Tag Archives: Page + Steele architects
Luxury condos create mansions in the sky
Ryan Starr – Toronto Star
Kingly income? Some castles in the air …
Toronto’s super-luxury condo market has blossomed in recent years, even in the midst of an economic downturn.
The flurry of highrise projects from big names such as Trump, Four Seasons, Ritz-Carlton and Shangri-La is a testament to this city’s high-end real estate coming of age.
Topping the sleek towers, poised to be among Toronto’s tallest, will be a glittering array of lavish multimillion-dollar penthouses.
These mansions in the sky will represent some of the most exclusive and expensive addresses in the city. MuseumHouse, located across from the Royal Ontario Museum on Bloor Street W., is a bit different.
At a relatively modest 19 storeys, this glass and steel structure, designed by Page + Steele architects – the firm that did Toronto’s new Ritz-Carlton Hotel and Residences and the Windsor Arms, among others – won’t be as tall as the other towers.
But with only 26 full- and half-floor residences, MuseumHouse will offer an intimacy those big-name projects can’t match, insists Romspen Investment Corp. founder Sheldon Esbin, a partner in the development.
“What’s attractive about this building is that it’s small and you’re not going to meet 20 people in the elevator,” he says. “Plus, there are no hallways. So you have privacy. You’re part of a small, exclusive community.”
Just because MuseumHouse’s two-storey, 5,618-square-foot penthouse won’t be nestled in the clouds, however, doesn’t mean its offerings will be any less rarefied.
Esbin says the $12-million suite will be nothing less than a “crystal jewel sitting atop a steel and limestone building.”
The penthouse, occupying MuseumHouse’s 18th and 19th floors, will offer 360-degree vistas of downtown Toronto and beyond.
“No one can build over us or in front, so you have a pretty unrestricted view of the university and Queen’s Park,” says Esbin. “Indeed, you can see down to the water.”
Serviced by private elevator, the two-storey penthouse will have three bedrooms, each with access to one of the unit’s four terraces (a total of 1,152 square feet of outdoor space).
The terraces will be finished in stone and accented by glass rails and stainless steel planter boxes. There will also be a private outdoor hot tub on one balcony.
With 11-foot ceilings throughout, the penthouse will include a media room, music room, library/office space, a Zen garden and a winding staircase connecting the two levels.
The master bathroom will boast a cedar sauna, steam room and heated floors. The roomy kitchen will be equipped with Miele and Sub-Zero appliances, a wine cooler and walk-in pantry. The penthouse will also have two gas fireplaces and a built-in safe.
MuseumHouse residents get round-the-clock concierge and valet services, as well.
But no final interior design decisions have been made for the top unit, meaning the purchaser can customize the penthouse to suit his or her personal tastes.
There’s a fine line between luxurious and gaudy, of course. But Esbin believes the penthouse at MuseumHouse won’t cross it.
Esbin describes the overall MuseumHouse motif as “minimalist Japanese,” with clean, sharp lines that complement the building’s steel and glass shell.
It counts for something that Page + Steele principal Sol Wassermuhl bought the 2,300 square-foot sub-penthouse on the 17th floor and plans to live there with his wife.
Esbin has also purchased an upper-floor unit.
More high-end condos
Toronto may not be in the same league as London, New York or Singapore when it comes to super high-end real estate, but the market for opulent digs here is expanding rapidly, with scores of luxury condos under development at the moment.
“The city has evolved really quickly,” says Robbyn Hayden, sales manager for Shangri-La Toronto, a 66-storey hotel-condo, with two $13.3 million penthouses, under construction at University Ave. and Adelaide St.
“You can be sure the major hotel brands and developers have done their demographic studies and know that there are people here who want and can afford these luxury properties.”
“Toronto is catching up to the international trend of mixed-use hotel-condo developments, common in places like New York, Hong Kong and London,” adds Mimi Ng, vice-president of marketing with Menkes Developments.
Menkes is building the Four Seasons Private Residences in Yorkville. At $30 million, its penthouse will be the most expensive in Canada.
“In the past you would get only one luxury building come along every five years or so, and that would be the building everyone would buy into,” Ng says. “In recent years we’ve seen a number of projects all come onto the market at the same time.”
Still, the luxury luxury condo market in Toronto remains a “limited niche,” Hayden says. But the city’s high-end properties are proving attractive to international investors.
“We have clients from other parts of the world who think being able to buy luxury property for $1,700 to $2,000 a square foot is very good value,” she says.
Back at MuseumHouse, sales have been good – at last count nearly 80% of the units had been sold – with buyers ranging from a rock drummer (“the last person I thought would buy,” Esbin says) to the former president of one of the world’s largest investment banks.
And while there have been “a few nibbles” for the penthouse, Esbin says there have been no takers thus far.
To sweeten the pot – and add a dash of museum flavour – he’s offering the would-be buyer a lifesize sculpture cast from an original Rodin: Eve, a work worth about $800,000 that sits in the sales office awaiting a suitor.
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MuseumHouse won’t be the only luxury penthouse in town. The recent launch of a host of über-luxurious projects means there’ll be plenty of sky-high opulence available in Toronto. Here’s a sampling of what’s on offer.
FOUR SEASONS PRIVATE RESIDENCES TORONTO
Location: Bay St. and Yorkville Ave.
Developer: Bay-Yorkville Developments Ltd.
Architect: architectsAlliance
Towers height: 55 and 26 floors (204 residential units)
Penthouse size: 9,038 square feet
Price: $30 million – most expensive penthouse in Canada.
Status: For sale
Occupancy: 2011
Highlights: First Four Seasons private residences in Canada. The 55th floor penthouse has four corner terraces offering 360-degree views. Two private elevators open into glass galleria with rotunda. Unit has walk-in wine cellar, theatre room with bar and library. Separate staff residence. Master suite has two walk-in closets and ensuite bathroom with TVs behind vanity mirrors. Buyers get access to all hotel amenities, including 28,000 square-foot spa.
AURA AT COLLEGE PARK
Location: Yonge St. and Gerrard St.
Developer: Canderel Stoneridge Equity Group Inc.
Architect: Graziani + Corazza
Tower height: 75 floors – tallest residential condo in North America (931 units).
Penthouse size: 11,000 square feet
Price: $17.5 million
Status: Available
Occupancy: June 2012
Highlights: Aura is the final phase of the Residences of College Park project, which includes a 51-storey and 45-storey tower. Penthouse and six sub-penthouses make up tower’s top five storeys. The sub-penthouses go for $2.1 million to $3 million. Penthouse comes with 12-foot ceilings, seven-inch crown moulding, floor-to-ceiling windows, and two double-car garages. Interior can be custom designed.
TRUMP INTERNATIONAL HOTEL AND TOWER
Location: Bay St. and Adelaide St.
Developer: Talon International Development Inc.
Architect: Zeidler Partnership Architects
Tower height: 60 floors (118 residential units).
Penthouse size: More than 8,000 square feet
Price: $15 million – could be more after redesign
Status: Not yet for sale.
Occupancy: 2011
Highlights: The “Grand Skyplex” penthouse will take up the tower’s top three floors. Suite will have up to 28-foot ceilings and include a library and gallery. Floor plan is still being tweaked. “They’ve had some redesigns of the building at the top; they keep moving things around,” says spokesman Howard Tikka. Unit could be more than 8,000 square feet, he says. Residents get access to hotel services, including two chauffeured Mercedes-Benz S-class.
SHANGRI-LA TORONTO
Location: University Ave. and Adelaide St.
Developer: Westbank Projects Corp.
Architect: James Cheng
Tower height: 66 storeys (360 units)
Penthouses size: 6,700 square feet each
Price: $13.3 million
Status: Both for sale.
Occupancy: Mid-2012
Highlights: Shangri-La Toronto will have two, two-storey penthouses on floors 65 and 66. Four-bedroom units will have 12-foot ceilings on first floor and 11 feet on second; three fireplaces and 2,900 square feet of terrace. All bedrooms have ensuite bathrooms. Boffi cabinetry in kitchen and Miele and Sub-Zero appliances. Custom closet organization systems. Unit comes with three-car private garage.
77 CHARLES WEST
Location: Charles St. and St. Thomas St.
Developer: Aspen Ridge Homes
Architect: Yann Weymouth – part of team that designed pyramid entrance to Paris’ Louvre.
Building height: 16 storeys (47 units)
Penthouse size: 6,700 square feet
Price: $12 million
Status: For sale
Initial occupancy: Fall 2012
Highlights: Penthouse has been dubbed The Holst, a nod to the composer of The Planets symphony, a work you might want to pop on one clear night as you stare through an all-glass ceiling in the penthouse’s grand room. Suite has 1,000 square feet of outdoor terrace space, 12-foot ceilings, floor-to-ceiling glass windows, and two kitchens – a show kitchen and service kitchen accessible via separate elevator.
THE RESIDENCES AT THE RITZ-CARLTON
Location: Wellington St., near Simcoe St.
Developer: Cadillac Fairview Corp., Graywood Developments Ltd., and the Ritz-Carlton Hotel Co.
Architect: Kohn Pedersen Fox Associates
Tower height: 52 floors (159 residential units).
Penthouse size: 11,000 square feet
Price: $11 million
Status: Sold
Initial occupancy: June 2010
Highlights: First Ritz-Carlton hotel-residence in Canada. Penthouse is competing with unit at Aura for title of city’s largest. Penthouse wraps around 52nd floor, with 12-foot ceilings and nine-foot doors. Two sub-penthouses take up Ritz’s 51st floor – 6,000 square feet and $9.6 billion each. Owner gets access to all hotel amenities. Purchase includes 10 years’ free accommodation at any Ritz-Carlton worldwide.
THE AVENUE
Location: Avenue Rd. and St. Clair Ave.
Developer: Camrost-Felcorp.
Architect: Page + Steele
Building height: 19 floors (73 units)
Penthouse size: 3,255 square feet (building design means sub-penthouse is 4,250 square feet)
Price: $6 million (penthouse); $7 million (sub-penthouse)
Status: Both sold
Occupancy: Spring 2010
Highlights: Penthouse has 800 square feet of terrace and covered balcony. Sub-penthouse has 2,000 square feet of terrace. Custom cabinetry in kitchens and bathrooms. Master bathroom has marble slab countertops, marble mosaic-patterned flooring, frameless opaque glass shower doors and soaker tub. Master bedroom has his/hers walk-in closets. 24-hour concierge, valet and porter, spa, indoor pool and steam room.
MUSEUMHOUSE
Location: 206 Bloor St. W.
Developer: Yorkville Corp.
Builder: Veisman Consulting
Architect: Page + Steele
Building height: 19 storeys (26 half or full-floor residences).
Penthouse size: Two-storeys, 5,620 square feet, including 1,200 square-foot balcony
Price: $12 million
Status: Available
Occupancy: Spring 2011
Highlights: Ensuite will boast cedar sauna, steam room and heated floors and there will be 24-hour valet.
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Contact the Jeffrey Team for more information - 416-388-1960
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Six towers set to bloom
John Bentley Mays – Globe and Mail
A work of architecture begins its real-world career (as opposed to its life in the designer’s mind and studio) as a hole in the ground. Downtown Toronto nowadays sports many of these muddy pits in the urban fabric. But not all holes are created equal. Here are a few important ones that deserve watching in the weeks and months to come.
590 Jarvis St.
One of Toronto’s most fashionable avenues in Victorian times, Jarvis Street suffered badly 100 years ago, when its wealthy residents decamped to nearby Rosedale. Great Gulf Group’s X The Condominium, at the corner of Jarvis and Charles streets, will be a good tonic for its historically dilapidated neighbourhood.
The great modern master Ludwig Mies van der Rohe inspired the design by Peter Clewes and the late Adrian di Castri of the Toronto firm architectsAlliance, and the radical spirit of Mies is invoked in every crisp line and strict angle of the tower.
Jarvis and Adelaide streets
Like X up Jarvis, Aspen Ridge Homes’s Vü — its podium is now peeking out of the ground — is a piece of solid city-building. This dense complex of high-ceilinged lofts, townhouses and condominium apartments will be situated on the long-neglected east side of downtown. Or at least the district was neglected through much of the 20th century. Since the turn of this century, condominium blocks have been going up in the neighbourhood at a fast clip, and Vü will add substantially to the momentum of this residential revival.
The design is by David Pontarini, founding partner in the Toronto firm Hariri Pontarini Architects.
183 Wellington St. West
The luxurious Ritz-Carlton hotel and condominium tower is at a stage of construction that delights architecture aficionados: poking up above street level a few storeys, with all its massive concrete bones showing, and no cladding to obscure the craftsmanship of engineers and technicians.
Designed by the U.S. firm Kohn Pedersen Fox Associates and Toronto’s Page + Steele Architects, the project will feature an urbane glass podium lifted smartly off the street by concrete columns. Behind this entry pavilion will rise the tower proper, its outer walls tilting outward with attractive flair.
330 King St. West at John
Just a few steps north of the Ritz-Carlton, the Bell Lightbox will be another tall tower in what’s becoming a big cluster of them along King. It has been designed by Bruce Kuwabara of the well-known Toronto firm Kuwabara Payne McKenna Blumberg Architects, and it will house the famous Toronto International Film Festival Group and many condominiums up top.
If architects’ renderings are anything to go on, the building will be bright and lively, and crowned with a glowing box illuminated from within by light-emitting diodes — “a vertical city of film,” Mr. Kuwabara has poetically called it.
1 Bedford Rd.
Out of this hole in the ground will emerge a tower with 32 residential floors that will likely add a touch of suave to the unsightly north side of Bloor Street, west of University Avenue. The scheme, also by Mr. Kuwabara, has had its share of tribulation.
A couple of years ago, you may recall, the muscular local citizens’ group attacked H&R Developments and Lanterra Developments, whose project this is, arguing that grannies would be plunged into darkness by the tower, and so forth. The upshot was a decision by the city to shrink the building a little —not enough, thankfully, to blunt the contribution this tower will make to the streetscape.
When this building was being designed, I was bothered a bit by the architect’s bowing to the preservationists and incorporating some scraps from the studio of beaux-arts designer John M. Lyle (the Royal Alexandra Theatre, Union Station), which once stood at 1 Bedford. It now appears that these bits and pieces will be integrated elegantly into Mr. Kuwabara’s modernist etude.
325 Bay St. at Adelaide
When it’s finished, Toronto architect Eberhard Zeidler’s 60-storey Trump International Hotel and Tower will make this address in the financial district one of the swankiest in Canada.
The people living there will have access to all of the luxuries of the five-star hotel on the building’s lower storeys. Cars will be parked by valets. For those who can’t be bothered to own a car, the management will provide round-the-clock use of two chauffeured Mercedes. And there will be lots of room at the top: The penthouses will be a lavish 4,300 to 7,400 square feet in area.
I like the idea of this big dollop of ritz in the heart of the city. Along with many of the other holes in downtown Toronto, the one at 325 Bay will soon be filling up with residential architecture that adds value to being and living here.
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Contact the Jeffrey Team for more information - 416-388-1960
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One Bedford: A location that few can rival
By Sydnia Yu – Globe and Mail
When Lanterra Developments acquired a city block at Bloor Street West and Bedford Road for its latest project, One Bedford, the company knew it had a truly premium location.
The site is close to the subway and some of the city’s most upscale restaurants and boutiques, says Mark Mandelbaum, chairman of Lanterra, which is co-developing the Annex site with MCE Developments Inc. What’s more, he adds, “it faces Toronto’s most prominent stretch,” which includes the Royal Ontario Museum, Royal Conservatory of Music, and the University of Toronto’s Varsity stadium and Philosopher’s Walk.
“It’s like our street facing Central Park.”
Kuwabara Payne McKenna Blumberg Architects (KPMB) and Page + Steele Architects — the team behind the Residences of Maple Leaf Square — designed One Bedford. The team was inspired by Chicago’s Michigan Avenue and New York’s Fifth Avenue, where high-end retailers and estate residences sit across from parks and cultural institutions.
The result is a 32-storey condominium tower with 262 suites overlooking the city’s natural and manmade landmarks. The One Bedford tower will sit on an eight-storey podium, with its high-end shops blending in with the existing streetscape.
Nearly half of One Bedford sold in less than two months, which Mr. Mandelbaum says was expected. It has attracted current residents of the area, some of them downsizing from larger Victorian residences, and even some former residents, the company says. “Almost everybody is an end-user here — they’re people who look at it and want to live there,” rather than just invest in it, he adds.
One Bedford‘s architecture will be thoroughly modern, but there will be a historic component. To honour John Lyle, one of the foremost Canadian architects in the early 20th century, the façade of his studio will be preserved and relocated to the site. It will serve as the entrance to a café — to be named after him — off the horseshoe-shaped courtyard entry facing Bedford.
Amenities on the second-floor of the One Bedford podium will include an indoor pool with a whirlpool, as well as spaces for parties, meetings, billiards and yoga, all of them overlooking a private terrace. Placed across from the Intercontinental Hotel’s courtyard, the terrace will feature a cedar deck and banquette seating, surrounded by natural landscaping.
Munge/Leung: Design Associates will fashion One Bedford‘s common areas as well as the suites, selecting colours (grey, white, taupe, beige) and materials that establish a calming atmosphere.
Standard finishes in the kitchen will include granite countertops and wood cabinetry, and, in a few units, upgraded features such as glass upper cabinets. Six appliances will be included.
There are 47 floor plans in one- and two-bedroom designs, some with two floors, a den or a family room off the kitchen.
One Bedford purchasers also can combine units.
The suites will have at least one balcony or terrace, and some will feature sliding bedroom doors to open up the main living area.
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