Daily insights for city builders, delivered every morning at 6 AM ET. I’m Brandon Donnelly — a Toronto-based real estate developer and founder of Globizen. I’ve been writing here since 2013.

Urban families

We are getting ready for first occupancies at Junction House and it is exciting to see how many young families — with children — are looking forward to moving into the building’s larger 2-storey suites. (These are the suites that gave the project its name — Junction House.)

From the outset, this was always a part of our development thesis. You can’t, or at least it’s very difficult, to pre-sell an entire building of larger suites in Toronto. But we figured that in a submarket like the Junction, which is very popular with young families, that there had to be some buyers who would want a house-like residence.

Meaning, two floors of living spaces, upstairs bedrooms (better acoustic separation), larger living spaces, and a terrace for BBQing and gardening, among other things.

We are now seeing this play out with the wonderful people coming in for their pre-delivery inspections, and it’s a really nice thing to see. Not only as a developer, but as a dedicated urbanite and lover of Toronto. I am not suggesting that it’s for everyone. But clearly there is a segment of the market that wants this.

For a list of available homes at Junction House, including floor plans and pricing, click here.

3 responses to “Urban families”

  1. doug pollard Avatar
    doug pollard

    Yes that is nice to see. I can remember being on the witness stand at the OMB about a million years ago related to a high-rise development and being grilled by a lawyer who was trying to get me to say that high rises were no good for families. Since there is a whole range of families (not all with 2.3 kids and a dog) and a whole range of family situations of course, I was not going to say that. In that case, we had two-story units on the lower floors so families (even if they did have a dog) also had an outdoor space.. just like a house!!!

    1. Brandon Graham Donnelly Avatar

      There are still deep cultural biases around what is suitable for families.

      1. doug pollard Avatar
        doug pollard

        Of course, and there always will be. In fact, cultural biases on a whole range of things are permanent.

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