Product:STAR Date:11-07-2009Desk: NIH-0001-CMYK/04-11-09/20:09:37

New in Homes & Condos

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T H E B I R T H O F A C O N D O PART ONE: SITE SELECTION

Out on the edge

GREEN continued on H18

BLADE continued on H6

COOKINGWITH GASColin and Justin serveup a budget kitchenthat doesn’t skimpon style, H4

A UNIQUEPRESENCE L Tower, designed bystar architect DanielLibeskind, finallybreaks ground, H2

TRACY HANESTORONTO STAR

Shelagh Dunlop and her familyhave officially become green trail-blazers.

This week, Dunlop, her husbandDenis and their two daughters wererecognized as the first residents of aLEED Platinum certified house inOntario in a ceremony attended byMinister of Energy and Infrastruc-ture George Smitherman.

And their builder, Rodeo FineHomes, officially became Canada’sfirst builder of an occupied neigh-bourhood of LEED PlatinumHomes at its EcoLogic develop-ment in Newmarket.

LEED (Leadership in Energy andEnvironmental Design) Platinumis the highest ‘‘green’’ home ratingin North America, going beyondenergy savings to promote waste di-version, soil erosion controls, use ofrecycled materials, advanced fram-ing and other environmental ad-vances. The rating is based on apoint system.

The EcoLogic homes contain fea-tures such as solar thermal hot wa-ter preheat, drain water heat recov-ery, dual-purpose burners whichheat both space and water, rainwa-ter collection cisterns, Energy Star

GREEN HOME

Taking the LEED in NewmarketDeveloper is first Canadian builder of an occupiedneighbourhood with highest ‘green’ ranking

SARAH DEA FOR THE TORONTO STAR

Rebecca Dunlop, 8, with her mother, Shelagh Dunlop, in the family’s LEEDPlatinum house on Rodeo Fine Homes’ Quaker Trail site in Newmarket.

SECTION HSATURDAYNOVEMBER 7, 2009thestar.com

In this five-part series, the TorontoStar follows the development of ahighrise condominium — Blade inBrampton — from site selectionthrough to the sales launch, offeringan in-depth look at the logisticalchallenges and critical decisionsthat emerge along the way.

RYAN STARRSPECIAL TO THE STAR

For years the now-defunct Domin-ion Skate factory has been a blighton Brampton, a derelict propertythat’s done nothing to help the cityin its efforts to revitalize the down-town area and attract new residentsand businesses.

In recent years the building hadbecome home to a car repair shopand at some point was rented out asa rehearsal space for bands. Thesemi-abandoned space had also be-gun to attract a seedier element.

“There were people living there il-legally for a while,” says Grant Gib-son, a regional councillor and for-mer chair of Brampton’s planning

Developers seekapproval to converta dilapidated formerskate factory into agleaming condo

www.mattamyhomes.com(see centre spread for more Mattamy communities)

Finding A New Home Is Easy If You Know

Where To Look.

Tarion.com

Product:STAR Date:11-07-2009Desk: NIH-0006-CMYK/04-11-09/20:08:31

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H6 H TORONTO STAR H SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 7, 2009 ON

BILD New Home ProfileBUILDING A GREATER GTABuilding Industry and Land Development Association

HOMES & CONDOS

and development committee.“Many times we had to call the by-law officers to go in. There was a firethere, too.

“It was a very big eyesore for thecity.”

The building’s previous ownerhad put in an application to developa highrise condominium on thesite, though it never got to the finalapprovals stage.

“We’ve been trying to promotethat type of use for years but neverhad much luck with it,” Gibson says.

Until the Preston Group camealong. The Toronto-based develop-er, who acquired the property twoyears ago, plans to build a 25-storeyglass condo tower atop a podiumthat will incorporate much of theold factory’s facade.

The project will consist of 350units, ranging in size from 570 to1,500 square feet, including 12 loftsconverted from the existing indus-trial space. The site’s skate factoryorigins provide Preston with aready-made marketing hook for thedevelopment, which they’vedubbed Blade.

To further play on this connec-tion, Preston plans to build a skat-ing oval in Blade’s centre courtyard,which will be converted into a walk-ing track in the summer. Much ofthe site’s appeal lies in its access totransportation — it’s adjacent tothe GO Transit train station and afew minutes drive to Highways 407and 410. It’s also situated in theheart of downtown Brampton,within walking distance to cafes,shops, green space (Gage Park) andthe recently renovated Rose Thea-tre.

“This is the perfect location foranyone who wants to live in thesuburbs but still have quick, easyaccess to Toronto,” says EdwardGoldstein, Preston Group’s princi-pal.

BRAMPTON IS ONE of the fastestgrowing cities in Canada, with anaverage annual growth rate be-tween 2001 and 2006 of 6.6 percent, according to the latest census.

But it’s been underserved when itcomes to highrise condos, Gibsonsays, noting that in the past most ofthe developments there have beenof the single-family-home variety.

“We weren’t getting enough infillstuff, and we’ve been mandated bythe province to do that,” he says, re-ferring to density targets that havebeen set for downtown Brampton.“So it’s essential we catch up.”

Council is encouraging develop-ments such as Blade in an effort toattract more businesses to the citycentre, Gibson explains. “We werebeing told that we didn’t haveenough people living in our down-town to help businesses survive.”

In addition to Blade, Bramptoncurrently has three other highrisecondos under development.

“We’re promoting these kinds ofprojects and it seems to be work-ing,” Gibson says. “Now we’re get-ting some interest from business-es.”

Given council’s clear desire to re-develop the Dominion Skate facto-ry site, getting through the initialplanning stages for Blade has been arelatively pain-free process for thePreston Group. Before they took on

the project, the company did its duediligence to determine that what itwas proposing would be well re-ceived by council.

“We worked with Preston for along time to make sure we had theright type of project and that itblended in well with the neighbour-hood,” Gibson says. “So when theybrought the final plans to council,everyone was very supportive of it.Nobody spoke against it.”

“It was helpful that we knew thatas a city, Brampton was going to bevery receptive,” says Janice Rob-

inson, Preston Group’s VP of plan-ning and development. “They’remuch better than most other mu-nicipalities in supporting develop-ment and assisting with getting theapprovals done.”

It didn’t hurt that most of the usu-al stumbling blocks already hadbeen eliminated before Prestoncame on the scene.

Such as rezoning. The previous property owner got

the site rezoned for a highrise con-do development that would includelight retail use. But the site plan

never made it through to final ap-provals.

“It just sat there,” Gibson says. The initial community consulta-

tion on the redevelopment hadbeen dealt with, as well.

“The public meetings had beendone, so there was little resistance,”Robinson says. “It was very smoothsailing.”

“It was well received by the com-munity,” adds Goldstein. “I thinkthey see it as an improvement thatwill add to the value of their proper-ties.”

NOT EVERYONE in town was onboard at first, mind you.

“There were a couple of peopleconcerned about highrises — therealways are,” Gibson says. “You’renever going to satisfy everybody.

“But it seems like once they sawthe whole project and saw what washappening in the neighbourhood —getting rid of a derelict building —they realized it’s going to be a goodthing. In the end, there were no ob-jections.”

That’s not to say there haven’tbeen obstacles along the way,though.

The city plans to extend a majorstreet, Denison Ave. — currentlybroken into three sections —through the southern portion of theBlade property to connect with MillSt. This has required a fair bit oftweaking of the overall site design.

Then there’s parking. The originalskate factory owner had years agosold off a sizable chunk of land toGO Transit to be used as a parkinglot. This created concerns thatBlade would be underserved whenit came to its own parking needs.The problem has been solved withplans for four levels of under-ground parking.

Blade’s proximity to the GO tracksmeans noise was also a potential is-sue, particularly on the condo’s10th floor terrace, where there areplans to have a garden, an al frescodining area and indoor/outdoorpool.

“We’ve been able to make that ar-ea soundproof to Ministry of Envi-ronment standards,” Robinsonsays.

As usual, with developments ofthis size, a traffic study was re-quired to determine the impact theadded population would have onthe area’s roadways.

Environmental concerns also hadto be addressed, given the factoryand car repair shop that had beenlocated there at one point. But Rob-inson insists all issues relating toremediation of the brownfield sitewill be dealt with through excava-tion and demolition.

“The demo will be the cleanup,”she says. “Almost the entire sitegets excavated for the undergroundparking. At that time anything thatneeds to be removed will be re-moved.”

Preston Group expects to have theBlade site plan approved by councilshortly, and will apply for a buildingpermit in December.

If all goes well, it plans to launchits public sales drive in the newyear.

Construction is expected to last ayear and occupancy is slated formid to late 2012.

“We feel there will be a strongmarket demand for this locationand this project,” Robinson says.“We just hope we can sell all theunits.”Part 2, next month: The architecturaldesign process for Blade.

Skating oval featured in centre courtyardBLADE from H1

Blade will include a 25-storey tower that will sit on top of a podum incorporating much of the skate factory facade.

1 Units: 350 (one bedroom, twobedroom and loft-style units).1 Size range: 570 square feet to1,500 square feet1 Price: From $179,9001 Amenities: Skating oval thatconverts into a walking track inthe summer, fitness room, swim-ming pool, whirlpool, al frescodining area, yoga room.1 Kitchens: Granite countertopsand stainless steel under-mountsinks and ceramic tile back-splashes.1 Bathrooms: Cultured marblecountertops, tempered glasswall in shower stall, ceramic walltile in all shower stalls and tubenclosures.More information atwww.bladecondos.com.

DETAILS

Preston Group traces its roots toGonte Construction Ltd., a Toron-to building firm founded by DavidSalomon — Edward Goldstein’sfather-in-law — in 1955.

The company started off build-ing highrise rental apartments inthe Don Mills area, moved into de-veloping subdivisions, eventuallygrowing into an integrated groupof real estate construction andmanagement companies.

Preston has developmentsthroughout the GTA, with a port-folio of more than 2,200 apart-ment residences and 1,500 newhomes.

In addition to Blade, the compa-ny’s latest developments includeCopper Hills in Newmarket andPrestonvalle Heights in Oshawa.

Go to www.gonte.com for moreinformation.— Ryan Starr

THE PRESTON GROUP