Tridel combines prime lakeside location with daring design
TRIDEL’S FINAL BAYSIDE COMMUNITY ‘LIKE BEING ON A SHIP,’ BY LISA VAN DE VEN
The final phase. The crowning glory. With the release of their newest building, Aqualuna, Tridel promises to complete their Bayside Toronto master-planned community with style.
Following up on the success of the first three buildings in their downtown waterfront community — co-developed with Hines — Tridel is combining a prime lakeside location with daring design for a grand conclusion to the site.
“It’s the fourth and final phase of our Bayside development,” says Jim Ritchie, executive vice-president of sales and marketing for Tridel, a long-standing Toronto developer that’s been building in the city since the 1930s. “And I guess the interesting thing about it is, being the fourth building, we’ve learned from the previous three releases what consumers are really looking for.”
And what those buyers are looking for, Ritchie says, are larger units with a luxurious twist. That’s why, with the 16-storey Aqualuna, the developer is introducing their largest suites yet, with units currently ranging from 1,367 to 4,622 square feet. Two- to three-bedroom layouts are available, with several styles of penthouse suites. Prices range from $1,885,000 to $8.8 million.
“We’re looking for a user profile that’s coming from all over the GTA,” Ritchie adds. “It could be your typical empty-nesters or working professionals, but they have a desire to move from the neighbourhood that they’re in. The common denominator is that they’re looking for a larger condominium home on the waterfront.”
And the neighbourhood that they’ll be moving into will be a far cry from the area Tridel encountered prior to the release of Bayside’s first building, Aqualina, in 2013. Then, the site’s Queens Quay and Lower Sherbourne location was mostly “storage warehousing and a lot of asphalt,” Ritchie says. But under the direction of Waterfront Toronto — the government-led organization tasked with revitalizing the waterfront — the location has seen massive changes, with new residential, office and recreational uses brought in.
Today, the first-phase Aqualina is built and occupied, with phases 2 and 3 of Bayside under construction. Sugar Beach, Sherbourne Common park and the Martin Goodman Trail are all steps away.
Meanwhile, Aqualuna — currently in pre-construction — is slated for Spring 2023 occupancy. And while all of Bayside’s buildings feature lake views, this one is unique: with the Parliament Slip along its eastern edge, there will be water vistas on two sides instead of one.
“It’s like being on a ship, with the water on two sides,” says architect Kim Herforth Nielsen, principal of Danish firm 3XN, which designed the building in conjunction with the community’s Torontobased architect of record, Kirkor Architects and Planners.
Inspired by the waves of the lake, the building’s tiered design will rise on two sides with a valley in the middle, ensuring there are views from as many units as possible. Large balconies and terraces will give residents a place to enjoy those views, while the street level has been designed to encourage pedestrian activity, with room for retail and restaurant space. “We wanted to make a unique design for this building,” Nielsen says. “Every building in the area should be unique, but playing together.”
II BY IV Design styled Aqualuna’s interiors, and for their inspiration they didn’t have to look much further than 3XN’s “sculptural” exterior, says the design firm’s partner, Dan Menchions.
“What we wanted to do was create a seamless transition between architecture exterior and interior,” he says. “So it’s a very monochromatic interior, with a lot of tone-ontone visual texture being used throughout the spaces.”
Two lobbies will greet visitors and homeowners, while amenities downstairs will include fitness facilities, as well as a yoga studio, sauna and amenity lounge — creating “a spa-like environment,” the interior designer says.
The sixth floor will have more social amenities, including a billiards lounge, media lounge, party room, bar, catering kitchen, and private lounge and dining room. “Those expand onto an outdoor amenity space with really great offerings for dining, barbecuing and lounging — really taking advantage of those beautiful sweeps of the lakefront, which are pretty spectacular,” Menchions adds.
Another thing that sets the building’s design apart? It’s being built to LEED Platinum standards for environmental sustainability. While Waterfront Toronto has made sustainability a priority for all new projects along the shore, at Bayside the developers have gone one step further than the LEED Gold required. “We keep a very high level in terms of sustainability with any Tridel condominium,” Ritchie says.
All in all, he adds, Aqualuna — and Bayside in its entirety — promises to be something Tridel and Hines can be proud of. So much so, in fact, that Ritchie wishes that this wasn’t the final building there at all.
“The biggest challenge is we’ve run out of room to develop,” he says. “We really like being part of the waterfront.”
The Aqualuna sales office is located at 261 Queens Quay E., Toronto, and open Monday to Thursday from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. and weekends from noon to 6 p.m. Call 416514-2710 or visit tridel.com.