Tag Archives: Richgrove Village
Minto’s green dream team
Ryan Starr – Toronto Star
Standing in the courtyard of MintoMidtown, Andrew Pride beams with delight as he lists off the property’s various green design elements.
The vice-president of Minto’s “green team” notes the LED exterior lighting, which provides ample illumination but uses minimal energy.
He directs his visitor’s attention to chairs made from recycled steel, and to a rainwater-fed fountain with wind sensors that ensure the water doesn’t blow all over passersby in the event of a sudden gust.
Pride points out that the limestone used throughout the courtyard is locally sourced, which cut down on transportation-related emissions.
“The courtyard is a great gathering place,” he says of the two-tower highrise condo on Yonge St. just south of Eglinton Ave. “It’s the heart of this sustainable community.”
The green courtyard helped Midtown in June become the largest condo in North America to be certified LEED Gold.
Midtown’s 891 units boast the latest in energy efficiency, including compact fluorescent lighting, Energy Star appliances and low-emission paints and carpeting.
Each condo is also equipped with heat recovery ventilators, which pipe in fresh outside air, remove stale air and save energy.
For Pride and his team, Midtown’s LEED Gold certification represents the culmination of a forward-thinking strategy that has put the company in the vanguard of Toronto’s green building industry
Minto currently has three LEED-certified highrises in Toronto, comprising more than 1,400 units; three more are slated to open in 2010.
“Building a code home today is building obsolescence into a home,” says Pride, who also sits on the executive committee of the Canada Green Building Council. “We have to be ready for the future.”
Leaders in eco thinking
Pride, who worked for years as an energy services consultant, joined Minto in 1999 with a mandate to drive the company’s green agenda.
“They were doing environmentally friendly things already,” he explains, “but they wanted me to put a team together and really attack our buildings.”
This was years before the green building revolution, and Pride was impressed by Minto’s progressive approach.
“I had been trying to sell (green building) for over a decade, trying to get existing buildings focused on it,” he says.
Pride went on to launch Minto’s Green Team, a dedicated division tasked with crafting the company’s sustainable building strategy.
To sell buyers on the idea of green building, Minto’s initial strategy put a stronger emphasis on the health benefits of the condos over energy savings.
“Today energy savings tend to be a bit more relevant,” Pride says. “People still want those health benefits, but it’s very much about value now.”
In 2004, following the advent of the LEED certification system for highrises, Minto committed to making all of its buildings meet that standard of sustainability.
Radiance@Minto Gardens, a 34-storey tower at Yonge St. and Sheppard Ave., was the first LEED-certified condo in Canada.
Completed in 2006, the 378-unit building became the testing grounds for an innovative technology now found in all Minto construction: heat recovery ventilators that bring filtered fresh air into the suites (versus the usual stale corridor air).
“Air quality is really poor in highrise buildings,” Pride says. “We wanted to create a healthier living environment.”
The condo also became the first in Minto’s portfolio to have water sub-meters in each unit.
“We put the cost of water into the hands of those who use it,” says Pride, noting this led to a 55 per cent reduction in overall water consumption.
The company’s next development, MintoRoehampton, a rental building at Yonge St. and Eglinton Ave., was the first multi-family building in Canada to achieve LEED Gold.
Roehampton, finished in 2007, was the company’s guinea pig for the harvesting of rainwater for use in landscaping and public toilets.
Rainwater harvesting, once illegal, is now included in the Toronto Green Standard, and Pride says Roehampton helped make the case for it. Roehampton also has a triple waste-stream system, which filters garbage, recycling and organics separately.
“Eventually the city is going to charge for garbage, and it’s a huge building,” Pride says. “So why wouldn’t we make recycling easy for people?”
Minto’s next condo project, Midtown, incorporated all of its predecessors’ innovations and added some new ones.
The building has motion-sensor stairwell lighting that can reduce consumption to less than 200 hours a year.
Each suite comes with “all-off” controls that allow all fixed lighting to be turned off with the flick of a switch and turn down the thermostat to an energy-savings setting.
Dual flush toilets are standard at MintoMidtown, helping reduce water consumption by 32 per cent.
What’s more, 50 per cent of the materials used in the condo’s construction were extracted and produced locally, Pride says.
This plethora of green features earned MintoMidtown the LEED Gold certification earlier this year.
“We are delighted to see multiple-unit residential buildings achieving this landmark,” says Mark Hutchinson, director of green building for the Canada Green Building Council.
“Hundreds of people will enjoy a healthier environment in their homes as a result, and the environment will benefit from the building’s reduced footprint.
“Midtown is a great example of what can be achieved.”
Pride adds Minto offers a bike-share program at Midtown, providing free bicycles for its residents.
Minto has several more buildings lined up for LEED certification in 2010: mintoSkyy, at Broadview Ave. and Pottery Rd.; Spring, the sister building to Radiance@Minto Gardens; and Richgrove Village, a four-storey project in Etobicoke.
The company is greening single-family homes, as well.
In Ottawa, Minto has built a net-zero “eco-home,” which runs on solar power and produces as much energy as it consumes.
The demonstration home, named “Inspiration — the Minto ecohome,” is part of the EQulibrium housing initiative, a Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp. pilot project that will guide the creation of a development of net-zero homes.
Inspiration – which Minto calls “Canada’s greenest home” – has achieved LEED for Homes Platinum, the highest level of certification possible.
Built from mainly recycled and renewable materials, the eco-home uses rainwater harvesting, has double insulated walls, triple pane windows and a natural ventilation system that eliminates the need for air conditioning.
Anticipating the market
As the green revolution sweeps the home-building industry, Minto’s forward-thinking approach has put the company in a strong leadership position.
“Successful businesses anticipate where the market’s going to be,” says Peter Love, president of Love Energy Consultants and Ontario’s first chief energy conservation officer.
“Minto has concluded that people are interested in a more energy-efficient home and that the demand is growing, that it’s going to be major.”
Pride’s not bashful when it comes to taking credit for helping push the local industry to be greener.
“We knew green was coming,” he says. “By doing all the homework we’ve done over the last 10 years, we’ve been able to deliver a product that’s right on mark with what our customers want.
“For us, green is prosperous.”
LEEDing the way
LEED stands for Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design, a third-party certification program for green buildings.
LEED ratings focus on a building’s performance in five areas: sustainable site development, water efficiency, energy efficiency, materials selection and indoor environmental quality
Certification is based on the total point score achieved, following an independent review and an audit of selected credits. There are four possible levels of certification: certified, silver, gold and platinum.
For more information: www.cagbc.org/leed/what/index.php
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Chilling On The Outskirts
Due west: a little less action, but great prices and how about that waterfront
Lisa Van de Ven, National Post
The Toronto real estate market is back in a big way, fueled largely by first-time buyers. Low mortgage rates and a generally secure employment situation in the GTA are giving these young renters and still-at-homes the confidence to purchase.
Overwhelmingly, they are choosing Toronto condos. Every week this summer, Post Homes will look at first-time options in selected neighbourhoods and the local amenities that will help create active and successful communities. This week, it’s Toronto’s far west.
There are first-time homebuyers who want to live downtown in the middle of the hustle and bustle. Then there are those who’d prefer to be close to the city, but not in the thick of it.
Which is why some first-time buyers travel towards Etobicoke and Mississauga when it’s time for house hunting to begin. While location may be a big draw, the prices don’t hurt either — in many cases, traveling a little further out of the core, gives them much more bang for their buck.
“They would love to be downtown, but they can’t necessarily afford downtown prices,” says Debbie Cosic, principal and broker with In2ition Realty.
Ms. Cosic is representing Holiday Towers at Holiday Drive and Highway 427 in Etobicoke, where approximately half of all the buyers are first-timers. Suites start at $180,900 and 480 square feet. The site, by developers FRAM Building Group and Avari Group, is still close to amenities, though.
“Etobicoke is right between Toronto and the far west end –Mississauga, Burlington, everywhere,” she says. “We are literally five minutes to the airport, so we get a lot of people who work at the airport. And we are five minutes to the subway, for people who want to commute downtown.”
Some west-end sites even offer something that most first-time buyers wouldn’t be able to afford downtown: waterfront access. At South Beach Condos + Lofts, by Amexon Development Corp., executive sales manager Jason Shiff says buyers love that they can live near the water without paying traditional downtown waterfront prices. Located at Park Lawn Road and Lake Shore Boulevard, South Beach units starts at 454 sq. ft. and at $188,000. “These first-time buyers don’t usually shop close to the waterfront, because it is out of their price range. But we are waterfront living — we’re not on top of the lake, but it’s a two-minute walk,” Mr. Shiff says.
Camrost-Felcorp’s California Condos also offers a chance to live close to the water. Located at Park Lawn and The Queensway, the developer’s newly redesigned suites are specifically geared to first-time buyers. There, one-bedroom units start at 455 sq. ft. and at $149,900 — an exceptionally good price. “Although you might have a smaller suite, you have full access to all the amenities in the complex; and California Condos provides up to 75,000 sq. ft. of amenity areas,” says Camrost-Felcorp president David Feldman, “The beauty of the condo lifestyle is you have all these amenities.”
Of course, there’s also homes for those buyers who’d prefer more interior space and fewer amenities. MintoUrban Communities has just that at its townhouse site Richgrove Village, located at Martin Grove Road and Eglinton Avenue. The site features 88 stacked two-storey townhouses, ranging from 1,000 to just over 1,400 sq. ft., and priced from the low $200,000s. The site largely appeals to buyers who are already familiar with the area, says Minto sales manager Katherine Milian: “These are people who’ve lived in the area and really love the area and want to stay in it,” she says.
In Mississauga, as well, many buyers feel that same loyalty to location, wanting to stay in a familiar community, close to family and friends. Some also just buy for the prices.
New suites at Absolute Condos, for instance, are sized from 455 sq. ft. and priced from $199,900. The Burnhamthorpe and Hurontario location is perfect for commuters, says Sharon Florian, sales and marketing manager for Fernbrook Homes, partner on the project with Cityzen Development Group. “It’s very quick to the highway, maybe 15 minutes to downtown, and it’s very close to Brampton or the airport if someone travels a lot,” she says, “It’s an ideal location if two people are commuting to different areas.”
At elle, Amacon’s project at Burnhamthorpe and Highway 10, Debbie Cosic, of In2ition, has also been welcoming the first-time buyer crowd. There, the developer has incentives especially geared towards those purchasers, including a 10% deposit plan, Haustique furniture packages and a “decorating allowance” of up to $10,000, which can go towards decor upgrades or closing costs. Suites at the site range in size from 600 sq. ft. and in price from $232,900. All of that, and the site is, in fact, close to downtown. Downtown Mississauga, that is.
“It’s a walk to city centre,” Ms. Cosic says. “They can walk to the theatres, the shopping, the restaurants. It’s a fantastic location.”
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Contact the Jeffrey Team for more information - 416-388-1960
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