STANDING OUT FROM THE CROWD
Unique projects in growth areas that future residents will be proud to call home. If you ask Jonathan Goldman, president of Toronto- based Stafford Homes, what his developments have in common, that’s what he’ll tell you. And with current sites through Toronto, North York, Pickering and Scarborough — ranging from a luxury mid- rise condominium building to freehold, stacked and condominium townhouses — it’s as good a descriptor as any.
“We’re working with great designers and we’re working with incredibly imaginative yet experienced architects,” says the developer, who runs Stafford alongside his father, chief executive Gary Goldman. “We take an endless amount of time designing the interior layouts and understanding what people want and how they’re going to live their lives.”
The result is a home meant to appeal to owners — a model that’s different from many Toronto builders today, looking to keep prices as low as possible with small suites targeted at investors. And while that’s a philosophy Goldman hasn’t ruled out — “We’re not against that at all,” he says — his interests are focused elsewhere at the moment. Instead, projects such as Avenue & Park in North Toronto and Downsview Park in North York are driven by niche markets, looking for something different for their unique needs.
So far — despite the challenges Goldman sees in Ontario’s current development environment — it’s a model that seems to be working. With four projects on the market, the developer is in the process of expanding: they’re in the midst of doubling their office space, with another 12 sites in the planning stages.
“Ours is not the least expensive or the most simple product,” Goldman says. “We’re always trying to build a better home that’s more beautiful and higher quality, and sometimes we charge a little bit more for that, but I think people understand that and they either like it or they don’t. And so far they’ve responded really, really well.”
Take Stafford Homes’ Downsview Park project as an example — a site they’re developing in partnership with The Goldman Group, run by Goldman’s grandfather, Murray Goldman. Located in North York’s familyfilled Downsview neighbourhood — near Downsview Park itself as well as the planned Downsview Park subway station — Stafford is selling the site’s second phase, f ollowing up on Mattamy Homes’ first phase development.
Phase 2 features a total of 205 homes, with a combination of two- and three- bedroom stacked condominium “City Towns” — ranging from 1,122 to 1,652 square feet and priced from $629,000 — and larger freehold townhouses that are sized from 3,149 to 3,676 square feet and start at $1.45 million.
With l ayouts of up to six bedrooms, the freehold towns have options for all styles of families, including potential space for nannies or in-laws, offering a flexible new-build alternative to the low- rise resale that already exists in the neighbourhood. The homes also have backyards with gas lines for barbecues, and detached garages with electric lifts that can offer room for up to four cars.
“We’ve got amazing, oneof-a-kind product there, and I think that’s why we’ve been so successful,” says Goldman. After all, that’s the point, if you ask him. Stafford designed the project from the ground up, laying out the homes and site with the surrounding area and the pro- ject’s specific buyer demographic in mind. That means every detail of the units’ living spaces and esthetics — right down to the size of the windows — was considered.
That level of detail is something Stafford aspires to with all of their sites, Goldman adds, with each project introducing its own design needs and buyer profile.
“It’s different depending on the building. Different product, different projects command a different sense of style,” Goldman says. “Some are super cool and modern, some are more traditional or contemporary. It depends on what we think the buying demographic is going to want.”
While Downsview Park is low-rise and family-oriented, Avenue & Park — Stafford’s boutique condominium project at Avenue Road and Bedford Park Avenue — targets another niche market: highend luxury buyers.
“It’s 36 exclusive suites — there are no small investor suites in this building,” Goldman says. “The whole building is a community of like- minded individuals purchasing in almost a minicommunity.”
With Pusateri’s Fine Foods across the street and the amenities of Lawrence Park close by, at Avenue & Park Stafford was hoping to appeal to buyers who are used to the finer things, and want a building that lives up to that, with luxury features and a high-end design.
To accomplish that goal, the developer commissioned the services of Page + Steele/ IBI Group Architects to design the seven- storey building, while design firm U31 was brought in for the interiors. The resulting project has 8,000 square feet of amenities and suites ranging from 1,002 to 3,093 square feet, starting at $1.5 million.
“It’s a beautiful existing neighbourhood and we’re just trying to add to it,” Goldman says. “I don’t want to be brash, but I think we’re building the nicest building in the city of Toronto.”
And that’s what Goldman says he wants to continue to do: design buildings that stand out, with the goal of creating a city that stands out.
While his ultimate ambition is to create design that makes Toronto’s skyline rank among the best in the world, he says that might have become more difficult recently, with the decision by the provincial government to replace the Ontario Municipal Board — the independent tribunal tasked with making decisions on disputes regarding local planning and development — with a less powerful Local Planning Appeal Tribunal.
It’s likely to encourage more of a ‘not in my backyard’ philosophy in Toronto’s communities, Goldman suggests, and could mean the end of innovative or unique design, at least in the near future.
Still, the developer remains hopeful that the city will reach its design potential eventually. “Toronto will 100 per cent one day be a top tier world class city,” he says.
In the meantime, Stafford is doing what they can to help achieve that — one project at a time.