
Canada must become a global superpower
The silver lining to the US starting a trade war with Canada and regularly threatening annexation is that it has forced this country out of complacency. Indeed, I'm hard pressed to remember a time, at least in my lifetime, when patriotism and nationalism has united so much of Canada. According to a recent survey by Angus Reid, the percentage of Canadians expressing a "deep emotional attachment" to the country jumped from 49% in December 2024 to 59% in February 2025. And as further evidence of...

The bank robbery capital of the world
Between 1985 and 1995, Los Angeles' retail bank branches were robbed some 17,106 times. In 1992, which was the the city's worst year for robberies, the number was 2,641. This roughly translated into about one bank robbery every 45 minutes of each banking day. All of this, according to this CrimeReads piece by Peter Houlahan, gave Los Angeles the dubious title of "The Bank Robbery Capital of the World" during this time period. So what caused this? Well according to Peter it was facil...
The story behind those pixelated video game mosaics in Paris
If you've ever been to Paris, you've probably noticed the small pixelated art pieces that are scattered all around the city on buildings and various other hard surfaces. Or maybe you haven't seen or noticed them in Paris, but you've seen similarly pixelated mosaics in one of the other 79 cities around the world where they can be found. Or maybe you have no idea what I'm talking about right now. Huh? Here's an example from Bolivia (click here if you can't see...

Subscribe to Brandon Donnelly
Daily insights for city builders. Published since 2013 by Toronto-based real estate developer Brandon Donnelly.

Canada must become a global superpower
The silver lining to the US starting a trade war with Canada and regularly threatening annexation is that it has forced this country out of complacency. Indeed, I'm hard pressed to remember a time, at least in my lifetime, when patriotism and nationalism has united so much of Canada. According to a recent survey by Angus Reid, the percentage of Canadians expressing a "deep emotional attachment" to the country jumped from 49% in December 2024 to 59% in February 2025. And as further evidence of...

The bank robbery capital of the world
Between 1985 and 1995, Los Angeles' retail bank branches were robbed some 17,106 times. In 1992, which was the the city's worst year for robberies, the number was 2,641. This roughly translated into about one bank robbery every 45 minutes of each banking day. All of this, according to this CrimeReads piece by Peter Houlahan, gave Los Angeles the dubious title of "The Bank Robbery Capital of the World" during this time period. So what caused this? Well according to Peter it was facil...
The story behind those pixelated video game mosaics in Paris
If you've ever been to Paris, you've probably noticed the small pixelated art pieces that are scattered all around the city on buildings and various other hard surfaces. Or maybe you haven't seen or noticed them in Paris, but you've seen similarly pixelated mosaics in one of the other 79 cities around the world where they can be found. Or maybe you have no idea what I'm talking about right now. Huh? Here's an example from Bolivia (click here if you can't see...
>4.2K subscribers
>4.2K subscribers
We just checked into our "aparthotel" in Paris. This is the last leg of our trip, and one that will incorporate some work-related meetings.
As I mentioned in an earlier post, I plan on doing a comprehensive review of our accommodations, since this is a real estate asset class that I'm increasingly interested in. But before doing that, I'd first like to "live" here for a few days. So in the interim, here's a photo of the fire safety plan for our building that some of you may find interesting:

The building has 6 floors (remember, in Europe, you typically need to add 1 to the top floor to capture the ground level). The vide space in the middle of the floor plate is actually a courtyard that is open on one side. So graphically, these drawings aren't entirely accurate. But the two things that are most noteworthy to me are the small floor plate (only 2-3 rooms per floor) and the single exit stair.
As many of you know, this would not be allowed in Canada.
We just checked into our "aparthotel" in Paris. This is the last leg of our trip, and one that will incorporate some work-related meetings.
As I mentioned in an earlier post, I plan on doing a comprehensive review of our accommodations, since this is a real estate asset class that I'm increasingly interested in. But before doing that, I'd first like to "live" here for a few days. So in the interim, here's a photo of the fire safety plan for our building that some of you may find interesting:

The building has 6 floors (remember, in Europe, you typically need to add 1 to the top floor to capture the ground level). The vide space in the middle of the floor plate is actually a courtyard that is open on one side. So graphically, these drawings aren't entirely accurate. But the two things that are most noteworthy to me are the small floor plate (only 2-3 rooms per floor) and the single exit stair.
As many of you know, this would not be allowed in Canada.
Share Dialog
Share Dialog
No activity yet