Quote:
Originally Posted by LikeHamilton
In the picture there are 3 buildings. From left to right, the first building was the 2nd building to lose it's brick siding in the early 80's. It is now covered in a metal siding. The middle building lost its brick siding on the Saturday of the Plastimet weekend. This call and other structure fires that 5 day period of the Plastimet fire really taxed the resources of Fire, Police and Paramedics. The side was re-bricked. The 3rd building did not have a problem. Both buildings lost the east side of the building. You can see the north side of building 1 has been partially rebuilt before it collapsed.
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Interesting history, thanks. I had wondered why
43 Forest was clad in both conventional brown brick around the balconies and larger, block like bricks elsewhere - in contrast to
50 Young which has an otherwise nearly identical architectural design. I guess the loss of bricks is why.
I actually live in one of the buildings of the complex so I can provide some more information on the buildings and the current work.
Starlight's ownership and DMS's management has been a huge improvement over Continuum REIT's ownership and Q Residential's management in general. The buildings are finally seeing some much needed investments and effort put into them.
They've been working on beefing up security of the complex which has been one of the more serious longtime issues. Many more security cameras have been installed, and the entry system has been switched from keys to fobs, with more locations requiring a fob to access.
The exterior renovations have been pretty extensive as well, with balcony slab edge replacement, spot repairs to exterior bricks, as well as the obvious painting. Originally, I was told we'd be getting new balcony railings but instead they opted to reuse the existing ones with additional 'privacy screening' added on to the glass. They seem to be in fine condition and I believe they're about 15 years old but architecturally I think the clean dark tinted balcony guards would have gone better with the new aesthetic.
Interior, I believe they are planning for some common area refreshes. I don't believe there has been any work done on this front yet, though, at least not in my building and not visible. From what I can tell, they are not planning any work on the hallways which is a shame as they badly need to be fixed up. My understanding is that Continuum/Q Residential did work in the hallways in a few years before I moved in, but the quality is really poor and you would not be able to tell. There are a number of patches here and there where they've had to fix pipes etc. and not (yet) properly repaired the drywall, as well.
The top floor of my building, which used to have amenities for the residents, prior to my moving in, was supposed to be converted into more units. Continuum and Q Residential were planning that as early as 2018, but there doesn't seem to be much progress on that front.
As residents move out of units, they are being completely renovated with new floors, kitchens, bathrooms, stainless steel appliances, etc. These renovated units start at just under $1,500 for a one bedroom. The same units, pre-renovation, in 2018 went for about $1,000, so not an insignificant increase.
The main issue that doesn't seem to be addressed is the water. My building sees water shut off from 9-to-5 essentially once per week.
All in all, things seem headed in the right direction apart from a few longstanding gripes.
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