The Junction House team is excited to announce that construction will start this fall and that our ground breaking ceremony will be held at 11AM on Saturday, October, 19th. Mark your calendars.

It will take place at our Sales Gallery — 2720 Dundas St W. This will be one of the last opportunities to see the award-winning Junction House Sales Gallery before it is demolished in preparation for construction.

There will be photo opportunities for everyone in attendance, and so we encourage you to bring your phones/cameras. You're welcome to extend this invitation to family and friends, but kindly RSVP by sending an email to info@junctionhouse.ca.

We look forward to seeing you there.

Back in 2008, I toured the then new Mondrian Hotel Residences in Miami. At the time, the condo units were starting at around $700 per square foot. They came furnished (design by Marcel Wanders). And you had the option of putting it in the hotel pool so that you could earn revenue on it when you weren't using it. I can't remember what sort of ROI was being quoted at the time.

After reading this WSJ article today on fractional second home ownership, I decided to pull some listings in the Mondrian to see how values have fared over the last 11 years (even though the business models are different). Here is one: a 694 square foot 1 bedroom on the market for $295,000 (or about $425 psf). The HOA fee is $1,260 per month and, according to Zillow, the last recorded sale was on September 25, 2007. It sold for $630,400 (or about $908 psf).

Most people probably like the idea of owning a second home that makes money when they're not using it and that requires absolutely no work or effort. But frankly, I have yet to come across a highly successful condo-hotel project (where the units come and go from a hotel pool) and I have yet to see any data supporting fractional ownership (or private residence clubs) as a solid long-term investment.

If you disagree, feel free to prove me wrong in the comment section below.

We just received a bunch of photos back of our Junction House Sales Gallery. So today is photo day on the blog. (Thank you Dialogue 38 for coordinating these.)

Here's the front "gallery" area. The artwork hanging on the wall is by local artist, Leeay Aikawa. Her work is terrific. You can see this space as you walk along Dundas Street West.

Here is the model suite pavilion and main reception area (evening shot). The bar area is absurdly long. It was designed to accommodate beers from Indie Ale House down the street.

Dialogue 38, the designers of the space, really wanted the model suite to be a "pavilion" -- something akin to Mies van der Rohe's Barcelona Pavilion. So here's the ramp that takes you up and inside.

Finally, here's the model suite. The kitchen is by Scavolini. And the backsplash is a penny tile.

The sales gallery is located at 2720 Dundas Street West and is now open every day of the week except Tuesdays. The hours are 1PM to 7PM during the week and 12PM to 5PM on the weekends.