Brandon Donnelly
Daily insights for city builders. Published since 2013 by Toronto-based real estate developer Brandon Donnelly.
Brandon Donnelly
Daily insights for city builders. Published since 2013 by Toronto-based real estate developer Brandon Donnelly.
One of the most important considerations for livability in a multi-family building is the elevators. And as someone who has lived in a condominium building for the last 10 years, I know firsthand that it can be frustrating when they aren't working properly. So this is obviously something that we pay a lot of attention to in our own projects.
The very general and crude rule of thumb is that you want at least 1 elevator for every 100 homes. For example, at Junction House, we have 151 suites and 2 elevators. So that means we have 1 elevator for every ~76 homes. At One Delisle, we have 371 suites and 4 elevators. So 1 for every ~93 homes. At the same time, I live in a building with 357 suites and 3 elevators (1 for every 119), and it works just fine.
But again, this is a very general rule of thumb. There are many other factors that can influence performance such as the number of levels in the building, the number of suites per floor, the number of below-grade parking levels, and so on. In my building, we have all above-grade parking, so I'm sure that impacts things.
If you have a building with a lot of below-grade parking, that will generally decrease performance all else being equal (i.e. increase weight times). Because now you have that many more stops, even if the number of homes remains constant above.
One common way to mitigate these impacts is to add a parking shuttle elevator. This is a dedicated elevator for just the parking levels, and it's something that you'll often see in office buildings. This helps service levels. It can also help the overall building efficiency (saleable area/gross construction area) by potentially eliminating the need for another elevator shaft in the above-grade levels.
But the trade-off is that you now need to transfer elevators, usually at the ground floor. Some people don't mind this and think it helps with building security. If someone sneaks into the garage, there's another obstacle to getting up into the residential floors. But it does mean that if you're coming home with groceries in your hands, you need to take 2 elevators.
I'd be curious to hear from all of you what you think about parking shuttle elevators in residential buildings. Because I suspect that as building heights increase and as parking ratios continue to decline, parking shuttle elevators will likely become more common in cities like Toronto. Let me know in the comments below.
Disclaimer: I am not an elevator consultant! I am telling you just what I have learned over the years from speaking with actual professionals. So I recommend you speak with one before making any important elevator decisions on your own projects.
Photo by Edwin Chen on Unsplash
Here's some data (via Jeremy Withers) explaining that a large portion -- about 61% -- of new condominiums built in Ontario between 2016 and 2021 were not owner-occupied. In the case of low-rise houses, the figure is lower -- about 24%.
Now, the premise of Jeremy's tweet storm is that non-owner-occupied housing is bad and that the government should be doing more to discourage this. Simply taxing and restricting foreign buyers is not enough (and I agree that this is mostly symbolic).
But is non-owner occupied really such a bad thing?
First of all, non-owner occupied implies that somebody else is renting the place. I don't think that a significant chunk of these homes are being left vacant. So isn't the fact that somewhere around 61% of all new condominium apartments are becoming rental housing something that is potentially positive?
One counter argument would be that these investors are bidding up new home prices and squeezing out end users. But that brings me to my second point: small-scale individual investors are a critical ingredient in the delivery of new condominium housing in Ontario.
This point cannot be overstated.
The lender requirement to pre-sell suites in order to obtain construction financing means that developers rely heavily on buyers who are willing to purchase many many years before occupancy. And this is generally a lot more challenging for end users, as we have talked about many times before.
So if it weren't for investors, I am certain that we would see a lot less new housing getting built. And in turn, that would mean a lot less new rental housing getting built.
"On some level, we’re [Toronto] still trying to be a Victorian city." --
One of the most important considerations for livability in a multi-family building is the elevators. And as someone who has lived in a condominium building for the last 10 years, I know firsthand that it can be frustrating when they aren't working properly. So this is obviously something that we pay a lot of attention to in our own projects.
The very general and crude rule of thumb is that you want at least 1 elevator for every 100 homes. For example, at Junction House, we have 151 suites and 2 elevators. So that means we have 1 elevator for every ~76 homes. At One Delisle, we have 371 suites and 4 elevators. So 1 for every ~93 homes. At the same time, I live in a building with 357 suites and 3 elevators (1 for every 119), and it works just fine.
But again, this is a very general rule of thumb. There are many other factors that can influence performance such as the number of levels in the building, the number of suites per floor, the number of below-grade parking levels, and so on. In my building, we have all above-grade parking, so I'm sure that impacts things.
If you have a building with a lot of below-grade parking, that will generally decrease performance all else being equal (i.e. increase weight times). Because now you have that many more stops, even if the number of homes remains constant above.
One common way to mitigate these impacts is to add a parking shuttle elevator. This is a dedicated elevator for just the parking levels, and it's something that you'll often see in office buildings. This helps service levels. It can also help the overall building efficiency (saleable area/gross construction area) by potentially eliminating the need for another elevator shaft in the above-grade levels.
But the trade-off is that you now need to transfer elevators, usually at the ground floor. Some people don't mind this and think it helps with building security. If someone sneaks into the garage, there's another obstacle to getting up into the residential floors. But it does mean that if you're coming home with groceries in your hands, you need to take 2 elevators.
I'd be curious to hear from all of you what you think about parking shuttle elevators in residential buildings. Because I suspect that as building heights increase and as parking ratios continue to decline, parking shuttle elevators will likely become more common in cities like Toronto. Let me know in the comments below.
Disclaimer: I am not an elevator consultant! I am telling you just what I have learned over the years from speaking with actual professionals. So I recommend you speak with one before making any important elevator decisions on your own projects.
Photo by Edwin Chen on Unsplash
Here's some data (via Jeremy Withers) explaining that a large portion -- about 61% -- of new condominiums built in Ontario between 2016 and 2021 were not owner-occupied. In the case of low-rise houses, the figure is lower -- about 24%.
Now, the premise of Jeremy's tweet storm is that non-owner-occupied housing is bad and that the government should be doing more to discourage this. Simply taxing and restricting foreign buyers is not enough (and I agree that this is mostly symbolic).
But is non-owner occupied really such a bad thing?
First of all, non-owner occupied implies that somebody else is renting the place. I don't think that a significant chunk of these homes are being left vacant. So isn't the fact that somewhere around 61% of all new condominium apartments are becoming rental housing something that is potentially positive?
One counter argument would be that these investors are bidding up new home prices and squeezing out end users. But that brings me to my second point: small-scale individual investors are a critical ingredient in the delivery of new condominium housing in Ontario.
This point cannot be overstated.
The lender requirement to pre-sell suites in order to obtain construction financing means that developers rely heavily on buyers who are willing to purchase many many years before occupancy. And this is generally a lot more challenging for end users, as we have talked about many times before.
So if it weren't for investors, I am certain that we would see a lot less new housing getting built. And in turn, that would mean a lot less new rental housing getting built.
"On some level, we’re [Toronto] still trying to be a Victorian city." --
It is not an exaggeration to say that Peter Clewes, of architects-Alliance, is one of the most important architects working in Toronto today. Over the last two decades, Toronto has built a lot of new condominiums and Peter's firm has been behind many of them.
I mean, I currently live in a building designed by architects-Alliance. My mom lives in a building designed by architects-Alliance. And the first condominium I ever lived in around 2005 or so, was naturally also designed by architects-Alliance.
Peter's work is everywhere. And it has been instrumental in helping to define this new Toronto. But what is this new Toronto? It's hard to say really.
Toronto may have built a lot of new things and added a lot of new people over the last two decades, but it has done so almost begrudgingly and without the confidence to say, "we are building this way because this is the kind of global city we want to become."
I think Peter gets a lot right in this excellent interview with Azure about Toronto, condominiums, and city building. Despite everything that has changed, on some level, we are still trying to be a Victorian city.
Of course, we are no longer that city. It's long gone. Time to think much bigger.
Photo by Dillon Kydd on Unsplash
It is not an exaggeration to say that Peter Clewes, of architects-Alliance, is one of the most important architects working in Toronto today. Over the last two decades, Toronto has built a lot of new condominiums and Peter's firm has been behind many of them.
I mean, I currently live in a building designed by architects-Alliance. My mom lives in a building designed by architects-Alliance. And the first condominium I ever lived in around 2005 or so, was naturally also designed by architects-Alliance.
Peter's work is everywhere. And it has been instrumental in helping to define this new Toronto. But what is this new Toronto? It's hard to say really.
Toronto may have built a lot of new things and added a lot of new people over the last two decades, but it has done so almost begrudgingly and without the confidence to say, "we are building this way because this is the kind of global city we want to become."
I think Peter gets a lot right in this excellent interview with Azure about Toronto, condominiums, and city building. Despite everything that has changed, on some level, we are still trying to be a Victorian city.
Of course, we are no longer that city. It's long gone. Time to think much bigger.
Photo by Dillon Kydd on Unsplash
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