The Dale [99 & 121 Parkdale Ave) | 91+105m | 29+33f | U/C - Page 8

kwoldtimer · #**141** Posted **Sep 20, 2013, 1:32 AM**

"My kind of town, Chicago is....."

McC · #**142** Posted **Sep 20, 2013, 11:22 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by S-Man

Al Pacino/Robert DeNiro/Ron Burgundy stands on a cliff over a city and says "This is my town", etc.

You're a monster.

ars · #**143** Posted **Sep 20, 2013, 3:34 PM**

How come there's no market for unique looking towers like this, but millions of people lining up for bland looking beige buildings(or you would think with the amount of those we have popping up in our city)?

JackBauer24 · #**144** Posted **Sep 20, 2013, 3:39 PM**

For half the city's population (mainly the older Baby Boomers) Ottawa is a big, small city. For the other half (mainly Gen. Y) Ottawa is a small, big city. This has to do with the amalgamation of the municipalities 20 or so years ago.

Being over 1M ppl in the metro area, the term "town" should never be used to Ottawa.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Radster

Ok, fine, small city, but with a town-mentality.

McC · #**145** Posted **Sep 20, 2013, 3:40 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by ars

How come there's no market for unique looking towers like this, but millions of people lining up for bland looking beige buildings(or you would think with the amount of those we have popping up in our city)?

builder reputation, location, timing to market (dip in the cycle), inscrutable floorplans, fear of the eventual price in condo fees of maintaining/providing the crazy list of features/amenities; lots of reasons probably, Mr Bauer might have a few more suggestions.

McC · #**146** Posted **Sep 20, 2013, 3:42 PM**

and beige is popular, check out people's trousers; never seen anyone wearing rhombus-shaped trousers. think about it.

JackBauer24 · #**147** Posted **Sep 20, 2013, 3:48 PM**

IMO, the Icon sales are struggling because of a few reasons:
- their floor plans are not that well designed.
- they're quality is low and their prices are as high as any Claridge project, meaning the value is low. Claridge relied on their locations to sell their project without ever changing the specification (or making very minor changes to it), and I feel this has finally caught up to them.
- their floor premium is too high for a 45 story building - let's say you're charging $300k for a 600 sq. ft. 1 bdrm, at an increase of $1k/floor, that caps it out at $340k for the same suite with almost the same view as the one on the 30th, 25th, 20th and so on - is there any reason to buy at that price?

Very few local builders have built a project that caters to the specific market place where the project is being built. Little Italy isn't the ByWard Market or downtown, it's near Dow's Lake and the Civic Hospital area - those areas naturally attract Baby Boomers. Baby Boomers don't want sub-1000 sq. ft. 2 bdrms or sub-650 sq. ft. 1 bdrms. They want space, convenience and lower maintenance. The Icon offers lower maintenance, but convenience (being located at one of the busiest intersections in the city) and space (see their website) are not offered.

Domicile's Hom sold very well, as has/is Soho Champagne - both of those sites are a little more Baby Boomer friendly than the Icon. And their results speak for themselves.

Quote:

Originally Posted by S-Man

I've heard around that the Claridge Icon is struggling for sales, and I can probably see why - price, saturated market, lack of demand, or all three.

At this point, in the short term anyway, I think we'd be lucky to see Soho Italia built. There must be a limit on the number of people itching to buy a 1-bedroom condo for $300-400K in this town.

But, I could be wrong.

ars · #**148** Posted **Sep 20, 2013, 3:50 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by McC

and beige is popular, check out people's trousers; never seen anyone wearing rhombus-shaped trousers. think about it.

Well you never know, the rhombus-shaped trouser market may be a multi-billion dollar industry in the making.

JackBauer24 · #**149** Posted **Sep 20, 2013, 3:52 PM**

Agreed. I don't think it has much to do with the actual exterior look, but rather the simplicity of the maintenance of a building with limited amenities keeping the condo fees low, and the prices are kept low by not paying your architect to push too many boundaries. If you keep the design simple, you don't go through an expensive process with the city to get higher density/height, and you don't add too many luxurious features, the cost of the condos will be low. Lower prices will always attract buyers.

Quote:

Originally Posted by McC

builder reputation, location, timing to market (dip in the cycle), inscrutable floorplans, fear of the eventual price in condo fees of maintaining/providing the crazy list of features/amenities; lots of reasons probably, Mr Bauer might have a few more suggestions.

JackBauer24 · #**150** Posted **Sep 20, 2013, 3:53 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by McC

and beige is popular, check out people's trousers; never seen anyone wearing rhombus-shaped trousers. think about it.

Nor do you see people wearing 46 story trousers with views of Dow's Lake. The builders marketing teams have to go back to the drawing table.

McC · #**151** Posted **Sep 20, 2013, 3:53 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by ars

Well you never know, the rhombus-shaped trouser market may be a multi-billion dollar industry in the making.

kickstarter; give it a shot!

ars · #**152** Posted **Sep 20, 2013, 4:00 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by JackBauer24

Agreed. I don't think it has much to do with the actual exterior look, but rather the simplicity of the maintenance of a building with limited amenities keeping the condo fees low, and the prices are kept low by not paying your architect to push too many boundaries. If you keep the design simple, you don't go through an expensive process with the city to get higher density/height, and you don't add too many luxurious features, the cost of the condos will be low. Lower prices will always attract buyers.

Good point

We really need to open up the downtown market to condo developers who want to build taller buildings.

Boxster · #**153** Posted **Sep 20, 2013, 4:07 PM**

IMO, $1K per floor is very reasonable.The VIU has a $7K premium per floor on 1 bedroom units and close to $20K on some higher end units.

Quote:

Originally Posted by JackBauer24

- their floor premium is too high for a 45 story building - let's say you're charging $300k for a 600 sq. ft. 1 bdrm, at an increase of $1k/floor, that caps it out at $340k for the same suite with almost the same view as the one on the 30th, 25th, 20th and so on - is there any reason to buy at that price?
IMO, the Icon sales are struggling because of a few reasons:

Harley613 · #**154** Posted **Sep 20, 2013, 6:35 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by JackBauer24

For half the city's population (mainly the older Baby Boomers) Ottawa is a big, small city. For the other half (mainly Gen. Y) Ottawa is a small, big city. This has to do with the amalgamation of the municipalities 20 or so years ago.

Being over 1M ppl in the metro area, the term "town" should never be used to Ottawa.

I agree with you...there are 1,236,000 + in the NCR in 2011 and 1,451,000+ in Eastern Ontario/Western Quebec... It's actually quite a large city... but the problem is that I ALWAYS RUN INTO EVERYONE I KNOW ALL THE TIME!!!

McC · #**155** Posted **Sep 20, 2013, 6:47 PM**

and the borderline-incestuous stuff like: my boss' wife's boss is my wife's boss' wife (true story, involving three different organizations), that seems to happen all the time.

trhgr · #**156** Posted **Sep 21, 2013, 2:28 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by McC

and the borderline-incestuous stuff like: my boss' wife's boss is my wife's boss' wife (true story, involving three different organizations), that seems to happen all the time.

This also describes the relationship between local government and builders in this city.

canabiz · #**157** Posted **Oct 24, 2013, 1:15 AM**

This story confirms Tega abandoned the sales centre and sold the property to another developer, after selling only 30 units

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/ottawa/ottawa-condo-surplus-causing-prices-to-drop-1.2159075

McC · #**158** Posted **Oct 24, 2013, 1:26 AM**

It couldn't have happened to nicer people.

YOWetal · #**159** Posted **Oct 24, 2013, 3:40 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by ars

Good point

We really need to open up the downtown market to condo developers who want to build taller buildings.

I am all for more height, downtown and frankly everywhere, the issue is not developers as they all want to build taller buildings already. The city and by extension voters have to be for it as well.

waterloowarrior · #**160** Posted **Nov 13, 2013, 5:55 AM**

Brigil confirmed
http://www.brigil.com/communautes/121-parkdale.php

demolition control application
http://app01.ottawa.ca/postingplans/appDetails.jsf?lang=en&appId=__9TGC8Z

The Building is being demolished as part if the site plan application process. We want to build a sales office on site and eventually build an appartment building. The residential unit will be replaced by a tower housing 180 units.