One of the most famous and important houses in Toronto, and in North America, just sold. It was reported last week in the Globe and Mail in an article called, "Integral House finds buyer amid wave of high-end Toronto deals."
Designed by Shim-Sutcliffe Architects, the 18,000 square foot Integral House was commissioned by mathematician and musician James Stewart. It was completed in 2009 at a cost that seems to vary widely depending on where I look online. But it did just sell for $18 million.
For photos and drawings of the house, click here. The section is really interesting because of the way in which the house is built into the side of a ravine. The house is 5 storeys, but only 2 of these levels would be visible from the street.
The article goes on to mention a bunch of other high-end transactions that were consummated during this pandemic, ranging from a $13 million home in Forest Hill to a $9 million condo in Yorkville. These are all positive signs for this pandemic market.
Our first shoring rig was delivered and setup today at Junction House. A second one is on the way shortly.
It will take a couple of months to complete all of our caisson piles. If you'd like to learn about how shoring is constructed, check out this "explainer" from UrbanToronto.
It was also an absolutely beautiful day here in Toronto -- not a cloud in the sky. So here are a few photos from site.
Fred Wilson's latest blog post about "grinding" tells the story of how Twitter solved the infamous "fail whale" problem that plagued its platform in the early days. I remember that whale, as I'm sure many of you do as well. It was a problem and, according to Fred, it was a real threat to the business. The solution wasn't all that sexy; though sexy solutions were attempted. The team just rebuilt everything, piece by piece. And eventually the fail whale problem went away.
The lessons here go well beyond just this Twitter example (or at least, it triggers something for me). Here's how Fred ends his post:
If given a choice between a flashy operator or a grinder, I will take a grinder every time. It is a much higher percentage bet. It requires faith and patience and the results are sometimes hard to see. But if you look at the results from grinding it out over a long enough time frame, you can see the power of that approach.
This kind of long-term patient thinking can be difficult, especially in an increasingly instantaneous world. We are all drawn to magic solutions, hot stock tips, and new condos that are destined to double in value over the next year. I suppose that's partially why so many people enjoy playing the lottery, even though the odds of winning big can be as low as 1 in a million.
Being a grinder is largely a higher percentage bet because you're taking a longer, more disciplined, view. Warren Buffet has, admittedly, no idea how stocks will behave over the next week or year, just as I have no idea how condo prices in Toronto will behave over the next week or year. Instead, Warren chooses to bet on "The American Tailwind" and I choose to bet on the role of Toronto as a global city.
Warren first invested in an American business in 1942. He was 11. Over the next 77 years, the S&P 500 would go on to return an average of 11.8% annually. Had he invested in a no-fee index fund and reinvested all dividends, his gain would have been 5,288 for 1. In other words, a $1 million investment would have grown to $5.3 billion on a pre-tax basis. (See: The compound effect.)
77 years is, of course, a long time. But I am sure you get the point: faith. patience, and tenacity -- even when, sometimes, the results can be hard to see. Real estate development is very much that kind of business.