wmedia said:
In a city growing this fast,....
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Using what metric? In comparison to what other city? If you simply look at technology in our city center versus others, I think we are behind.... just look at our transit, miles behind what I would consider adequate for a "city growing this fast"... and just consider how slow the gridlock is...

The only thing in this city growing fast are the weeds because of the pesticide bylaw.
 
Just so we all have the same data :cool:...

The City grew an average of ~22,000 people per year from 2006-2011 and an average of ~4,400 people per year from 2001-2005
The GTA grew an average of ~77,000 people per year from 2006-2011 and an average of ~90,000 people per year from 2001-2005

http://www.toronto.ca/demographics/pdf/2011-census-backgrounder.pdf

Growth has definitely picked up in the City
 
wmedia said:
In a city growing this fast, with a huge volume new (wealthy) immigrants, empty-nesters, as well as migrants from across the country, you could build a 150 storey condo at this location without any concern.
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Well, great post if you are trying to stimulate a reaction.

As far as the wealthy immigrant statment, do you have any info data? or is this your opinion? I see a few but I think they are the investers mostly.

As for the empty nesters comment, I am one of them. 5 years here and I can count on 2 hands how many folks I see on a regular basis in my condo and area who are of the same age group. Shake your head on that. It's a small small %age of folks.

By far the greatest percentage of folks around here are 20-30 somethings in the early stages of their career, most rent I think but some own. In the early days of this condo there were weekly airline commuters in units leased by their company. In on Sunday night out Thursday morning, Porter tags on their luggage, bank logos on their laptop bags and gear.

I will say that also there are more strollers around now than before. I work online most days early and late and run errands mid day and there are several babies around. I think that might be a small trend.

Another obsevation is that some units seem to have family members stay in a unit for 3,6,9 or 12 months and then leave, only to be replaced by another family member. Some are new immigrants and some first generation Canadians.

These are only my obsevations. My belief is these are leading indicators.
 
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cc46 said:
....I will say that also there are more strollers around now than before. I work online most days early and late and run errands mid day and there are several babies around. I think that might be a small trend.
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These people will be looking for more space - If the majority of people are twenty to thirty something, you can expect a great percentage of these people to be lookong to move to the burbs over the next five years or so as they start family building. The vast majority of the condo units built downtown over the past decade are one bedroom units with little or no parks.

something to think about as developers plan new vertical subdivisions of mostly one bedroom units.
 
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Thanks for the link to the population stats RocketA, very enlightening.
Seems all areas grow.
I'm not so sure Toronto is really on a blistering growth pace. Policies to get projects moving help that. Declining apt bldg stock reduce it, but at the benifit to new housing stock. The job availablity profile is important. TO needs employment lands in their zoning.

The 905 is weak in some areas for employment lands and the housing slows down. If there is employment lands it works together in balance.

I spent 12 years in Durham, when employment there declined. Housing grew but at handicapped rates compared to 20 years ago. At the same time York got it right and grew. I think because of policies to attrack businesses and the location, much like Mississauga in the 80s.

But now TO. Why? Perfect storm, declining apt stock, young people seeking careers, lower manuf jobs in 905 519 705, lower driver licence rate of <30 yr olds, lack of internet in the 705 519 etc all help build up the demand for TO condos via renting or owning. Notice I didn't mention immigrants? Well my belief is immigrants have been coming to TO forever....each nationality peeks in a decade, giving way to the next. They land in a city, live in neighbourhoods they have expat connections with, grow a family and move out to a "house of their own". But may be now they don't bother moving too far. The 905 may not appeal to them.
So is the 416 the place?
 
Toronto has employment lands in their zoning. Of course more jobs are needed but it's a fallacy that zoning lands for employment will bring jobs (Scarborough Centre has been waiting a long, long time).

Let's say demand for office space in Toronto grew at 1 million sqft a year. I have no doubt in my mind there is enough developable land available to meet that huge need (Oxford Place, A buildout of the BA Centre, BCE III are on the books and they are plenty of parking lots prime for redevelopment).

Sydney has the right idea. If you ever seen their land use map for their downtown area, the first thing that stands out is that it's all one colour: mixed use.

Condo units located on the higher floors usually command a better price and sell faster than units on lower floors. If there was a shortage of employment lands, I would love to see more mixed-use proposals, with offices locate in 6-10 storey high podiums of condos while residential towers soar above. The city has been trying to encourage office uses in condo podiums, a great idea, but the demand just isn't there at this point in time.
 
kalvinone said:
Using what metric? In comparison to what other city? If you simply look at technology in our city center versus others, I think we are behind.... just look at our transit, miles behind what I would consider adequate for a "city growing this fast"... and just consider how slow the gridlock is...

The only thing in this city growing fast are the weeds because of the pesticide bylaw.
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Look at other cities outside of North America and Europe. In developing countries across Asia there are plenty of cities that are experiencing massive growth with little to no transit system at all. For example I saw a show called dont drive here and the host explained how the city of Ulaanbaatar's economy is booming while most of the city's roads are still dirt roads with un-licenced taxis being the biggest mass transit there.
 
Lets hurry up with this project and get it built ASAP. The white building in the front of the renderings reminds me of the tallest building in L.A., forget the name.
 
There's a neighbourhood meeting coming up on Tuesday that I am going to attend if I have time.

Tuesday, October 1, 7pm @ the Harbour Castle
 
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