Some of you might remember that I grew up going to a French school here in Toronto. My mom had rightly decided that I should be able to speak both of Canada's official languages. But truthfully, I never really loved it as a kid. I started midway through elementary school and so I always felt a little insecure about my French abilities. Which is partially why in the fall of 2023,
Some of you might remember that I grew up going to a French school here in Toronto. My mom had rightly decided that I should be able to speak both of Canada's official languages. But truthfully, I never really loved it as a kid. I started midway through elementary school and so I always felt a little insecure about my French abilities. Which is partially why in the fall of 2023,
Generally speaking, the classes are pretty relaxed (sometimes we learn grammar and sometimes we just talk about delicious cheeses), but at the end of last year I decided to register for the DELF exam. DELF stands for Diplôme d'études en langue française and it's a diploma for non-native speakers of French offered by France's Ministry of Education. It's offered at various proficiency levels and I registered for level B2, which France describes in the following way:
One of the reasons why I registered for this particular level is that it will soon become the minimum level of language proficiency required to become a French citizen. Currently you need the equivalent of B1, but starting January 1, 2026, I understand it will jump up to B2. I, of course, don't know if I will ever need this, move to France, and/or seek to become a citizen, but it became a goal. I told myself that I wanted the diploma that proves one's French is good enough to be an actual citizen. I guess it was a way to conquer my childhood insecurities.
So I'm happy to report that I ended up taking the exam in early March and that last week I received my passing grade. I scored just under 90%. (My weakest section was the handwritten essay.) After I got the news, I came home to the below book sitting on the kitchen counter with a bow and thoughtful handwritten note from Bianca — in French I would add — congratulating me on achieving this goal. One of the first things I said was, "wait, when did you buy this? How did you get it so quickly?" And she responded with, "I ordered it a long time ago, because I knew you'd pass."
The book is called Paris Haussmann and it's a comprehensive look at Haussmann's 19th century plans for the city. It covers every scale, from the city's boulevards (morphological scale) down to individual floor plans for each building type (typological scale). It's a truly extraordinary book and it's also highly relevant to one of the things that Globizen is focused on right now, which is the building of infill housing on Toronto's major streets. The urban context isn't exactly the same, of course, but there's a lot to be learned from this human-scaled building type. So even if you aren't trying to overcome some childhood insecurity related to the French, I highly recommend you check out this book.
Cover photo via Pavillon de l'arsenal
Welcome again to 2025.
Yesterday we spoke about what might happen in 2025 and my predictions for the year ahead. Today we're taking about what Globizen is specifically focused on. But first, I think it's important to reiterate what we're all about. We are a city building company and community focused on creating better places. These words were chosen carefully. We want to be both a business and a community.
What this means is that in addition to obviously working on our own property portfolio, we also want to collaborate with others on this mission of creating better places. It is recognition that "city building" takes many forms; we couldn't possibly do it all; and we want to broadly support all those who are doing great things and working to build more livable, beautiful, and economically vibrant places.
Now, our work. At the highest level, we are focused on three development strategies:
Differentiated end-user focused condominiums in prime locations. While we do think that it will take a few years for the market to absorb the current pipeline of condominium projects under construction in the GTA, we also believe these 3 things to be true: (1) end-users represent a more durable demand segment for housing compared to investors; (2) prime locations in global cities such as Toronto will maintain their value over the long term; and (3) design-focused and differentiated product offerings only become more valuable in a down market. Overall, this thesis is based on the view that we are in the midst of a housing reset and that there is/will be a market for the right projects. In some cases we will aim to execute in the short-term, and in other cases we will set ourselves up to be patient.
Infill apartments in walkable and transit-oriented communities. We see the scale of housing that is permitted on an as-of-right basis continuing to grow. Over the last few years, Toronto added permissions for fourplexes, then 6-storey apartments, and the current plan is to streamline the process for even larger mid-rise buildings. This is creating two interconnected opportunities: (1) the ability for developers to feasibly develop smaller projects; and (2) the opportunity for a systems-based approach to development -- one that allows a greater repetition of designs, materials, and the overall process. We call this the "productization of housing", and it's fundamental to our multi-family rental strategy.
Hotels, creative retreats, and hospitality experiences. Increased travel, remote work (including from digital nomads), and a desire for unique in-person experiences; these are all important and growing macro trends that will continue to reshape the landscape of our cities. We think of this as being centered on an underlying aspiration to be a kind of citizen of the world, and so we're interested in real estate opportunities that can respond to this demand. Last year, we completed our first "creative retreat" in Park City, Utah. And this year, we're focused on bringing the first design and lifestyle hotel to the waterfront in Canada's largest wine region -- the Niagara Benchlands.
Alongside these specific strategies, we are committed to growing our real estate advisory and development management services business. This is something we started in earnest in 2024 and want to do more of this year. Finally, we would like to grow our lifestyle shop and ramp up content creation in a way that can support our real estate strategies and our broader goal of promoting and creating better places. It's going to be a fun year.
If you'd like to work with us on any of this, please do get in touch.
Generally speaking, the classes are pretty relaxed (sometimes we learn grammar and sometimes we just talk about delicious cheeses), but at the end of last year I decided to register for the DELF exam. DELF stands for Diplôme d'études en langue française and it's a diploma for non-native speakers of French offered by France's Ministry of Education. It's offered at various proficiency levels and I registered for level B2, which France describes in the following way:
One of the reasons why I registered for this particular level is that it will soon become the minimum level of language proficiency required to become a French citizen. Currently you need the equivalent of B1, but starting January 1, 2026, I understand it will jump up to B2. I, of course, don't know if I will ever need this, move to France, and/or seek to become a citizen, but it became a goal. I told myself that I wanted the diploma that proves one's French is good enough to be an actual citizen. I guess it was a way to conquer my childhood insecurities.
So I'm happy to report that I ended up taking the exam in early March and that last week I received my passing grade. I scored just under 90%. (My weakest section was the handwritten essay.) After I got the news, I came home to the below book sitting on the kitchen counter with a bow and thoughtful handwritten note from Bianca — in French I would add — congratulating me on achieving this goal. One of the first things I said was, "wait, when did you buy this? How did you get it so quickly?" And she responded with, "I ordered it a long time ago, because I knew you'd pass."
The book is called Paris Haussmann and it's a comprehensive look at Haussmann's 19th century plans for the city. It covers every scale, from the city's boulevards (morphological scale) down to individual floor plans for each building type (typological scale). It's a truly extraordinary book and it's also highly relevant to one of the things that Globizen is focused on right now, which is the building of infill housing on Toronto's major streets. The urban context isn't exactly the same, of course, but there's a lot to be learned from this human-scaled building type. So even if you aren't trying to overcome some childhood insecurity related to the French, I highly recommend you check out this book.
Cover photo via Pavillon de l'arsenal
Welcome again to 2025.
Yesterday we spoke about what might happen in 2025 and my predictions for the year ahead. Today we're taking about what Globizen is specifically focused on. But first, I think it's important to reiterate what we're all about. We are a city building company and community focused on creating better places. These words were chosen carefully. We want to be both a business and a community.
What this means is that in addition to obviously working on our own property portfolio, we also want to collaborate with others on this mission of creating better places. It is recognition that "city building" takes many forms; we couldn't possibly do it all; and we want to broadly support all those who are doing great things and working to build more livable, beautiful, and economically vibrant places.
Now, our work. At the highest level, we are focused on three development strategies:
Differentiated end-user focused condominiums in prime locations. While we do think that it will take a few years for the market to absorb the current pipeline of condominium projects under construction in the GTA, we also believe these 3 things to be true: (1) end-users represent a more durable demand segment for housing compared to investors; (2) prime locations in global cities such as Toronto will maintain their value over the long term; and (3) design-focused and differentiated product offerings only become more valuable in a down market. Overall, this thesis is based on the view that we are in the midst of a housing reset and that there is/will be a market for the right projects. In some cases we will aim to execute in the short-term, and in other cases we will set ourselves up to be patient.
Infill apartments in walkable and transit-oriented communities. We see the scale of housing that is permitted on an as-of-right basis continuing to grow. Over the last few years, Toronto added permissions for fourplexes, then 6-storey apartments, and the current plan is to streamline the process for even larger mid-rise buildings. This is creating two interconnected opportunities: (1) the ability for developers to feasibly develop smaller projects; and (2) the opportunity for a systems-based approach to development -- one that allows a greater repetition of designs, materials, and the overall process. We call this the "productization of housing", and it's fundamental to our multi-family rental strategy.
Hotels, creative retreats, and hospitality experiences. Increased travel, remote work (including from digital nomads), and a desire for unique in-person experiences; these are all important and growing macro trends that will continue to reshape the landscape of our cities. We think of this as being centered on an underlying aspiration to be a kind of citizen of the world, and so we're interested in real estate opportunities that can respond to this demand. Last year, we completed our first "creative retreat" in Park City, Utah. And this year, we're focused on bringing the first design and lifestyle hotel to the waterfront in Canada's largest wine region -- the Niagara Benchlands.
Alongside these specific strategies, we are committed to growing our real estate advisory and development management services business. This is something we started in earnest in 2024 and want to do more of this year. Finally, we would like to grow our lifestyle shop and ramp up content creation in a way that can support our real estate strategies and our broader goal of promoting and creating better places. It's going to be a fun year.
If you'd like to work with us on any of this, please do get in touch.
Yesterday, February 28, 2025, the team installed the first piece of unitized curtain wall at One Delisle (on level two facing the outdoor amenity terrace and beside the indoor pool). Last year I was going around telling everyone that we would have glass up on the building in the first quarter of this year, and so I'm really glad that I was not made out to be a liar. Thanks team. This is a milestone date.
For those of you who maybe aren't familiar, there are two types of window systems that are commonly used in high-rise residential buildings. They are usually referred to as window wall and curtain wall. The former is more common in Toronto because it's, well, the cheapest; but there are curtain wall buildings other than One Delisle. Sometimes the same building might also use both systems. (In saying this, I'm specifically referring to the upper floors, because curtain wall is often used for ground-floor commercial spaces.)
The key difference is that window wall systems sit between floor slabs and get anchored at the sill and the head (the top of the slab on the bottom and the bottom of the slab on the top). Curtain wall systems, on the other hand, get anchored to the exterior slab edges and also "bypass" them. You can see that in the above photo. There are advantages and disadvantages to both systems, but generally speaking, curtain wall is viewed as higher quality, and the more expensive option.
In the case of One Delisle, we explored and were open to both options during the design process. But ultimately window wall just didn't seem like the right system to realize the unique geometries of this building. So we went with curtain wall, worked through a lengthy design-assist process with the subcontractor, built a bunch of mockups to make sure everything looked and worked well, and now it's being installed on site.
Level two is likely going to be the most challenging floor because of the double-height pool area. So I'll be sure to share more photos once it's all enclosed.
Yesterday, February 28, 2025, the team installed the first piece of unitized curtain wall at One Delisle (on level two facing the outdoor amenity terrace and beside the indoor pool). Last year I was going around telling everyone that we would have glass up on the building in the first quarter of this year, and so I'm really glad that I was not made out to be a liar. Thanks team. This is a milestone date.
For those of you who maybe aren't familiar, there are two types of window systems that are commonly used in high-rise residential buildings. They are usually referred to as window wall and curtain wall. The former is more common in Toronto because it's, well, the cheapest; but there are curtain wall buildings other than One Delisle. Sometimes the same building might also use both systems. (In saying this, I'm specifically referring to the upper floors, because curtain wall is often used for ground-floor commercial spaces.)
The key difference is that window wall systems sit between floor slabs and get anchored at the sill and the head (the top of the slab on the bottom and the bottom of the slab on the top). Curtain wall systems, on the other hand, get anchored to the exterior slab edges and also "bypass" them. You can see that in the above photo. There are advantages and disadvantages to both systems, but generally speaking, curtain wall is viewed as higher quality, and the more expensive option.
In the case of One Delisle, we explored and were open to both options during the design process. But ultimately window wall just didn't seem like the right system to realize the unique geometries of this building. So we went with curtain wall, worked through a lengthy design-assist process with the subcontractor, built a bunch of mockups to make sure everything looked and worked well, and now it's being installed on site.
Level two is likely going to be the most challenging floor because of the double-height pool area. So I'll be sure to share more photos once it's all enclosed.
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