Toronto experienced another transformative year in 2023, bringing several jaw-dropping instant landmarks to the city.
Condos remain the biggest player in the city’s ongoing development boom, but it was a handful of new institutional buildings and even a park that really stood out from the pack this year.
Here is a totally arbitrary and subjective list (seriously, don’t @ me) of the five most impressive projects to reach completion in the last year.
The Well’s Galleria
This mega-project has something for everyone with its mix of retail, restaurants, condos, rentals, and office space. But it’s the central spine of retail carving across the site that has captivated visitors since the construction fencing came down this past fall.
Sure, it may be a glorified semi-enclosed mall, but the attention to detail and design from designers BDP — combined with some high-profile businesses setting up shop to anchor the galleria — have made this inviting space an instant hit with curious pedestrians and shoppers.
Marc Mitanis
U of T: Schwartz Reisman Innovation Centre
A futuristic pyramid now looms above Queen’s Park subway station, the first phase of a two-building development designed by New York-based architects Weiss/Manfredi.
The 13-storey tower completed construction in 2023 will soon be joined by an even taller 20-storey tower to the east.
If any film producers are ever looking to shoot a sci-fi flick set in an alternate universe where the Aztecs prevailed over the Conquistadors, Toronto has just the building for your production.
Weiss/Manfredi
Hospital For Sick Children: Patient Support Centre
SickKids Hospital completed its new Patient Support Centre (PSC) in 2023, boasting a flashy design from B+H Architects that rises 22 storeys above Elm and Elizabeth streets.
Its mirror-finish exterior, punctuated by striking yellow fins, encloses a new consolidated location for the institution’s core administrative services.
The futuristic design speaks to the function of the building, which includes a mix of simulation spaces where staff can be trained on cutting-edge equipment and practices. It also offers event and conference spaces, as well as a rooftop event space and garden where staff can soak in spectacular city views.
The park’s whimsical design from landscape architects CCxA, combined with its location in a tourist hotspot along the waterfront, have made this new space a haven for selfie-takers, photo shoots, and even weddings.
Waterfront Toronto
Ontario Court of Justice
Infrastructure Ontario signed on acclaimed Italian architecture firm Renzo Piano Building Workshop to design its new court building just northwest of City Hall, which wrapped up construction in 2023.
The 17-storey tower’s minimalist design might not be the flashiest on this list, but the beauty in this project is truly in its details.
Sleek glass exteriors and a rigid rectangular shape may just read as another of Toronto’s ubiquitous glass box buildings to many passersby, but behind those glass walls, the tower’s base is home to a dramatic atrium with floating staircases set against a vibrant yellow backdrop.
NORR Architects
Here’s hoping 2024 brings even more impressive new landmarks to Toronto.
TORONTO – One expert predicts Ottawa‘s changes to mortgage rules will help spur demand among potential homebuyers but says policies aimed at driving new supply are needed to address the “core issues” facing the market.
The federal government’s changes, set to come into force mid-December, include a higher price cap for insured mortgages to allow more people to qualify for a mortgage with less than a 20 per cent down payment.
The government will also expand its 30-year mortgage amortization to include first-time homebuyers buying any type of home, as well as anybody buying a newly built home.
CIBC Capital Markets deputy chief economist Benjamin Tal calls it a “significant” move likely to accelerate the recovery of the housing market, a process already underway as interest rates have begun to fall.
However, he says in a note that policymakers should aim to “prevent that from becoming too much of a good thing” through policies geared toward the supply side.
Tal says the main issue is the lack of supply available to respond to Canada’s rapidly increasing population, particularly in major cities.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 17,2024.
OTTAWA – The Canadian Real Estate Association says the number of homes sold in August fell compared with a year ago as the market remained largely stuck in a holding pattern despite borrowing costs beginning to come down.
The association says the number of homes sold in August fell 2.1 per cent compared with the same month last year.
On a seasonally adjusted month-over-month basis, national home sales edged up 1.3 per cent from July.
CREA senior economist Shaun Cathcart says that with forecasts of lower interest rates throughout the rest of this year and into 2025, “it makes sense that prospective buyers might continue to hold off for improved affordability, especially since prices are still well behaved in most of the country.”
The national average sale price for August amounted to $649,100, a 0.1 per cent increase compared with a year earlier.
The number of newly listed properties was up 1.1 per cent month-over-month.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 16, 2024.
MONTREAL – Two Quebec real estate brokers are facing fines and years-long suspensions for submitting bogus offers on homes to drive up prices during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Christine Girouard has been suspended for 14 years and her business partner, Jonathan Dauphinais-Fortin, has been suspended for nine years after Quebec’s authority of real estate brokerage found they used fake bids to get buyers to raise their offers.
Girouard is a well-known broker who previously starred on a Quebec reality show that follows top real estate agents in the province.
She is facing a fine of $50,000, while Dauphinais-Fortin has been fined $10,000.
The two brokers were suspended in May 2023 after La Presse published an article about their practices.
One buyer ended up paying $40,000 more than his initial offer in 2022 after Girouard and Dauphinais-Fortin concocted a second bid on the house he wanted to buy.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 11, 2024.
