A few days ago it was announced that Blackstone has entered the multi-family space in Canada through a JV with Starlight Investments. They are buying 6 undisclosed multi-family buildings. 5 in Toronto. And 1 in Montréal. The total is 746 units. The message in the… Read More
Monthly archives of “June 2018”
Inaugural meet-up: Planners on bikes getting coffee
Remember my post from a few weeks ago about “planners on bikes getting coffee?” Well it happened. That’s the potential of blogging and Twitter. (I sold $TWTR too early.) Here is the selfie to prove it: Jason Thorne and I met up with Gil Meslin… Read More
Airbnb and affordable housing
Fred Wilson published a good post last weekend on the proposed bill that went to New York City Council this week regarding new reporting requirements for Airbnb and their hosts in NYC. You can read more about his position on his blog, but he is… Read More
Construction costs are no joke right now
I don’t know what it’s like in your market, but everyone is talking about it in the industry here in Toronto. Combine these rapidly rising hard costs with higher development charges and inclusionary zoning and you get significant upward pressure on condo prices and apartment… Read More
An open house with Jeanne Gang
On Thursday, July 5th, Slate Asset Management, Studio Gang, and the rest of the project team will be hosting a community open house where we will introduce designs for a new block plan and mixed-use building at Yonge + St. Clair. This will be Studio… Read More
The cost of failure
Kevin Rose is an internet entrepreneur. He has built a number of consumer products, including Digg in 2004. Previously he was a venture capitalist with Google Ventures, but now he’s doing that with True Ventures. He also hosts a podcast. This past weekend he posted… Read More
Toronto: 2000 vs. 2025
Last week, Joe Berridge, Partner at Urban Strategies, gave a presentation at the Institute on Municipal Finance & Governance titled, Toronto: The Accidental Metropolis. I’ve seen Joe give similar presentations to this one before, and I always thoroughly enjoy his focus on Toronto’s position as… Read More
Vancouver revisits laneway house program
Vancouver is light years ahead of Toronto when it comes to laneway housing/suites. And by light years I mean that their Laneway House (LWH) Program is about a decade old now. Last month the City of Vancouver published this staff report which outlined recommendations for… Read More
We’re new here. Find your home.
A simple registration page is now live for our upcoming Junction House (condo) project. We also got this neat sign made: Of course, eventually there will be a full website, but this is for people who want to get on the early registrant list and… Read More
Guide to hotels, inns, and hideaways
Monocle has a new guidebook out that is dedicated to hotels, inns, and hideaways. It also has a particular emphasis on the “honest, charming, quirky and independent.” So forget the conventional 5-star hotels. Hotels are fascinating places, even in today’s world of Airbnb. If you’re planning… Read More