SOTTO SOTTO HOW A SMALL RESTAURANT BECAME A 'SECOND HOME' FOR A-LISTERS On Christmas night, a still-unexplained fire destroyed the building at 116 Avenue Rd., home to Spuntini restaurant on the top floor an the aptly named Sotto Sotto (Italian for underneath) in the basement.  Many Yorkville residents were tipped off to the three-alarm disaster via the throngs of smoke and screaming sirens. Ninety firefighters worked to put out the blaze, which officials... [read more]

TORONTO CONDO MAINTENANCE FEES: STATS, FACTS AND MYTHS Maintenance Fees Revealed Toronto condo maintenance fees have long been a mystery. For the first time, it has been revealed the true costs include breakouts for individual amenities like parking and lockers.  Fees are not an apples-to-apples comparison as amenities and services vary widely. But knowing the city-wide statistics give buyers and condo owners a benchmark to assess the suitability of fees in their... [read more]

HOW TALL CAN WE GROW? Yonge & Bloor Condos Break Barriers There's no denying that Toronto is a vertical city. Toronto has the second highest number of high-rises of any North American city and is building new towers faster than any other city in the western hemisphere. With dramatically increasing urban populations, and the commercial and infrastructure requirements that come with that, we need to build up in order to accommodate density. In response, Toronto real estate... [read more]

MALL WAR  How Redevelopment of the Former Hazelton Lanes Sparked a Poisonous Feud in Wealthy Yorkville The Great Battle of Yorkville broke out into active combat in the fall of 2014, when June Mitchell, an 86-year-old grandmother, staged a sit-in at a mall developer's office. It was nearing Yom Kippur, the Jewish high holiday, and Mitchell had a dinner planned. She had the food set and the timing down. Everything was ready to go. Until, all of a sudden, it wasn't. Eight... [read more]

CANADA SEEN AS 'NEW SWITZERLAND' Driving Toronto's Condo Market The city of 2.8-million attracts about a quarter of the 250,000 immigrants who arrive in the nation each year. That's helping drive demand for new housing, including condos and rental property, developer Sam Mizrahi said at the Bloomberg Economic Series Canada Summit in Toronto. "Immigration keeps the market buoyant," said Mizrahi, "Canada's seen as the new Switzerland." Developers... [read more]