Tonight was a "housewarming" party for the residents of Junction House. It was hosted in the co-working space that I wrote about, here, which was a lot of fun to see in action.

As part of the event, we opened up the doors to our model suite and to the penthouse suite that sits under the Junction placemaking sign.

And in the penthouse, we set up a little gallery displaying historic photos of the Junction -- from the 80s -- taken by photographer Avard Woolaver.

They're awesome photos, and eventually they'll make their way down to the lobby. But for now, it's a penthouse gallery.

However, the most important component of the evening was that it was an opportunity for residents to meet each other. And that's why the question of the night quickly became, "so what floor do you live on?"

I sometimes hear people say that there can be a lack of community in multi-family buildings. But I can honestly tell you that I felt the exact opposite of that this evening.

It was nice to meet so many lovely people from the building.

If you work in the development industry in Toronto, then you know, or know of, Norm Li. He runs one of the top visual content studios in the city and the country. But he (and the company) also do a bunch of other things like DJ at industry events and fly around in a helicopter taking incredible photos of the city from above. He invited me to join him in 2018 and I captured photos like these.

This past week he sent me a text with the below photos of Junction House and a message saying, "new lock screen." I, of course, immediately blasted them around to the team and then asked if I could post them online. I love how these turned out. And every time I see our placemaking sign, I am happy that we fought for what we all believed would end up looking pretty cool.

Thanks for the photos, Norm.

Today is a travel day, so I don’t have a whole lot to say. But BlogTO did just publish a story about our Junction placemaking sign: “This intersection is set to become Toronto’s next best photo-op.” I am also happy to report that the sign’s timer has now been installed, which means that, starting today, it will get illuminated each night from sunset to 11PM. (We’re required to shut it off at this time because, you know.)

So far the response has been overwhelmingly positive. And I truly hope that this installation will become a symbol for the Junction neighborhood. This was our sole purpose for pursuing it. It would also be ironic if something that was so difficult to get approval for ends up being loved by city. Perhaps it’s a lesson that stubbornness can be a good thing when you believe in something.