When buying a condo in Toronto, you’re not just investing in a condo unit in the building. You are investing in a lifestyle. Buyers identify with a building’s architecture, its curb appeal, it’s general features and finishes and its suite of amenities as well. I’ve heard buyers by merely flipping through project brochures can conclude confidently, this building is not me.
Across industries including real estate, everyone is investing great efforts and time to learn more about the Millenials – their likes, dislikes, desires, preferences. What’s really interesting about this cohort is the disruptive environment they are growing up in – there are various home delivery services when it comes to food, for transportation they have a choice of apps to click on lyft or Uber; for grocery deliveries is Instacart or express pick up at stores with designated parking spots and even pre-prepared packaged and portioned ingredients delivered to your home for some good ol’ home cooking. So how does this disruption that provides great ease with personalized services translate into real estate and home purchasing?
Toronto’s skyline is peppered with tall glass towers – each competing in height and architecture. The competition, however, does not stop at architecture or price as one would imagine. It even goes beyond suite features and finishes. These general, arguably expected run-of-the-mill amenities will not win the Millennial vote. Offering conveniences and services right at your doorstep, in the building’s lobby that provide ease, comfort, and personalization at the fingertips on a smartphone may just be the secret sauce – the builders are betting on it!
This increased desire for an enhanced lifestyle has led to elevated premium services and resort-like amenities that range from but not limited to including social clubs or programs that offer services like a boutique hotel, purposeful lobbies, designed with room for waiting Uber customers, a 24 hours concierge who receives parcel deliveries or a locker for the FedEx drop off, social/workspaces with free WiFi and Smart Home Technology allowing residents to control various features of their home such as heat, air, front door, music from their smartphones.
Launched for pre-construction sales last year, Line 5 Condos at Yonge and Eglinton offers some forward-thinking features and amenities directed at how millennials live in and around their homes. The condo towers will have storage areas for food deliveries — both hot and cold. Nearly 900 bicycle parking spots will outnumber the 268 vehicle spots. The building will also have space for a retail coffee and juice bar on the ground floor that will let residents grab their morning caffeine before they step outdoors and into their day.
The recently launched The Saint Condos at Church and Adelaide, downtown Toronto by Minto Communities has a great emphasis on wellness, in fact, the development team is hoping to be the first Toronto condo building to be ‘well certified.’ The amenities here include meditations rooms, green kitchens, chem-free cleaning – betting on the Millennials’ and young buyers’ faith in self-care and socializing.
Perhaps the greatest amenity of all is connection – DIRECT access to the subway from your condo lobby. Well, at least that was CentreCourt Development’s marketing messaging behind the stupendously successful launch this fall of The Forest Hill Condos at Bathurst and Eglinton. An impressive 1.7 million riders take the TTC every business day – imagine not having to carry a winter parka to work along the subway line!
As the demographics of condo residents evolve to also include families, developers look to evolve amenities to cater to this group as well. Menkes Harbour Plaza Residences that completed earlier this year include a 700-square-foot indoor play area for children and their parents. The space is furnished with bean bag chairs, animal artwork and light fixtures made of recycled fire extinguishers. Designed by two young moms, with busy tots in mind, it will be every child, (and parent’s) dream come true! The room includes a cozy reading nook, play structure with a slide, and plenty of toys to bounce around on.
Co-working spaces are also a big trend in innovative amenities. It’s estimated that 2.5+ million Canadians work-from-home. Having free WiFi-enabled workspaces in the building truly completes the loop on live, work and play right at your doorstep.
And then, brace yourselves, there is a whole other level of amenities. Think beyond your wildest dreams and then think beyond again. And again. You get the point right? And then yet, again.
Here the best is just the baseline — amenities for the 0.1 percent! Here’s what developers are offering at top-bracket condos. The Randall Residences in Oakville offer not just the ample space with suites ranging from 1,800 – over 2,700-square-feet but a host of top-of-the-line services that include go-to 24-hour hotel-style services from grocery deliveries to private jet bookings. Residents are also automatically enrolled for membership with Quintessentially, a private “lifestyle management” company with more than 1,500 staff around the world to help clients in more than 35 languages with everything from tickets to “VIP” events to “fine dining in the middle of the ocean.”
With the brag line “no request is too demanding, no ask too large,” 1 Yorkville sets the bar for resident care sky-high. As recently featured in the National Post, among the concierge services available: Executive car and driver; laundry drop-off and pick-up; gift ideas, wrapping and delivery; concert tickets; airline reservations; housekeeping; interior decorators; “Pet Care” staff to walk (or even train) your dog; an in-house sommelier, intimate pampering at an expansive 14,000-square-foot spa on site. In addition to luxury standards such as sauna and steam rooms and an outdoor pool with private cabanas, 1 Yorkville includes aqua massage services, a juice bar, and both hot and cold plunge pools — rarely seen beyond private establishments such as Body Blitz or the Scandinave Spa. There’s a 5,000-square-foot fitness level here too, with a cross-fit gym among other trendy exercise tools.
