Fabrik Condos is launching this week in the heart of the Fashion District. Contact me now for floor plans and pricing for the VIP sales event.

Fabrik represents really the first new launch in what promises to be a very busy 2012 for the new condo market. The developer on this project is Menkes, which is considered a blue chip developer in Toronto. They have been building for decades and they are behind some very well known projects like Gibson Square and Savvy up at Yonge and Sheppard, 770 Bay (Lumiere) and The Four Seasons downtown. Of course what they are really going to be known for when 2012 is all said and done is 1 York / 90 Harbour which promises to be one of the largest projects ever attempted in Toronto. Rest assured when you buy from Menkes you are working with one of the best.

Fabrik is going to be a nice boutique project right on Richmond, just west of Spadina. Popular resale buildings nearby include 477 Richmond (live-work lofts, formerly an office building), 438 Richmond (The Morgan by Great Gulf), 388 Richmond (District Lofts by Context). Nearby pre-construction projects that could be considered direct competitors would be Brant Park (Brad Lamb), 32 Camden (Sorbara), and Lofts 399 (Cresford). In general, prices in the resale market for this pocket west of Spadina are lower than those east of Spadina, so I’m hoping that prices at Fabrik will reflect this reality i.e. they will be priced lower than the likes of King-Charlotte, Tableau, Peter Street, The Bond etc.

Please contact me today for your chance to buy at Fabrik before the public opening! Continue reading for a marketing video on the project put out by the developer.

This condo is launching in 2012. Contact me for floor plans and pricing and your chance to buy before the public launch!

The good news is that after nearly 3 months of no sales, there have been a couple sales at Festival Tower in the last week. A 1 bedroom + den with no parking sold for $435K (approximately $693 per square foot), but the sale that really got my attention was a studio that just went for $365K. To my knowledge, this represents the highest selling price for a studio apartment in the city over the past year, and possibly EVER (for resales, not pre-construction). At this price the buyer paid approximately $750 per square foot. Very impressive and shows that studio apartments can sometimes be fantastic investments as these units were originally selling in the mid $500s per square foot.

In addition, there are currently 3 units that are all sold conditionally (meaning they will likely be sold firm soon). All 3 are in the $414K-$452K range and all are 1 bed/1 bath units. Once these sales start to go through, values will pretty much be set in the building and the dominoes should start to fall. I will continue to watch with intrigue to see where values go in this building over the 6 months.

The big question is still this: will Festival Tower command a premium over other newly completed (or about to be completed) buildings in the area? The few sales we have seen so far seem to indicate that there will be a premium, but how much will that premium be exactly is still unknown.

Questions or comments? Please contact me any time.

March 10, 2011 update: Floor plans and pricing now available. Suite reservations being accepted starting now. Contact me for details.

Coming soon from The Sorbara Group, 32 Camden. Another boutique condo project with only 87 units and standing just 10 storeys tall, this beautiful looking low-rise will make a great addition to the immensely popular King and Spadina neighbourhood. Contact me for your opportunity to buy before the public launch. Floor plans and pricing due out this week!

You may not have heard of The Sorbara Group, but they are actually very experienced developers in Toronto with 60 Bathurst, 60 Niagara, 400 Wellington, in their portfolio amongst others. They are also known for two of Toronto’s most well known conversions – Broadview Lofts (68 Broadview) and Brewery Lofts (90 Sumach). The firm is also involved in many other areas of real estate investment and land development all over the GTA.

I have high hopes that the prices in this project will be much more attractive than those of the nearby King-Charlotte building. Being on a side street on the west side of Spadina should make this one more affordable.

More details to come later this week! Stay tuned and contact me if you would like to be kept in the know for this project. More photos after the jump.

From the developer:

Home shouldn’t look like an office tower. With just eighty-seven suites, 32 Camden is  downtown living on an intimate scale.   No waiting for elevators.  No waiting for gym equipment.  No more waiting for the perfect place to live.  This is more than a quiet building, it’s an environment.  It’s a shared experience that transforms suite numbers  into neighbours, stimulates spontaneous conversations and fosters our social nature.

Feb 18 update: Floor plans now available. VIP broker event set for March 8. Pricing rumored to be VERY good for this one. Contact me for details on why this could be the best investment pick for King West in 2011.

King Charlotte Condos is another hotly anticipated project from Lamb Developments at King and Spadina. On the heels of the well received Theatre Park development, Lamb and his partner Niche Developments are wasting no time in bringing this one to market. The site will be at 11 Charlotte Street, in between Adelaide and King, across the street from GLAS (one of my favourite buildings in the city and another Lamb project). If you are interested in purchasing a suite at King Charlotte before this project opens to the public, please contact me.

The project will have 230 suites and rise 32 storeys, giving it a distinctly tall and sleek feel. Designed by architectsAlliance, the same architect behind Theatre Park, the building will have ground level retail and rooftop amenities including a rooftop pool. The views from the roof will probably be some of the best in the area and will rival that of the rooftop pool area at BISHA around the corner.

No word on pricing yet, but with GLAS selling as a resale building in the high $500s per square foot, I would anticipate that the average $PSF in this building will likely be around $625, and units facing south on high floors will likely fetch $700PSF.

Pricing Update: 1 bedrooms from $241,900, 1+dens from $327,900, 2 beds from $435,900, and 3 bedrooms from $558,900.

King and Spadina is getting very crowded. Hard to believe that 10 years ago this intersection was condo-free and you’d be hard pressed to find any condo developer looking for land to build here.  Now there are so many buildings within 200m of this intersection either built, under construction, or proposed that it’s hard to say any other area is ‘hotter’ than King and Spadina anywhere downtown.

King street between University and Spadina is clearly poised to become the best area downtown to live for key demographic that is driving the condo market – the young urban professional. Some have dubbed this area Toronto’s next Yorkville, or some kind of a SOHO-type neighbourhood, but it’s more than either of those. It’s really becoming the pulse of the city.

If you would like to receive prices and floor plans for King Charlotte, please contact me.

From the builder:

King Charlotte’s architecture is based on a series of designed boxes, all of different types and sizes.

The boxes stack upon each other, and not necessarily in a fashion that one might initially imagine. The retail box protrudes from the podium box, the tower box appears to teeter and overhang the podium box, and the oversized rooftop amenity box actually does overhang the tower box.

It is all very playful, yet incredibly clean and crisp.

Recently I have been encouraging my clients to see past the hype of the latest flavour-of-the-month condo projects and consider buying at existing new developments that may be as much as 80-90% sold out. Some of these are offering excellent value compared to their newly launched competitors.

Common wisdom says that the best time to buy a new condo is always at the VIP stage – the earliest possible point where prices will always be lowest.  This is usually true, but when a developer sees a lineup outside his sales centre that is 2 blocks long before he opens his doors, rest assured he is going to tell his sales department to raise the prices because they are obviously not charging enough! The end result is many buyers who buy at these VIP events are shocked when they compare the price they paid with the price they thought they were going to pay based on pre-VIP sale advertised price points.

Here are 5 units that are currently available for purchase with only 5% total deposit at two great developments at King and Spadina – M5V and Victory, and one in Liberty Village – Liberty Market Lofts. This is a true 5% down, with nothing further due at occupancy.*

1. M5V Condominiums – “M17″ unit, 721 Sq Ft, 1+den, 29th floor, $442K
2. M5V Condominiums – “M30″ unit, 852 Sq Ft, 2 bed, 26th floor, $502K
3. M5V Condominiums – “M23A” unit, 763 Sq Ft, 2 bed, 30th floor, $471K
4. Victory Condominiums – “Darling A” unit, 765 Sq Ft, 2 bed, 11th floor, $405K
5. Liberty Market Lofts – 885 Sq Ft, 1+den, 5th floor, $385K

*Disclaimer: Limited time offer. Prices and conditions subject to change at any time. Information is deemed to be accurate but TrueCondos.com and Andrew la Fleur do not guarantee accuracy. Some conditions apply. Contact me for details.