Get Ready! Minto is Launching 2 New Condos in Downtown Toronto

Andrew la Fleur:
On this special episode, I want to talk to you about two exciting new projects coming downtown, stay tuned.

Speaker 2:
Welcome to the True Condos Podcast with Andrew La Fleur. The place to get the truth on the Toronto condo market, and condo investing in Toronto.

Andrew la Fleur:
Hi, welcome back to the show. Thank you again for tuning in as always. Andrew La Fleur here, your host for the True Condos Podcast, and thanks for listening. Once again, if you ever want to get a hold of me you can do so, Andrew@TrueCondos.com. Or, you can call me, 416-371-2333. We’re in the middle of the Fall market, and it’s a very, very busy market here, depending on when you’re listening to this. This is, we’re talking about Fall 2019, and the market is red hot.

Andrew la Fleur:
Everything is selling very quickly. Prices are rising, new records are being set. Is it as crazy and wild as you know, maybe the 2017 era? No, probably not. But, there just seems to be a new launch every day, and projects are pretty much selling out routinely all around the city, suburbs, downtown, uptown, inside, outside, everywhere. The market is doing very well. Resell market is also very strong, rental market is very strong.

Andrew la Fleur:
The only segment of the market overall that maybe is still showing some signs of weakness would probably be the over 1.5 million dollar range in the 905. That area, that part of the market is still slower, and not responding in the same way the rest of the market is. If you live in the 905 and you live in a decent area, and you’re seeing a lot of for-sale signs and not a lot of sold signs around you, that might be your perception of the market, that the market’s not good. But, that’s really the exception to the rule. Everything else, condos, pre-construction, resell.

Andrew la Fleur:
Even interestingly enough, new pre-construction low rise is finally starting to wake up, and a lot of signs of life there. Again, talked about it a lot on the podcast over the last six months, the low rise market is bouncing back after a couple of slow years. I do expect that market to do very well moving forward, over the next year or two as it’s … the sales have been effectively wiped out across the GTA, especially the 905. New low rise home sales have been dead, but now that is all changing, and that market is bouncing back. So, good to see lots of exciting things out there happening.

Andrew la Fleur:
If you’re looking at investing in the market, you are probably seeing lots of opportunities. I wanted to, in particular, highlight to you two opportunities that are coming up in the downtown core, downtown Toronto in the month of October 2019. Wanted to give you a special heads up, plenty of early warning about these two great buildings that are coming up. These aren’t the only buildings that are coming up, these aren’t the only great opportunities coming up. But, these are a couple that I specifically want to highlight to you, and they are both from Minto. Minto Communities, the developer. Amazing developer of course, and if you’ve been following me for the past number of years, you’ve probably heard me talk about Minto many, many times.

Andrew la Fleur:
If you are my client, there’s a good chance that you have purchased from Minto Communities as well, because I have sold probably more condos with Minto than any other real estate agent in the Toronto area over the last five years or so, roughly.

Andrew la Fleur:
Yeah, so I want to talk to you about these two exciting projects, what you need to know. Want to get you ready for these launches, give you plenty of lead time so that you know exactly when they’re coming. Mark your calendars, and just give you the heads up on all the information we know so far, so that you can be best prepared when they do come out. Because things will move quickly, things will sell quickly, so you want to really be prepared in this market. The more prepared you are, the more ready you are, the better your result that you’re going to get if you’re interested in investing in, particularly a project downtown this Fall. This is going to be very useful information for you.

Andrew la Fleur:
The two projects from Minto, one is called 123 Portland, the address is 123 Portland. And, the other project is called The Saint, and that is at 89 Church Street. Why I’m so excited about these projects in general, as I said, the number one reason is they’re both from Minto, and Minto is one of my favourite developers. I’ve personally invested with them multiple times, my family’s invested with them. As I said, many, many, many of my clients have purchased with Minto over the last five years at different Minto buildings. And, everybody is thrilled with the results that they’ve seen.

Andrew la Fleur:
Minto is just a really quality, quality builder. They really do things the right way, they really care. They build great buildings, great locations. They do things the right way. In this day and age with cancelled projects, and just builders that … of varying quality, and varying results that you get. It’s just refreshing and amazing to know that when you buy from somebody like a Minto, you just know you can sleep well at night. You know you’re going to get something high quality, and the result is going to be great, and the experience is going to be great for you as a purchaser, and as an investor. And, that’s amazing and becoming rarer and rarer, to sort of have that type of experience and that type of result.

Andrew la Fleur:
Minto has built 85,000 homes. These guys are big-time, big-time builder. They’re leading the industry really. There’s very few if any builders that can boast a number like that in our marketplace. 85,000 homes. They’ve been around obviously doing their thing for many decades now.

Andrew la Fleur:
The locations, of course, are fantastic, so let’s dive into. 123 Portland first of all. This project, most importantly you need to know, it’s launching on October 15th. October 15th. The information will come out, the worksheet process will begin. The process to reserve a suite by a worksheet, so that’s a form which is basically you stating your intention, your desire to secure a unit in the building. It will begin on October the 15th. So, you will receive the information from me if you’re receiving my email updates. And if you’re not, make sure you signup anywhere at Truecondos.com to get that. And, October 15th is the big day for 123 Portland.

Andrew la Fleur:
What do we know about the building? It’s 119 units, so it’s not a big building. It’s a sort of smaller boutique building, with a high-end luxury finish, and exclusive sort of feel to it. The building, the inspiration, the feel, the vibe of it, it’s sort of reminiscent of smaller buildings in Paris, in New York City. It’s meant to have that upscale luxury, true luxury. We say that we throw around the word luxury a lot, but actually true luxury, high quality feel to it. This is not just another mid-market, average, normal sort of a building. They’re going high end with it.

Andrew la Fleur:
Things like, the big one is the kitchens are all Miele Appliances, like standard. Beautiful materials and there will be options and things like herringbone floors, engineered wood floors, wainscoting, you can get wainscoting on the walls in the unit, and stuff like that as well. French doors, beautiful French doors with Juliet balcony’s, giving that real Parisian, sort of New York City feel to it. Again, it’s a small building, 119 units mid-rise building. Not a tall building, this is 123 Portland so it’s really the heart of King West, right in between King Street, and Queen Street, just a stone’s throw from either one of those streets. All the action and everything, the heart of King West and Queen West, right at your door.

Andrew la Fleur:
The building will have 24-hour concierge, we know that, which is rare for a small boutiquey building. Again, going to the high-end nature of it. The luxury nature of it. the amenities will be on the rooftop and the top floor of the building. There will be a small gym, there will be a party room, very high end, luxurious feel and vibe to it, and a really nice rooftop terrace as well. So, regardless of where you are in the building, it’s not really a building you’re buying for views, because it’s not a tall building. You’re buying it for location, exclusivity, and to be right in the heart of the King West vibe.

Andrew la Fleur:
What’s going on in King West, again if you don’t know. King West is really the new Yorkville, this stretch of King between Bathurst and Spadina especially. This is a stones throw away from where King Toronto, the most prestigious building in the city is going up, the most incredible design and architecture building that Toronto has ever seen. That’s a stones throw away. Bar, all the cities best bars and restaurants, and cafes, everything is happening now in King West here. This area is absolutely the hottest place to be in the city right now. It’s again, it’s the new Yorkville, so people with money who don’t want the old world of Yorkville, it’s sort of like new money is going to King West, old money is sort of Yorkville, is roughly speaking, the sort of vibe on the street right now.

Andrew la Fleur:
It’s probably going to take about three years to get built, this building. Expect it to be about three years away. Expect the deposit structure to be 20% probably over about a year and a half. Pricing, we’re not sure yet. But again, it’s a little bit more of a luxury, high-end building. We expect the prices will reflect that. That is 123 Portland, October 15th.

Andrew la Fleur:
Next building is called The Saint. It’s at 89 Church Street, so it’s Church and Adelaide. There’s a little parking lot there. More specifically, Church and Lombard if you know the area, the little parking lot that’s been sitting there, is finally going to be developed, and it is going to be an approximately 50 story tower. It’s called The Saint.

Andrew la Fleur:
This building, very different from Portland in the sense that it’s a point tower, it’s not a mid-rise building. It’s got 416 units in it, as opposed to Portland, a more boutiquey, 119 units. The finishes will be very nice, definitely better than average. Minto’s finishes tend to always be that way. Very high quality, really nice stuff, really well built, really … when you’re in a Minto unit, you really feel like this is a quality constructed, craftsmanship sort of a property. As opposed to most, the average builder. But, it’s not going to be that same, super high end, Miele Appliance package, and herringbone floors, and all that stuff like Portland. It’s going to be more of a, call it mid to high, mid/high sort of a market finish to it.

Andrew la Fleur:
The whole building’s going to have an emphasis on health and wellness, very zen, very spa sort of inspired. Almost like a bit of a Nobu vibe to it, that sort of Southern California, meets Japanese, traditional style, zen, modern, health, wellness spa. Like, earthy tones and materials, and stuff like that. It’s going to have that sort of vibe to it. It looks amazing, looks incredible. Absolutely pumped for this one. It will have obviously a much bigger amenity package compared to Portland, most notably there’s going to be a massive two-level sort of health and wellness gym area, with spa area, and a rain room, and all this funky stuff on, I think the third floor.

Andrew la Fleur:
Then, there will be more amenities on the top floor, and the rooftop with just incredible party rooms, and hangout areas, and lounges, and indoor/outdoor. A spectacular lobby right on Church Street, like a two-story lobby that just looks amazing. The inspiration, the feel behind it they wanted to create with The Saint is sort of like … it’s sort of like the way you sort of feel when you’re in an Apple Store, they say. It’s a funky, cool, warm, welcoming place that’s modern. Somewhere that you almost feel like you could just spend all day there. They want all the amenities and common areas to have that feel like it’s a place you could just hang out and spend all day. So, very excited about The Saint.

Andrew la Fleur:
And of course location-wise, incredible. Church and Adelaide, it’s such an amazing spot. You’re so close to everything. Obviously, the St. Lawrence Market is just down the street. You get the subway, Yonge Street Subway is just a block away. The financial district, of course, 10-minute walk to the financial district, and Bay Street, and everything there. It’s really an amazing location. While it’s so central and so close to everything, it’s just a little bit off to the side so to speak. You’re not right in the middle of the craziness. You’re not on Yonge Street where everything is just 24/7 in your face, but you’re so close to the action. You’re just like a block away, kind of thing. It really gives you that sort of sense of quiet, while at the same time being in the center of everything too.

Andrew la Fleur:
And, because of the buildings around you, what’s really exciting is some of the views from this building are going to be spectacular. You’re pretty much getting clear views in this 50 story building, pretty much all the way around. With the exception straight west, there will be a future tower coming up there. To the southwest, there is another existing tower, but it’s quite a bit setback so … I mean, with very few exceptions, the views from this building are going to be spectacular.

Andrew la Fleur:
In particular, directly south is going to be a very coveted view. Anything facing south, because there’s nothing in front of you. And especially high up, you’re going to have just amazing views of the water, the Toronto Islands, financial district. Facing north, you’re going to have that amazing view towards Yorkville, and Yonge and Bloor, which is like a skyline all on its own now, really a Manhattan sort of a view to the north. Then, east, of course, is completely clear as well.

Andrew la Fleur:
What else do you need to know about it? Deposit will probably also, expect it to be 20%, probably payable in over about a year and half period. This one, being a 50 story point tower in a very small postage stamp sort of a site, it’s probably going to take longer to get built. Minimum four years, probably closer to five years for a build of this nature. As opposed to 123 Portland, probably be built-in something closer to about three years I would say, but we’ll see with the official estimate of occupancies come out on these two buildings.

Andrew la Fleur:
What else do you need to know? If you are interested in these projects, again, you hopefully got some good heads up information so far. Of course, you can go to TrueCondos.com and just search for The Saint, or for 123 Portland to see more renderings, and pictures and stuff. We do have some sample floor plans available for them already.

Andrew la Fleur:
The main thing is, if you’re interested, tell me as soon as possible so I can get you on the early bird list for these projects. They are going to sell out quickly. There is a massive amount of demand and a massive amount of pre-launch hype for these projects. There’s a lot of people who are gearing up for them already. So, to make sure that you are on the front of the line and you have the best chance of getting a unit, let me know. Just send me an email, Andrew@TrueCondos.com. Put in the subject line, “Minto,” and just send me a note that says, “I’m in.” And, I’ll make sure to get you on the early bird list for these projects.

Andrew la Fleur:
And, the other thing is just get ready. Again, I’ll mention the dates again, not sure if I mentioned them, but I’ll say them again. 123 Portland launch date, October 15th. And, The Saint launch date, October 28th, about two weeks later. Bang, bang, these two projects are going. October 15th, Portland. October 28th, The Saint. Get ready, mark those days now on your calendar, be prepared to send in a worksheet for these projects on those dates to me, as soon as the information, the full pricing and floor plans is released, that’s when worksheets will be accepted. And, the contract signings will be a couple days after that launch.

Andrew la Fleur:
Yeah, get ready, be prepared. Very exciting to be once again, working on these Minto projects downtown. We haven’t had a new condo from Minto in the downtown core since it’s been about five years believe it or not. It’s great that Minto is back on the downtown condo scene, and they’re coming back in a big way with these two really exciting buildings. So, looking forward to it.

Andrew la Fleur:
Hope you found this podcast useful as always. If you did, share it with somebody that you know, somebody else who could find it useful and get value from it. Leave me a rating or review on iTunes, really appreciate it. And as I said, if you want to get in on these projects send me an email, Andrew@TrueCondos.com. Okay, until next time, have a great week, and happy investing.

Speaker 2:
Thanks for listening to the True Condos Podcast. Remember, your positive reviews make a big difference to the show. To learn more about condo investing, become a True Condo subscriber by visiting TrueCondos.com.