SATURDAY, DECEMBER 7, 2019 SECTION H ON ON3

Custom home ina country settingViews and bedroom coffee barin $3M Hockley Valley estate, H5

Designed fordeliberationForest retreat built for stargazing and cigars in Brazil, H4

The Well Signature Condominium is a triumph of design. Purposely located on the quiet side of Wellington,this luxury ninety-eight suite boutique condo is designed as an escape from your everyday.Discover the true meaning of opulence at Tridel’s Signature Condominium at The Well.

©2019 Tridel is a registered Trademark of Tridel Corporation. Project names and logos are Trademarksof their respective owners. All rights reserved. Illustrations are artist’s concept only. E.&O.E.

STARTING FROM $1.8 MILLION

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The Ultimate Exclusivity.

An early hub of trade, commerce and connections, downtownMississauga’s historic legacy is inspiring its Exchange District— one of the city’s newest neighbourhoods.

The Exchange District is a key piece of the city’s ambitiousvision, outlined in its updated Downtown21 Masterplan thatwas first introduced in 2009.

The area is where, in the 1700s, the Mississaugas of the NewCredit First Nation bought and sold goods with Europeantraders.

Today, the area that now surrounds Square One ShoppingCentre is being transformed.

“The Exchange District will be the gateway to downtown — a

> HOW WE LIVE

“We want it to be the envy of the GTA and a model for other new cities to replicate and emulate,” Mississauga MayorBonnie Crombie says of the Exchange District and the city’s creation of a downtown core.

RICK MADONIK TORONTO STAR

MISSISSAUGA continued on H4

Model for a downtownin Mississauga The Exchange

District will bea ‘modernDistilleryDistrict’ with homes, a hotel andpeople-centricspaces

TRACY HANES SPECIAL TO THE STAR

Deck the halls with boughs of holly, re-use last year’s baubles and choose realover faux fir — all great ways to start awaste-free, planet-friendly Christmas athome.

And when the season’s over, you’ll havea tree-treat for goats — chemical-freeand minus the tinsel, please.

As you plan your festive decor this year,consider these cheery facts:á One acre of Christmas trees producesenough daily oxygen for 18 people.á Trees rid the air of pollutants and ab-sorb carbon dioxide, reducing theglobal-warming greenhouse effect.á If every family reused two-thirds of ametre of ribbon, the combined 45,000kilometres could tie a bow around theplanet.

The most eco-friendly gift you can giveMother Earth is mindfulness, said To-ronto environmentalist Candice Batista.

Mix in greenery and natural elements,like pine cones, for on-trend decor.

DREAMSTIME

Dreamingof a greenChristmasthis year?Add the planet to your gift listby reusing decorations, usingLED lights and going natural

CAROLA VYHNAK SPECIAL TO THE STAR

ENVIRONMENT continued on H6

>>HOMEFINDER.CA H4TORONTO STAR SATURDAY, DECEMBER 7, 2019 ON3 ON

This past year’s GTA real estatemarket may become known asthe year of aborted trans-actions.

Speaking to hundreds of realestate lawyers, both in personand online at a Law Society ofOntario seminar last month,Toronto lawyer Harry Hersko-witz told of the “rapid andsignificant” decline in the GTAhousing market as numerousbuyers tried to back out oftheir purchase agreements.

Some were unable to selltheir own homes for enoughmoney to close the purchasesthey had agreed to at the peakof the market. Others wereunable to obtain enough fi-nancing because the appraisedvalues of their purchasedhomes were significantly lowerthan what they had agreed topay.

Herskowitz attributes thesedevelopments to the falloutfrom the 15 per cent non-resi-dent speculation tax on homesin southern Ontario, as well asthe stress test introduced in2018.

“The shifting market condi-tions,” Herskowitz noted,“served as a stark reminder, forboth purchasers and (legal)practitioners alike, of the po-tential liability of defaultingpurchasers in a declining realestate market.”

In a paper accompanying histalk, Herskowitz dealt with 15court cases this year in whichbuyers failed to close on theirpurchases.

In the case of Azzarello v.Shawqi, the buyers signed anagreement to buy a home inMississauga for $1.555 millionwith a deposit of $75,000. Afterseveral extensions, the buyersoffered to close for about$1.4 million, but the sellersrejected the offer. They ulti-mately resold the property for$1.28 million.

The sellers were awardeddamages against the backed-out buyers of $308,688 — thedifference between the con-tract price and the resale price,plus other expenses. The courtruled that the sellers were notobligated to accept a reducedprice from the defaulting buy-ers. In the case of Greco v.Padovani, the buyers agreed topay $3.2 million for a luxuryhome in Richmond Hill, with adeposit of $200,000. Whenthey were unable to close ontime, they paid a further$200,000 deposit for whateventually became eight exten-sions of the closing date.

Ultimately, the buyers couldnot close and the property wasrelisted for $2.499 million in adeclining market. By the timethe parties came to court lastJune, it had not been resold.

The court ordered the$400,000 in deposit monies tobe released to the sellers, whilepreserving the sellers’ right tosue for damages when thehouse was eventually sold.

In Degner v. Cabral, buyersbeat out 15 competing bids topurchase a home for $551,000.After they failed to close, theproperty was resold for$450,000, and the sellers wereawarded damages of $100,092.

In his Law Society paper,Herskowitz concludes thatthese show how defaultingbuyers risk losing their depos-its, as well as being ordered topay additional damages.

Clearly, consequences can bedevastating with a signed pur-chase agreement in a fallingreal estate market. As always,the lesson is buyer beware.Bob Aaron is a Toronto real estatelawyer and a contributing columnistfor the Star. He can be reached atbob@aaron.ca or on Twitter: @bobaaron2

> PROPERTY LAW

It can costyou toback outof a deal

BobAaron

ADVICE

philosopher and professor andhe has an amazing and hugecollection of newspapers. Hehad no more room for them inhis offices. He needed a newplace to live and to read — that’swhy it is called Casa Biblioteca.So it is a library in the sense ofstoring the books and a place toread the books.

The roof is also part of theliving space. How does theowner use it?

He said, “I want a place to readbut I also want a place where Ican look at the stars and smokea cigar,” which is something hedoes everyday.

How does he have privacywith all those windows?

The natural surroundings are

It began with a quest for some-where quiet to sit and read.

The result, thanks to Brazilianarchitects Atelier Branco Ar-quitetura, is a tree house madeof glass in the tropical forests ofSão Paulo, about 450 kilo-metres southwest of Rio de Ja-neiro.

A place of “reverie and con-templation,” away from busycity life, was the owner’s goal.With too many books andenough time to read them, hewanted a place to unwind — nota home nor a holiday house, butsomething in between.

Thus, was born Casa Bibliote-ca, an international award-win-ner. It’s a residence the archi-tects say went through three in-carnations before theyachieved what they and theirclient wanted: a getaway spotwith 2,200 square feet spreadover four levels.

Beneath top-floor bedroomsis the mid-level, pièce de résis-tance: the library and readingspace, as well as an office. Thekitchen, dining and living roomare downstairs. Up on thefourth level is a huge terrace — aperfect spot to survey treetopsor stars.

Save for those around thebathroom, Casa Biblioteca hasno walls. Constructed of on-siteconcrete, it was cast in one dayafter two months of construc-tion on the wooden forms. In-side, wood floors are garapeira— a yellow wood found in SouthAmerica — and the glass exteri-or walls are framed in steel.

Casa Biblioteca, completed in2015, cost $166,000 and took 2-1⁄2 years to design and build.

Pep Pons, architect and a co-founder of Atelier Branco Ar-quitetura, answers some ques-tions about Casa Biblioteca:

What inspired the design ofCasa Biblioteca?

The inspiration for the homewas the terrain. It was a stepterrain, so the only way wecould work was doing these(four) levels.

The owner of the house is a

enough. Originally, we putsome curtains around thehouse and when the house wascompleted, he said they weren’tneeded. The vegetation is sodense and the closest house tohim is 200 metres away. Theland originally was an old coffeeplantation, but he has ownedthe land for 40 years and plant-ed trees there which includethe jabuticaba, pau Brasil andipê amarelo.

Can you describe some ofthe challenges in buildingthe house?

It was a concrete structure —so it takes a long time to prepareeverything, and then you pourthe concrete in one day. Actu-ally, we had very few problems

during the construction. Theonly big problem was the timeschedule. It was scheduled foreight months and it took twoyears. It was basically becausewe were preparing everythingvery carefully and we were a bitnaive at the beginning of theconstruction.

We didn’t have that manyproblems because the clientwas super-patient and thishelped us a lot because whenev-er we had a problem, we couldsolve it before actually having it.We had the time to think.

Did the heat and humidityaffect the construction?

The trees around keep the tem-perature quite average — about18 C. It never goes below10 C.

> THE WOW FACTOR

Built for thinking and readingA glass house in Brazilinvites reflection and cigars under the stars

GEORGIE BINKS SPECIAL TO THE STAR

The office and reading areas open to the dining, living and kitchen areas below — and to thesurrounding forest beyond the glass walls of Casa Biblioteca.

RICARDO BASSETTI

Built-ins, made of the SouthAmerican garapeira wood,hold books and showcaseknick-knacks.

RICARDO BASSETTI

The design of Casa Biblioteca mirrors the steep terrain of theland. Dense forest provides total privacy.

GLEESON PAULINO

modern Distillery District, withwalkable streets, shops, galler-ies, places where people want togather,” Mississauga MayorBonnie Crombie said.

The makeover has begun withoffice buildings and condomin-iums rising around amenitiesthat include the city’s LivingArts Centre, Playdium, Cele-bration Square, a Sheridan Col-lege campus, the Central Li-brary and YMCA, Square Oneand two transit hubs.

Pedestrian-friendly streetswith shops, eateries and publicspaces hosting events are otherintegral elements.

“All the changes happeningare very positive to the down-town,” Crombie said. “Forty-five years ago, that area of Hu-rontario Street was a farm withhorses and cows. Many citiesstart with a town and buildaround it. We started withfarmland.”

With essentially a blank slate,“we get to personalize and growthe downtown to our own vi-sion,” Crombie added. “Wewant it to be the envy of theGTA and a model for other newcities to replicate and emulate.”

Developer Camrost Felcorp iscreating the Exchange Districtmixed-use community. Onthree acres adjacent to SquareOne and steps from the Huron-tario Light Rail Transit line pro-jected to open in 2022, theneighbourhood will includefour condo towers, a boutique

hotel and extensive retail spacealong the future ExchangeStreet.

The first condo tower, the 60-storey EX1, sold out and Cam-rost has launched EX2, a 42-storey building with 395 suites.

Fully understanding the vi-sion for the area and settingshared goals took considerabletime, said Joseph Feldman, di-rector of development at Cam-rost Felcorp.

“We are doing our thing,which is urban internationaldevelopment, and aligning itwith the downtown strategy,”Feldman said. “We worked longand hard with the city to finessethe details.”

The Exchange District willhave a European esthetic with araised open square, or piazza,that Feldman describes as “theSpanish Steps of Mississauga”— in reference to the iconicstairway in Rome, Italy — forpeople to rest, shop, dine andmeet.

“With the hotel and all of that,it will be very downtown in na-ture, very urban,” Feldman said.“The next push is to ensure theurban fabric is laid down prop-erly, and we hope we are a cata-lyst for other development.”

EX2’s design (by IBI GroupArchitects), in metal and glass,will have offset symmetricalblocks rotated 90 degrees. All ofthe Exchange District towersare designed as a masculinecounterpoint to the nearby andinternationally acclaimed Ab-solute “Marilyn Monroe” Tow-

ers, a pair of curvy highrises de-signed by Ma Yansong of MADArchitects in Beijing.

The double-height lobby ofEX2 is proposed to include di-rect access to a grocery store,plus over 10,000 square feet ofindoor and outdoor amenitiestopped by the 41st-floor SkyRestaurant.

Feldman sees the ExchangeDistrict becoming a focal pointfor Mississauga. “A tremendouseffort is going into this and thecity wants to make its down-town world-class.”

Crombie predicted that whenMississauga residents talkabout going downtown in thenear future, they’ll mean theirown city centre. She said therewill be 25 new buildings, with 12 million sq. ft. of office space,in the Exchange District withinthe next 10 years. Residents,workers and visitors will beserved by Mississauga, GOtransit and the LRT.

“We are trying to put Missis-sauga on the map with arts andculture and we are doing ourbest to create a livable city.”

Streets will bepedestrian-friendlyMISSISSAUGA from H1

Joseph Feldman, left, and Christopher Castellano of CamrostFelcorp with sales associate Deana Popovic at EX2 sales centre.

RICK MADONIK TORONTO STAR

Location: 151 City Centre Dr. Developer: Camrost FelcorpArchitects: IBI Group (resi-dential tower); BDP Architects(pedestrian spaces)Suites: One bedroom, one-plus-den, two-bedroom andtwo-plus-den, from 420 to1,500 square feet. Prices start-ing in the $400,000s.Amenities: Gym with circuittraining and cardio area, plus arunning track with 360-degree

views; co-working space withconference rooms; residentwine storage; social room withcatering kitchen, private diningroom and access to outdoordining space; multi-purposegames room and lounge; out-door sundeck with gardenpatio and barbecues.Contact:TheExchangeDistrict.com.Sales centre at 151 City CentreDr., Suite 900, Mississauga

> EX2 AT THE EXCHANGE DISTRICT