Claridge Icon [505 Preston St] | 143m | 45 fl | Completed

[cr872190]

Originally Posted by JHikka

Looks like just over 25% of its total height. Crazy.

10 floors / 45 floors = 22%

[dhottawa729]

Curious of the progress, I've been making notes in my phone every time they put up the walls on a new floor. They seem to have really picked up speed now that the weather is good! It's exciting to see this rise up out of that very deep hole!

• March 23rd - 7th floor walls
• April 9th - 8th floor walls (11 weekdays/floor)
• April 20th - 9th floor walls (10 weekdays/floor)
• April 30th 10th floor walls (6 weekdays/floor)
• May 8 - 11th floor walls (7 weekdays/floor)

[JHikka]

May 14, 2018


flickr, by me


flickr, by me

[Davis137]

I keep forgetting that the building is in an L-shape above the podium...I think that if it was just the south facing part, the building wouldn't be very big overall...it's going to be cool to see this building dwarf everything else around it by the fall...

[Luker]

Not certain if it was already brought up, but I noticed a couple months ago the church directly adjacent of the Icon is now for sale. Does my memory serve me correct that Claridge did try to buy but they couldn't come to a deal then?

[Luker]

Originally Posted by kevinbottawa

This is almost the size of the Mizrahi development in Westboro. Imagine this at the corner of Wellington West and Island Park.

Interesting point and idea to conceptualize.. Those landmark roof lines maybe lessen the massing...?

[McC]

Originally Posted by Luker

Not certain if it was already brought up, but I noticed a couple months ago the church directly adjacent of the Icon is now for sale. Does my memory serve me correct that Claridge did try to buy but they couldn't come to a deal then?

I remember an article in the paper where church leaders were basically begging Claridge to buy them out, but that doesn't mean they could agree on price.

[JHikka]

For sale sign is still up on the church as of today.

[YOW613]

Hi guys

Does anybody else think that the condo fees are suspiciously too low? It is around $200 for a 1b condo.

https://claridgehomes.com/public/assets/files/pricing/Icon-Pricing-January-24-2018.pdf (second page)

Yow.

[1overcosc]

Given the set if amenities proposed, yep I'd say $200 is not nearly enough.

The 24 hour concierge is actually the biggest budget killer. That alone can add over $100 to each unit's fees in most buildings. Because this one is so big, probably only around $60-$70 but still thats a very expensive amenity.

This is why I don't buy a condo. I don't want to pay money for a 24 hour concierge and a gym and a pool and all this other stuff I'd never use. There should be more buildings available that have bare bones amenities with minimal fees, Im sure there's plenty of stingy people like me that would jump all over that.

[trhgr]

Originally Posted by 1overcosc

Given the set if amenities proposed, yep I'd say $200 is not nearly enough.

The 24 hour concierge is actually the biggest budget killer. That alone can add over $100 to each unit's fees in most buildings. Because this one is so big, probably only around $60-$70 but still thats a very expensive amenity.

This is why I don't buy a condo. I don't want to pay money for a 24 hour concierge and a gym and a pool and all this other stuff I'd never use. There should be more buildings available that have bare bones amenities with minimal fees, Im sure there's plenty of stingy people like me that would jump all over that.

A concierge wouldn’t cost as much for such a large building ($45K per year with benefits represents $12.5 per month per unit for 300 units if the cost is shared equally by all units). It is not a bad investment considering the size of this condo.
This being said, condo fees on the claridge website are extremely low, and I think we they will go up once the condo is incorporated and owners will have to contribute more actively to the reserve fund.

[1overcosc]

Originally Posted by trhgr

A concierge wouldn’t cost as much for such a large building ($45K per year with benefits represents $12.5 per month per unit for 300 units if the cost is shared equally by all units). It is not a bad investment considering the size of this condo.
This being said, condo fees on the claridge website are extremely low, and I think we they will go up once the condo is incorporated and owners will have to contribute more actively to the reserve fund.

Its way more than $12.50 per unit because you're missing one key piece of the math: its a 24 hour concierge. One $45k staff member isn't going to work 168 hours a week. You'd need 4 full time concierges each covering different shifts to attain 24/7 coverage, so $180k in salaries. Benefits plus payroll taxes typically add 15% so thats $216k a year split amongst 320 units... That's $56 a month!!! That's a lot of money to pay for a useless amenity.

[J.OT13]

I'm sure Google has a device that does nearly everything a concierge can do.

[trhgr]

Originally Posted by 1overcosc

Its way more than $12.50 per unit because you're missing one key piece of the math: its a 24 hour concierge. One $45k staff member isn't going to work 168 hours a week. You'd need 4 full time concierges each covering different shifts to attain 24/7 coverage, so $180k in salaries. Benefits plus payroll taxes typically add 15% so thats $216k a year split amongst 320 units... That's $56 a month!!! That's a lot of money to pay for a useless amenity.

Right. I underestimated the cost (it’s the price we pay our on-site super, which is different). I still think that a concierge is a good idea in a very large building to help monitor the in and out traffic.

[Innsertnamehere]

Conceirge typically gets less than $40k, more like 30-35k. It's not much above minimum from my understanding.

[c_speed3108]

Under provincial rules the developer must cover any shortfall in the condo budget for the first year (as they were the one to set the initial fees). As a result they are often intentionally estimated low by the developer (some even just offer free fees for the first year), to make units more attractive to buy.

There is no way of know exactly whether any particular building has done so, but I know many real estate agents that "recommend" mentally adding somewhere between 30-50% to the quoted fees to make sure you are safe cost/budget wise.

The other alternative is to wait to buy until a building is about 3 years old (when the budget has stabilized). The price is likely higher than pre-construction or during construction pricing though so that is a trade-off. There will also be less choice of unit.

[AndyMEng]

Originally Posted by c_speed3108

Under provincial rules the developer must cover any shortfall in the condo budget for the first year (as they were the one to set the initial fees). As a result they are often intentionally estimated low by the developer (some even just offer free fees for the first year), to make units more attractive to buy.

There is no way of know exactly whether any particular building has done so, but I know many real estate agents that "recommend" mentally adding somewhere between 30-50% to the quoted fees to make sure you are safe cost/budget wise.

The other alternative is to wait to buy until a building is about 3 years old (when the budget has stabilized). The price is likely higher than pre-construction or during construction pricing though so that is a trade-off. There will also be less choice of unit.

In my experience condo fees are always a touchy topic with early-buyers of condos. My advice is to never own a condo more than 5 years, as that's the time when the first shoddy materials start to raise their ugly heads. (I'm looking at you, cheap curtain wall and caulking.) If these condos started out 10% more expensive and were actually built like an investment building, there wouldn't be such problems, but that's and ENTIRELY different topic of discussion.

A condo like this would probably be average more like $450/550 in the first 15 years and increasing after that. Mind you, hopefully with updated legislation, you don't end up with $800/month to cover future major shortfalls.

[mtcross]

[J.OT13]

For those who understand French, this is worth watching. It outlines a few incidents prior to Olivier Bruneau's death that further show how neglectful Claridge and sub-contractors were.

100% preventable.

https://ici.radio-canada.ca/tele/le-tele...ortage/73885/olivier-bruneau-revelations

[Davis137]

The building is getting tall enough now, that you can see it from different vantage points around the city...