Talk about a cool mixed use, commercial/residential condo project!
They say that “it’s hard to make a good impression the second time around” and that has always run true with me, but 1 Bloor East, a 76 storey tower at the intersection of Yonge and Bloor Streets is doing exactly that!
This is actually the second go around for this development.
The first time was a disaster waiting to happen when I did my due diligence. A no-name developer with no history of having built anything in Canada, let alone Toronto who tried selling their condo units like dope, by bulk selling through selected Realtors who would then bring their buyers in under the guise of being a VIP Pre-Launch Sales Event.
I take my responsibilities as a buyers agent very seriously and the law requires that as your buyers agent, I “must do everything to protect the best interests of my client” (that would be you, if you were buying a condo in Toronto).
CBC (Canada’s major national television network was doing a TV Special and had contacted me to see if I could get them access to a couple of these phoney events.
I say phoney because what is being sold are the developer’s “dog suites” (suites that will be difficult for the developer to sell once there’s a building and people can see the unit).
Obviously speculators buy into the theory that the developer is going to “give away its plumb suites at a discount so they can sell those “dog suites” when the building is there“???
Please! Give me a break! But they do! I see them all the time at this type of side-show.
I don’t take my clients in to these for precisely that reason. These events are a “sham” and my clients know it because I’ve told them.
You can still buy units today and although you can’t get into the building let alone the units, you and I can study the plans at your leisure and identify the one that works for you and then see if it is available.
Now, doesn’t that sound logical. But these events are like carney side shows. I know because I helped develop the strategy that creates a buying frenzy atmosphere.
Well, this no-name entrepreneur masquerading as a developer assigned floors of units to his “insider group of” Toronto real estate agents and had them go out and sell a substantial percentage of the building, only to, on the day of the VIP Sales Event, inform them that the prices at which he sold them the units were not increased by over 25%!
Imagine! Wining and dining the local real estate community, politicians, dignitaries, et al while all the while playing a three card monty shell game with the people who have worked hard to sell your units, and then blackmailing the buyers and their agents for more money.
As I started to say earlier, I don’t work with cold-start developers, or lawyers turned developers either, because I take my profession very seriously, so I didn’t take any buyers. I was also quite confident (enough to bet CBC on camera) that the site “would not fly“.
And like a bumble bee learning aerodynamics and learning that he could not fly, down 1 Bloor East went! CBC did not air my warning but produced a glitzy looking piece for their weekly show Marketplace showing the massive crowd winding down Bloor Street, the arrival of the Mayor and a bunch of dignitaries, and the champaign filled room with agents and their clients climbing all over each other (while in reality the majority of the units had been already sold).
Selling out a condo development is child’s play. Building a condo building to Code (as inefficient as that is) and interacting with all the various Municipal departments of the City of Toronto; and then getting Occupancy completed and deficiencies remedied, and getting the condo corporation “Registered” IS what this business is all about!
The developers in Toronto that can do all of this right are the only developers that I recommend to my global clients.
Well, as I had predicted on camera with CBC, the whole thing fell apart and no-one made any money! Cheques never got cashed so no-one was out money but the entire show exposed the ugly under belly of this industry.
The developer didn’t have a clue of how things work in this city. They’ve teamed up with another lower end developer now and both brag, in print about their “unblemished” track record in development (there is nowhere that you can check). I wouldn’t buy a condo from either of them and if I wouldn’t buy for myself, I never recommend clients to buy.
Great Gulf, one of the few developers that I would have confidence in picked up the damaged bird (site) and later re-launched the site with a complete new design.
Today’s photograph (above) shows a “flowing monument to architecture“, and is already making the statement that it will be one of the finest buildings in the city.
It is redefining Yonge and Bloor, where Yorkville meets Bloor St. East, two of the city’s premier condo communities.
You have to have vision to see the final result but the photograph shows how exterior walls of glass have become moving space and balconies form a geometric design that is highly unique.
In Condo Land, it’s all about developer, location, architecture, plans, which a heavy emphasis on developer! I’m going to study the available remaining plans and let my readers know what I think, but in my book, 3 out of 4 ain’t bad!
If you would like any information about units remaining, simply email me or give me a call at 647-667-9707.
I’m Charles
