Yonge Street, the longest street in the world, is now going to be home to the largest development in Canada, the 1 Yonge Condos. There are four condos planned for the 1 Yonge site. The proposed height is 70 storeys, 70 storeys, 92 storeys, and 98 storeys in height. The north-west corner of the site, the one closest to the Toronto core, will have the tallest tower. The Toronto Star building located on the corner of Yonge and Queens Quay will remain due to a long lease of the property but the old printing plant, distribution building and parking lots will be the site of the new condos.

The developer, Pinnacle Developments, purchased the land for a whopping 250 million dollars and they have recruited the modern Hariri Pontarini Architects to design concept plans for the site. Pinnacle is no stranger to this area. They already have two successful condo at the waterfront with 33 Bay St Condos and Success Tower.

A site at the base of Yonge Street deserves a “go big or go home” approach and although plans are still in the preliminary stages, the plan is to build the tallest residential condo and tallest waterfront condo in Canada at a whopping 98 storeys high. As it is proposed now, 1 Yonge Condo will overtop Eau Du Soleil as the tallest waterfront condo and Aura Condo at Yonge & Gerrard as the tallest residential condo in Canada.

On top of the residential, the site also plans to bring additional retail and restaurant space on street level. Additionally, there are plans to incorporate a high end hotel into the condos, but all of this is just proposed at the moment. Nothing has been finalized.

What are your thoughts on 1 Yonge Condos?

Six months since the announcement that Lanterra Developments would be purchasing the Sutton Place Hotel, InsiderCondos finally received the details on the project. Inspired by British Architecture, the Sutton Place Hotel will be named The Britt Residences at Bay and Wellesley.

InsiderCondos and a dozen other agents were invited to London, England to be part of the unveiling. We are writing this blog post from London to give our readers the juicy details. Unfortunately, we are not able to show high quality pictures since we had no scanner! We do have our trustworthy iPhone with us though.

And now, without further ado, here is the first rendering of The Britt Condos to hit the web!

As you can see, the transformation is drastic. The run down concrete exterior of the Sutton Place Hotel has been removed. Lanterra is adding an additional 9 floors to the current 31 Storeys and transforming the podium with residential suites, amenity space, and retail. They are adding large floor to ceiling windows that will have a blue tint as well as balconies to the majority of the suites. The amenities will be on the Ground Floor, Second Floor, and on top of the podium.

The podium of The Britt Residences will be 8 Stories tall and will be lined with sleek lines of stone and steel that make a classic statement of distinction. As it currently stands, the Sutton Place Hotel is only tower, no podium. The large podium on Bay St and Wellesley St does not exist. It will be added by Lanterra.

Floors 32 to 41 will be an addition to The Britt Condos. The builder is still getting the permits in place for the addition. The top floors will be larger then the lower floors and will contain balconies for all suites.

Our favourite amenity is the outdoor pool. Its amazing how popular the outdoor pools are and they add incredible value to condos. Since consumers care less about the size of their suite, it becomes very important to have great amenities. Luckily, The Britt has an amazing set of amenities that will impress even the most demanding buyers.

We would love to show you more so if your interested in The Britt Condos, let us know.

FYI, prices and floor plans are available. We will post them when we return from London.

What are your thoughts on The Britt Condos?

The Sutton Place Hotel recently announced the sale of the Hotel to Lanterra Developments. Sutton Place has been one of the top hotels in Toronto for decades. It holds the presitigious AAA 4-Diamond Award for the Toronto location and a AAA 5-Diamond Award for the Vancouver location. Sutton Place is an internationally recognized hotel brand & has seen some of the top celebrities grace its doors.

Unfortunately, the Toronto location at 955 Bay St has been run down. The hotel is in need of a drastic make over and can no longer run at its present condition. That being said, Lanterra Developments just announced that it has acquired the Sutton Place Hotel. They are planning on completely renovating the Hotel and turning it into a condo site.

The changes planned for the Sutton Place Hotel are:

1) Adding Balconies
2) Increasing the number of floors
3) Increasing the height of the floors
4) Completely renovating and modernizing the entire building (Inside & Out)

There have been a few other condo conversions in the last year. You may be familiar with Imperial Plaza Condo at Avenue & St. Clair or the Four Seasons Condo in Yorkville. Compared to the other conversions, the Sutton Place Condo project is miles ahead. Most conversions did nothing more then renovating the rooms but if the Sutton Place Condo turns out as planned, it will be a much better project.

To stay in the loop on the Sutton Place Condo project, register with us.

Karma Condos at Yonge & College from $190,000... not a typo!

You may be wondering, how come I have never heard of Karma Condo? Well the answer is that you have heard of it, you just haven't heard the right name.

Up until today, Karma Condos was called 21 Grenville Condo. The builders, Lifetime Developments & CentreCourt Developments, kept a very tight lid on the name of this condo. The details were very hush hush until today.

We now know all the juicy details for Karma Condos!

For one, the condo will not be 52 stories as it was originally planned but it will be 46 stories instead. Odds are the decision will be appealed so the building may in fact be taller then 46 stories but if you would like to purchase today, your left with only 46 stories of choices.

The Architect is the reputable Peter Clewes and what a beautiful piece of Architecture it is!

As for the Interior Designers, they are none other then world famous Cecconi Simone who are based out of Toronto!

Interested in Purchasing at Karma Condos? Contact Insider Condos for Platinum Access.

Click Here to Register/Buy at Karma Condos

It seems everyday that we are answering this question; What is an Assignment Condo? If you have never heard of an assignment condo, don't worry, your not living under a rock, it's NORMAL. We get asked this question almost everyday because it is a very specific real estate niche that neither the Public or  Agents know much about.

Whether you are buying or selling an assignment, there are benefits for all parties. With an assignment, you are not buying a unit that is registered on the Land Registry System. Rather, you are buying the Purchase and Sale agreement that was formed between the Developer and the Original Buyer. You are buying the "right" to own a condo that will be registered in the future.

Now here is some confusion. A Condo may be purchased via an Assignment and all you get is the paperwork. However, "Occupancy" and "Legal Title" are different. You can purchase the paperwork and even have access to the suite if occupancy is ready. When "Legal Title" transfers to another buyer through the Land Registry System, then it is no longer considered an Assignment.

So with the legalities out of the way, here are some benefits for Buyers & Sellers of assignments:

Benefits for Buyer:

- Lower Price then what is offered by the builder.

- Larger Selection of suites since most Assignments are not allowed until the majority of the Builders Inventory is depleted.

- A Mortgage is NOT registered until Final Closing. (Not to be confused with Occupancy)

Benefits for Seller:

- Ontario Land Transfer Tax and Toronto Land Transfer Tax is avoided.

- A mortgage is never started. Only the deposit is used.

- Interim Rent is avoided.

These are only some of the benefits and we highly recommend them. Now that you know some of the benefits, stay tuned for part 2 of this blog post and find out Negative Points of Assignments.

If you need any help or have any assignment questions, let us know and discuss it in detail with one of our Specialized Assignment Agents.