Xpress yourself
Highrise project is ‘the next step in the growth of this company’
Richmond Hill condos on site of original Harvey’s,
Xpression Condos, a two-tower development along Richmond Hill’s Yonge St. corridor, represents the maiden highrise condo project for Zancor Homes, which to this point has focused exclusively on building lowrise communities across the 905 and the GTA hinterland.
While Zancor may be heading in a new direction, company president Fabrizio Cortellucci insists he isn’t fazed.
“It’s exciting,” he says over coffee. “I like new challenges and was really looking forward to doing a (highrise) condo. It’s the next step in the growth of this company.”
Xpression will be located on Yonge one block north of 16th Ave., on the site of Canada’s first-ever Harvey’s restaurant, which was demolished to make way for the project’s sales centre. “We were joking about calling (the sales centre) ‘Drive-Thru Deals,’ ” Cortellucci quips.
The development will comprise two 15-storey towers, located at opposite ends of a six-storey podium that will incorporate amenities and 17,000 square feet of street-level retail.
Designed by Quadrangle Architects, Xpression will include 452 suites, ranging from 353-squarefoot studios to 1,174-square-foot two-bedroom units.
There will be 52 different suite styles in all, and penthouses that buyers will be allowed to custom design. “If they want to take two or three units (and combine them), we’re open to that,” says Cortellucci. “That’s a philosophy we’ve taken from the lowrise side (of the busi- ness); we accommodate structural changes.”
Xpression goes on sale to the general public this month. Prices start from the low $200,000s and include a parking space and storage locker.
The suites, designed by Tomas Pearce Interior Design Consulting, will have floor-to-ceiling windows and wide-plank laminate flooring in all living areas and bedrooms. Each suite will have a balcony, terrace or patio.
“Richmond Hill is a city of trees, with much of its natural environment still intact,” says project architect Les Klein. “So we wanted people to have the opportunity to enjoy that.”
Kitchens will have granite count- ertops, stainless steel appliances and ceramic-tile backsplashes. Bathrooms will have marble countertops, oversized showers and soaker tubs. In terms of amenities, each tower will have its own terrace with private barbecue areas, an outdoor fireplace and cabanas. There will be a central amenities area located in the podium, with a rooftop patio, indoor pool, fitness centre, games room with table tennis and pool tables, theatre room, party room with bar, and a lounge. The condo will have two guest suites, a business centre with a boardroom and meeting space, and a “pet-friendly playground,” as well. Xpression boasts a central Richmond Hill location, across the street from Hillcrest Mall — which recently came under new ownership — and with a Viva (York Region Transit) bus stop right at the building’s front door. Viva buses connect with the Finch TTC subway station. Though Xpression is being positioned as a downtown-style condo for Richmond Hill, the design of the project represents an effort by Klein to avoid the boxy, bland look that he says plagues many downtown projects. “We wanted to use organic shapes to create interest,” he explains, pointing to Xpression’s “undulating balconies” that will vary in shape throughout the condo complex, giving it a more rounded look. The building will also feature coloured spandrel glass at the base and top of both towers, which — true to the project’s name — will give Xpression Condos a distinct identity and provide “architectural delight,” says Klein.
“It’s a way of individualizing the development so people don’t feel they’re part of some unmarked mass. We wanted to create a landmark, (a building) that marks its place in an emerging community.”
Xpression is the type of high-density, mixed-use project that Richmond Hill will be seeing more of along the Yonge corridor, a zone the town has targeted for intensification in accordance with provincial policy.
That said, community concern regarding the original proposed density and height of the project — one 17-storey tower, the other 21storeys — ultimately resulted in a shortening of the towers to 15 storeys each.
“I think we’ve achieved a good balance between what we think could have been in terms of height and what the town’s vision is,” Klein says.
“But I do believe that as time goes on, (Richmond Hill will) recognize that height is not a horrible bogeyman; that it’s something positive rather than negative; and that eventually there’ll be even more projects like this.”
Klein has a keen understanding of the challenges suburban communities face in trying to intensify their cores to adhere to provincial policy. In recent years, his firm has designed developments for emerging city centres in Markham and Kitchener-Waterloo.
In Richmond Hill, he believes Xpression will serve as an anchor and a catalyst for new development along the Yonge corridor.
“We see this as something that will set the spark,” Klein says. “We hope it will be seen as a germ of an idea that others can riff on.”