Meet me in the middle
Midrise projects have appeal of intimacy over sky-high condo towers
When B.streets Condos went on sale last fall, the midrise project at Bathurst and Bloor Sts. proved popular with firsttime buyers as well as downsizing Annex denizens looking to transition from high-maintenance homes into carefree condos.
“A high percentage of end users at this project were people who don’t live far away and were looking for a way to stay in the neighbourhood,” notes Michoel Klugmann, vice-president of Lindvest Properties, the developer of B.streets, a nine-storey building with 195 units that’s being built on the east side of Bathurst just south of Bloor.
Aproject like B.Streets offers downsizers and first-timers alike a more palatable alternative to life in a 50-storey condo tower.
“It’s a midrise building so it’s more intimate,” says Klugmann. “People want to live in midrise buildings because these are like a community. And when you walk out the door, the neighbourhood is the amenity.”
With the province pushing to concentrate development within the GTA’s existing urban areas, condos have overtaken detached homes as the dominant form of new housing in the region. In 2011, condos outsold detached homes in the GTA by three to one, according to RealNet Canada.
But while a growing number of buyers are shifting into condos, not all of them want to live in a skyscraper with little connection to the outside world.
Smaller-scale buildings such as B.Streets offer a more appealing option.
Mid-rise projects — typically buildings that range from four to 12 storeys — give residents the sense they’re more a part of the surrounding neighbourhood.
For downsizing homeowners in particular, moving into a mediumdensity building causes less of a shock to the system.
“There are a lot of buyers who are leaving houses and who feel more connected with grade-related suites,” explains broker Barbara Lawlor, president of Baker Real Estate. “They like to be near the street; they don’t want to be up high in a building.”
This has been the case with purchasers at Flaire, a mid-rise condo that’s part of the Shops at Don Mills development at Don Mills Rd. and Lawrence Ave.
Flaire will have 297 units, but the density is spread over two 11-storey buildings tied together by a shared podium, giving the project a more scaled-down look.
“A lot of buyers here have had single-family homes, and this has a smaller building feel to it, which is important to many of the people we’ve sold to,” says Niall Collins, a senior vice-president with Cadillac Fairview Corp, which is developing the project in partnership with Fram Building Group.
Mid-rise condos are a key element of the City of Toronto’s Avenues Program, an initiative aimed at encouraging intensification along the city’s main avenues, such as College St., Dundas St., Queen St. and Roncesvalles Ave.
The buildings offer an effective means of adding density in these built-up areas while preserving the integrity of the neighbourhoods with building designs that (hopefully) complement the surrounding streetscape and environs.
Mid-rises aren’t just cropping up in existing neighbourhoods, mind you.
Medium-density buildings are also providing the basis for the growth of entirely new downtown areas, Lawlor notes. She cites as prime examples two projects she’s been selling recently: the Remington Group’s Downtown Markham development and Canary District Condos, home of the 2015 Pan Am Games athletes’ village.
In Markham, Remington’s Nexus South condo will have 226 units in a 14-storey building with retail at the base. Down in the West Don Lands, Canary District ultimately will include 800 condos spread out across eight buildings, the majority of them mixed-use, mid-rise developments.
“I think we’re going to see more mid-rise buildings starting to appear downtown,” says Jason Lester of Dundee Capital, the project’s developer.
“In some areas there are just too many towers; it almost feels like (the tower) is turning into a commodity. It’s getting hard to distinguish one from another.” By contrast, mid-rise buildings tend to inspire more architectural creativity. Take, for example, the striking design of a project such as 12 Degrees. The 11-storey building on Beverley St. north of Queen St. features a two-floor section that will be offset from the rest of the structure by 12 degrees.
“I’m seeing some really sharp, very modern architecture emerging on mid-rise buildings,” says Lawlor. “It certainly adds interest to our streetscapes, and that’s a real blessing for our buyers, because mid-rise buildings in the past tended to be a bit blah, a bit pedestrian.”
What’s more, she notes, the modest size of a mid-rise project means it typically sells faster and can be built sooner.
That’s proven to be a major selling point for B.Streets. The building went on sale only a year ago and it’s already under construction.
“It’s a definite sales attraction,” says Klugmann. “Because buyers can see the end in sight.”