With due respect to the politicians, economists, pundits, journalists, builders, realtors, empty-nesters, first-time buyers, and others who have opined on the fragility of the condo market and whay they perceive will be the cause of its imminent crash... They've got it wrong. But, also a bit right. Let me explain. This market, despite its solid fundamentals, is at a higher degree of risk today than any time in its recent past. If we don't recognize that risk and do something... [read more]

It would be easy to mistake the lobby of the One o One condos in midtown Toronto for a nightclub or graffiti-splashed alley. Instead of the muted colours and cookie-cutter designs that fill many condo buildings, developer Camrost Felcorp hired Toronto artist Anthony Ricciardi to create seven murals splattered with bright paint and a rainbow of drip marks. The flashy pieces put the building in a growing group of condo complexes whose hallways, lobbies and outdoor grounds are being... [read more]

Canadian e-commerce giant Shopify Inc. will announce Friday that the company is making an investment of up to half a billion dollars as the anchor tenant of The Well, a new real estate development in downtown Toronto. Shopify vice-president and GM of channels, Satish Kanwar, told the Financial Post that the investment represents a statement about the company's commitment to Canada, and how they plan to remain a foundational part of the Toronto tech industry. Toronto's technology... [read more]

In the last couple years, a range of co-working and shared office spaces have sprouted up in Toronto, appealing to remote workers, freelancers and entrepreneurs of all stripes. There's the hyper-trendy, woman-only Make Lemonade, the parent-friendly Workaround, the architect and interior-design geared Fold, and WeWork, the original co-working behemoth, which now has five locations in the city and nearly 300 worldwide. As the gig economy grows, so does the demand for co-working spaces.... [read more]

So many people live in apartments or condominiums in Toronto that it's hard to imagine a time when renting a small portion of a larger building was a radical, even a shockingly salacious way of life. Amazingly, before 1899, there were no purpose-built apartment buildings in the city at all, making Toronto something of an anomaly in North America. Sure, people rented rooms or floors of sub-divided homes (The Ward, a notorious slum that used to be located near current City Hall, was... [read more]