bathroom, elements like an oversize custom frame mirror, undermount sink and wall tiling that extends beyond the shower to take over an entire feature wall create a look that inspires with its attention to detail rather than gimmicky tricks. The cabinetry is identical to that used in the kitchen to add to the unified feel of the suite and project closeness instead of the typical modern detachment.
“We wanted to provide a very modern, clean hotel spa-style bathroom that keeps to a modern warmth but is still elegant,” Taylor said.
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Contact the Jeffrey Team for more information - 416-388-1960
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The Tannery Lofts
East Toronto loft conversion finally complete
By Sydnia Yu – Globe and Mail
Having resurrected a project to convert a century-old tannery into authentic lofts, Urbancorp has finally completed the building. The Tannery Lofts, which was started by another developer, is located at 736 Dundas St. East, just east of River Street near the Don Valley Parkway.
“Rather than people buying from plans, they were able to see completed units,” says the sales and marketing manager for the Toronto loft development. “First of all, they could see exactly what they were buying, and secondly, they could move in by the fall rather than a few years later.”
Most of the 45 units in the boutique hard loft building have one-bedroom plans, but also available are studios and two-bedroom penthouse suites with wraparound terraces.
A large proportion of the authentic lofts were in a price range that would be appealing to first-time buyers – from $169,000 to $250,000, he notes. “That’s very hard to find in the city… for an authentic hard loft.” Prices have risen significantly over the past months, with some units almost doubling in value.
These lofts are located in the old four-storey structure, built in 1905 and have the original 13-foot wood ceilings, brick walls and exposed posts and beams. Blending in with the old building is a new three-storey addition with a brick facade and warehouse-style windows.
It will contain soft lofts, with exposed steel elements and concrete or laminate floors, will have a different look and feel from the hard lofts. There will be some additional brick feature walls included in those units as well.
Standard features in all lofts include stainless-steel appliances, granite countertops and extra-height cabinetry. Some lofts also have islands or peninsulas with breakfast bars. The monthly maintenance fee is around 40 cents a square foot.
Parking is only available on a rental basis, as there are a limited number of spots. As an alternative, there will be an auto-share program for residents, as well as bicycle storage.
The site is close to streetcar service, and within walking distance from many amenities, including Riverdale Park and trail systems along the Don River.
There’s a whole bunch of activity and development going on, specifically along River Street, Queen Street East and Eastern Avenue. It’s really an up-and-coming area.
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Contact the Jeffrey Team for more information – 416-388-1960
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