Brandon Donnelly

Daily insights for city builders, delivered every morning at 6 AM ET. I’m Brandon Donnelly — a Toronto-based real estate developer and founder of Globizen. I’ve been writing here since 2013.

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Tag: house collection

  • Woodhouse

    The Ontario Association of Architects recently announced its short-list of projects for their annual Design Excellence Award. (If you aren’t familiar with the OAA, here’s a bit of background.) There are so many excellent projects on their 2020 short-list, that I would encourage you to check them all out.

    However, as a developer, it is my duty to shamelessly plug the architects that we are working with. superkül, the firm behind Junction House, was short-listed for two projects — both of which are custom homes. One of them is in Toronto and the other is in Singhampton, Ontario, which is just south of Collingwood and the Georgian Bay.

    The second home — called Woodhouse — is located on a 90-acre site. And I love everything about it. I love the “breezeway” that separates the living areas from the more private sleeping areas, and I love how they incorporated an existing 19th century log cabin into the build.

    Here are a few photos:

    Photos by Alex Fradkin and Kayla Rocca

  • Superkül wins Designer of the Year for 2020

    Designlines Magazine is out with its annual “Designer of the Year” issue and this year’s winner for best overall designer is Superkül — the award-winning architecture firm behind Junction House. Pictured above are Andrea D’Elia, Meg Graham and the team. (The JH project team spends a lot of time in the boardroom that you see in this picture.)

    Other winners for this year include Omar Gandhi, Paolo Ferrari, and LGA Architectural Partners. They were awarded best restaurant, best product, and best public space, respectively. If you aren’t familiar with the work of these four firms, I would encourage you to check them all out. They are truly some of the best in the city. Congrats everyone.

    If you’d like to buy a copy of Designlines, you can do that here. We will also make copies available at our temporary Junction House showroom, which is located at 2843 Dundas St W.

  • Junction House ground breaking

    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.

  • Best innovative suite design

    Junction House won “Best Innovative Suite Design” at the 39th BILD Awards (2019) last night. A big congrats to the team. Below is the floor plan that won. It is a 2 bedroom suite from our two-storey House Collection (JH_2B_H1).

    This design is fundamental to Junction House. It is why the project is called what it is. The goal was to create a suite that felt less like a condo, and more like a low-rise single-family home. Credit to Superkul Architects, and the rest of the team, for figuring it all out. There was a long list of requirements.

    We wanted dedicated kitchen (+ island), dining, and living areas. (The living area is also wider than what you’d typically find.) We wanted a terrace with (standard) water and BBQ connections. We wanted the bedrooms upstairs for privacy/separation. We wanted both of them to have direct window exposure. And we wanted a master ensuite bathroom with a double vanity.

    The House Collection includes some of my favorite suites in the building, which is why — full disclosure — I’m going to be moving into one of them. If you’d like more information about Junction House, reach out to Paul Johnston and his team at info@junctionhouse.ca or at 416-900-6076.

  • Junction House featured in the Toronto Star

    This morning the Toronto Star published a profile piece on one of Junction House’s earliest purchasers: Barbara Martinez. Barbara downsized from a house to a 1-bedroom condominium in Roncesvalles, but then realized that she still wanted space to entertain and have guests over. So she decided to buy a 3-bedroom penthouse at Junction House with an approximately 350 square foot terrace. That’ll work. It is truly one of the nicest suites in the building, and will come equipped with a view of the Toronto skyline that looks something like this (see background projection below):

    I am quoted in the article as saying that mid-rise condominiums in Toronto’s neighborhoods naturally tend to attract a different set of buyers compared to, say, a downtown tower. That is true and we are seeing it play out at Junction House. Yes, we have 1-bedroom suites that are perfect for young professionals and/or investors, but we also have some spectacular 2-storey suites (the House Collection) and larger single-storey suites for people just like Barbara. Congratulations on your new home purchase!

    Photos: Steve Russell for the Toronto Star

  • World’s most diverse city-region

    For those of you who aren’t going to be in Toronto next week, you can stop reading now and check back tomorrow. For the rest of you, next week is The Future Cities Canada Summit, which will be taking place from November 7 – 9. Full schedule, here.

    Day 1 equals the Urban Land Institute Symposium 2018, which is all about Toronto urbanism. The tagline is: “Explore the urban frontiers of North America’s fastest growing, and the world’s most diverse city-region.” 

    A big part of day 1 will be bus tours around the city. And one of those tours is going to be focused on Toronto’s laneways. I am a speaker on that tour and the bus will be stopping at Junction House to talk about the laneway houses that we plan to release as part of the project.

    But there’s much more to this summit than just laneway housing.

  • A video and some art

    We made a video for our Junction House project. If you can’t see it embedded below, click here. You may have already seen some of the cut-downs on my socials, but this is the full version.

    [vimeo 293178524 w=640 h=300]

    The stickers under our projecting Junction House sign box irk me, but otherwise we’re all really happy with the way the video turned out. We wanted it to feel real and authentic.

    I am also thrilled to announce that we have partnered with a few local artists for this project. 

    The first is Leeay Aikawa. She is a multidisciplinary artist who moved to Toronto from Japan in 2003 and now works and resides in the Junction. We’re excited to have the opportunity to exhibit her work. You’ll find it in our “sales gallery” when that space opens.

    The next artist will remain a secret for now (though that’s a hint). Stay tuned to the blog and the socials.

  • Reintroducing Junction House

    Today we released the above rendering for Junction House and announced that sales will begin this fall.

    144 condominium homes. A mix of 1, 2 and 3 bedroom suites, including our Two-Storey House Collection and our Laneway House Collection. Prices starting in the $400s.

    One of our partners also happened to serendipitously send me this Globe & Mail article today talking about the increasing demand for and shortage of mid-rise housing:

    “The market is substantially undersupplied in mid-rise,” said Mr. Hildebrand, who notes that mid-rise projects in the GTA [Greater Toronto Area] were just 31 of 2017’s new launches, accounting for 3,833 units (12 per cent of the total).

    Stephen Price, CEO of Graywood Developments, went on to say this in the article:

    “There’s a huge appetite for medium density in Toronto. Many don’t want to live in the downtown core, this buyer is more interested in being in a community and there is a greater propensity to buy larger more livable units.”

    Given the huge influx of inquiries we received today after the above announcement was made, I would say that feels right. And our focus at Junction House is very much on “larger and more livable.”

    If you’re at all interested in a new home at Junction House, I would encourage you to get on our priority list, here.