Shared workspace takes hold at Axis Condos
Development with offices, meeting rooms and state-of-the-art tech targets freelancers, entrepreneurs
There’s an up-and-coming generation of young condo buyers on the move and developers of Axis Condos on Church St. are betting they’ll love its concept of living and working in the same place.
Shamez Virani, president of CentreCourt Developments, explains work is very much a thing, not a place, for its targeted homebuyers and Axis is offering nearly 4,000 square feet of shared workplace amenities, with a boardroom, meeting rooms, private offices as well as two- to three-person offices, a kitchen and state-of-the-art technology in the form of printers, scanners and video-conferencing capabilities.
“Who knows, maybe even a 3D printer,” Virani says and laughs. “This is three or four years down the road. We’re committed to the shared workspace and the technology, so who knows what will be cutting-edge then.”
The plan is to offer something beyond the 468square-foot, one-bedroom-plus-studio units to the 775-square-foot, two-bedroom-plus-studio units being built for occupancy at 411 Church St. in 2019.
Axis will be 38 storeys and all 575 suites will have balconies, starting in the $300,000 range and rising to the mid-$600,000s.
The building will feature a striking, white honeycomb-like exterior and a luxurious two-storey lobby clad in white marble with gold accents and Fendi-designed furniture. “When you look around the area, Church and Carlton, you’re right in the knowledge economy of Toronto,” Virani says. “Ryerson University and the University of Toronto are there; you’re close to hospital alley, Bay Street and even the MaRS discovery district. The coffee shops around here are jammed with people working.”
The knowledge that people buying condos are mobile — they work anywhere, any time, Virani says — Axis is seeking to offer something more practical, instead of party rooms and theatre rooms.
“We wanted to stand out from the sea of condos in Toronto and this is what came to us,” he says.
“We see young entrepreneurs with startups who need office space but have limited funds. We’re offering this space with workspaces, meeting rooms and a boardroom and support technology.”
The plan is to give the condo owners a workspace outside their units where they can collaborate with others or just feed off the energy.
Pulling together the design for a residential tower with a large workspace facility has been a natural step for design firm figure3, said the company’s vice-president Dominic De Freitas.
“We work in three areas — residential, workspace and retail — so it has been very natural,” he says. “We wanted to tie the shared workspace and the fitness centre together to create a space where residences would be much more socially interactive. Many condos have amenity spaces that aren’t designed for collaboration. The party rooms and theatre rooms are locked and empty, and when people use them, they tend to do so with their own friends, not other residents.”
Axis’s fitness centre and shared workspace will be on the second floor and will overlook a green roof area. There will also be a rooftop terrace on the eighth level, on top of the last podium level.
“The workspace itself is lots of blond wood with black and white and pops of colour,” De Freitas said.
“There are banquettes, standup desks and coffee-table desks with couches. There’s a full kitchen, too, with a large island and chairs around it.”
One aim is for those working and living in the building to get to know
“We wanted to stand out in the sea of condos in Toronto and this is what came to us.” SHAMEZ VIRANI PRESIDENT, CENTRECOURT DEVELOPMENTS
each other as neighbours and as work colleagues, and perhaps crossfertilize each other’s businesses in an extended form of networking.
“Here, they pull out their laptops and they’re working,” Virani says. “Some people like to be around other people. They don’t like working alone in their units because they feel too isolated.”
Virani says CentreCourt Develop- ments had looked at pay-to-share workspaces such as WeWork, which plans to expand to Toronto. The company has 128 office locations in 39 cities across 13 countries. It targets freelancers and startups, as well as other innovative companies. Users become members and then buy credits to access the workspaces.
The shared Axis workspace will be free to residents and is an extension of the shared economy spawned by the digital age which brought us Airbnb and Uber.
“We’re also including two Tesla electric cars — whatever models they have when we turn the project over to the condominium corporation,” Virani says. “These buyers probably won’t have cars, given the location and lifestyle. They take transit, walk, bike or Uber.”