barrytron3030
Active Member
Toronto’s development industry has tanked, councillor laments
Posted: January 21, 2009, 11:55 PM by Rob Roberts
Kuitenbrouwer
What a difference a couple of years makes.
Adam Vaughan ran for city council in 2006 on a pledge to curb “unbridled†condominium development, which he called a threat to stable neighbourhoods in west downtown Toronto. Today, Councillor Vaughan (Ward 20, Trinity-Spadina) has the opposite concern: the condominium market, he says, is imploding.
“This bubble had to burst to some degree, but it’s bursting now in a catastrophic way,†he said yesterday over a hot chocolate. “A tsunami has rolled through the development industry.â€
“I checked my diary,†he added. “In the first two years since my election, I was getting five new [development] applications a week. It was an extraordinary pace. I haven’t have a single application in the past six months.â€
On the southeast corner of Adelaide and John streets, spitting distance from Metro Hall, two parking lots abut the old brick home of the Fox and Fiddle pub. Mr. Vaughan said developers recently purchased those lots from the Farber family, assuming “huge mortgages.†City Council is studying applications for two towers here, 44 and 42 storeys, but financing troubles mean those towers now are delayed, he said.
“For whatever reason, the real estate bubble in my ward was bigger than Kyle’s or Pam’s,†he added, refering to Pam McConnell (Ward 28, Toronto Centre-Rosedale) and Kyle Rae (Ward 27, Toronto Centre-Rosedale).
Looking around, it’s hard to believe the construction industry is in trouble: a hydraulic excavator was busy yesterday loading shale into dump trucks in a mine-sized hole at Adelaide and University avenues, where the Shangri-La hotel is set to rise. Indeed, Mr. Vaughan says he has 89 projects underway in his ward.
At Simcoe and Nelson streets, workers hammered away on yet another condo project. But a cement truck driver, Rob, said the slowdown is coming — fast.
“We had some jobs that we were supposed to do that got cancelled,†he said. “Really it’s the banks’ fault. The people want to buy, the people want to build, but the banks won’t give the money.â€
Architect Don Schmitt, whose firm is building condos in Regent Park and elsewhere, said the mood is dark. ‘‘There’s definitely huge uncertainty in the market, where people are sitting on their hands, both purchasers and developers,’’ he said.
Mr. Vaughan said he and Mr. Rae recently went to see Mayor David Miller to ask what he can do to prop up the development industry.
Stuart Green, a spokesman for Mr. Miller, says “the mayor is very concerned about a potential slowdown, which is why he announced a development-charge freeze on residential construction.†Developers pay the city $4,500 for each one-bedroom condo they build.
Condo development has been a motor of our economy for a long stretch. West of downtown, on the former Molson Brewery site near the gates of the Canadian National Exhibition, workers have been erecting condos at a breakneck pace for several years. The work is so steady that Bob Pritchard six years ago traded in his lunch truck for a permanent coffee shop catering to construction workers. After I profiled the place in the paper awhile ago, Mr. Pritchard adopted the name I’d tagged on the place: the Hard Hat Café.
But his business may soon slow, he says: “They’ve put a hold on two buildings here until the economy straightens out a little bit.â€
According to Mr. Vaughan’s web site, the two John/Adelaide projects are a Daniels Corp. application for a 44-storey tower, at 21 Windmer St., and an application by Pinnacle International, a Vancouver-based condo builder, for a 42-storey tower at 295 Adelaide Street W. Those companies did not immediately return calls.
Mr. Vaughan is now throwing out ideas to prop up the construction industry, which employs not just hardhat workers but also planners, architects, designers, marketers and engineers, he notes. “Condo development is our General Motors,†he says.
Bailing out companies who boast of their “coveted services†and “privileged memberships†(words I took from one condo hoarding) may be tough for some to stomach.
Among Mr. Vaughan’s ideas: He suggests the province could help the firms in exchange for 10% affordable housing in each tower.
Adam Vaughan stands in a parking lot at the corners of John and Adelaide streets, which was to be the site of a condo tower. Photo by Peter J. Thompson, National Post
http://network.nationalpost.com/np/...t-industry-has-tanked-councillor-laments.aspx
Posted: January 21, 2009, 11:55 PM by Rob Roberts
Kuitenbrouwer
What a difference a couple of years makes.
Adam Vaughan ran for city council in 2006 on a pledge to curb “unbridled†condominium development, which he called a threat to stable neighbourhoods in west downtown Toronto. Today, Councillor Vaughan (Ward 20, Trinity-Spadina) has the opposite concern: the condominium market, he says, is imploding.
“This bubble had to burst to some degree, but it’s bursting now in a catastrophic way,†he said yesterday over a hot chocolate. “A tsunami has rolled through the development industry.â€
“I checked my diary,†he added. “In the first two years since my election, I was getting five new [development] applications a week. It was an extraordinary pace. I haven’t have a single application in the past six months.â€
On the southeast corner of Adelaide and John streets, spitting distance from Metro Hall, two parking lots abut the old brick home of the Fox and Fiddle pub. Mr. Vaughan said developers recently purchased those lots from the Farber family, assuming “huge mortgages.†City Council is studying applications for two towers here, 44 and 42 storeys, but financing troubles mean those towers now are delayed, he said.
“For whatever reason, the real estate bubble in my ward was bigger than Kyle’s or Pam’s,†he added, refering to Pam McConnell (Ward 28, Toronto Centre-Rosedale) and Kyle Rae (Ward 27, Toronto Centre-Rosedale).
Looking around, it’s hard to believe the construction industry is in trouble: a hydraulic excavator was busy yesterday loading shale into dump trucks in a mine-sized hole at Adelaide and University avenues, where the Shangri-La hotel is set to rise. Indeed, Mr. Vaughan says he has 89 projects underway in his ward.
At Simcoe and Nelson streets, workers hammered away on yet another condo project. But a cement truck driver, Rob, said the slowdown is coming — fast.
“We had some jobs that we were supposed to do that got cancelled,†he said. “Really it’s the banks’ fault. The people want to buy, the people want to build, but the banks won’t give the money.â€
Architect Don Schmitt, whose firm is building condos in Regent Park and elsewhere, said the mood is dark. ‘‘There’s definitely huge uncertainty in the market, where people are sitting on their hands, both purchasers and developers,’’ he said.
Mr. Vaughan said he and Mr. Rae recently went to see Mayor David Miller to ask what he can do to prop up the development industry.
Stuart Green, a spokesman for Mr. Miller, says “the mayor is very concerned about a potential slowdown, which is why he announced a development-charge freeze on residential construction.†Developers pay the city $4,500 for each one-bedroom condo they build.
Condo development has been a motor of our economy for a long stretch. West of downtown, on the former Molson Brewery site near the gates of the Canadian National Exhibition, workers have been erecting condos at a breakneck pace for several years. The work is so steady that Bob Pritchard six years ago traded in his lunch truck for a permanent coffee shop catering to construction workers. After I profiled the place in the paper awhile ago, Mr. Pritchard adopted the name I’d tagged on the place: the Hard Hat Café.
But his business may soon slow, he says: “They’ve put a hold on two buildings here until the economy straightens out a little bit.â€
According to Mr. Vaughan’s web site, the two John/Adelaide projects are a Daniels Corp. application for a 44-storey tower, at 21 Windmer St., and an application by Pinnacle International, a Vancouver-based condo builder, for a 42-storey tower at 295 Adelaide Street W. Those companies did not immediately return calls.
Mr. Vaughan is now throwing out ideas to prop up the construction industry, which employs not just hardhat workers but also planners, architects, designers, marketers and engineers, he notes. “Condo development is our General Motors,†he says.
Bailing out companies who boast of their “coveted services†and “privileged memberships†(words I took from one condo hoarding) may be tough for some to stomach.
Among Mr. Vaughan’s ideas: He suggests the province could help the firms in exchange for 10% affordable housing in each tower.
Adam Vaughan stands in a parking lot at the corners of John and Adelaide streets, which was to be the site of a condo tower. Photo by Peter J. Thompson, National Post
http://network.nationalpost.com/np/...t-industry-has-tanked-councillor-laments.aspx
