When buying a place where you’ll live for many years, you must purchase a property that feels just right – one with an emotional resonance that says “Hey, you belong here!”
Beyond the location parameters, spatial criteria, and functional needs with which most buyers limit themselves, it’s important to take a moment to visualize your perfect home. (If you need help, refer to our popular Online Housing Profile.)
Our current 2-bed 2-bath soft loft offering at Showcase Lofts in the heart of Leslieville puts a bit of a flutter in my heart every time I visit. It has all the qualities I love in a living space – high ceilings, massive south-facing windows, and a generous terrace with private street entry – and reminds me that places like this didn’t exist in Toronto until 1999. In the early 90s, I had completed my Graduate Degree called Planning Housing Environments and was working with development teams in the concept, sales & marketing of adaptive reuse conversions into loft condominiums. In 1996, the City of Toronto rezoned the enormous swath of industrial land that currently comprises our Financial and Entertainment Districts to allow ‘Live/Work’ uses which paved the way for more Hard Loft Conversions and newly constructed Soft Lofts. I sold the first hard loft conversion completed under the new Live Work zoning – The Monarch Building at 436 Wellington West – and the first Soft Loft completed was concrete ‘n cool 20 Niagara Street located between Bathurst and Portland Streets.
A quarter of a century later, I’m grateful to have been engaged in this form of city-building. In my opinion, loft living is an ideal contemporary environment to complement a “bright lights big city” lifestyle.
Take a peek at this listing we SOLD in Leslieville. We call it: So Sweet Ya Gotta Brush Yer Teeth – On Colgate Avenue In Leslieville.
This sun-kissed ground floor unit – one of only two 2-bed units on this level – has a premium patio with south exposure. Seriously, whether you’re in the bloom of youth, baby-making, giving your boss the Freedom 55 finger – or just YOU being YOU – when you live here life will be more dynamic, people will be more engaging, and everything that matters will be within walking distance!
Hey, you belong here!
I knew my destiny included a life in Toronto when I arrived from Victoria, BC, late one night in 1986 to go to university. I can vividly recall my cosmopolitan excitement whizzing in on the elevated Gardiner Expressway from the airport into the glittering nightscape of skyscrapers and the soaring CN Tower that, at the time, was the tallest structure in the world. Walking into my pal’s father’s penthouse with a panoramic view of the CN Tower – like a real-time postcard – I instantly knew I had found my future.
I’ve had a love affair with the CN Tower ever since. Little did I know that 9 years later my primary bedroom in the Button Factory would be My Room With A Peek-A-Boo View of the CN Tower. I instantly noticed our Soft Loft listing does too, from the terrace, which awakened my deeply embedded near-forgotten love for living in a place where you get to experience a private moment with that pointy edifice. After all, only those who live in Toronto get the privilege.
If you’ve never been in a Soft Loft, you should come to view our listing. Along with having the sun kiss your face when lounging on its terrace, being able to skip rope without fear of ripping out a ceiling fixture, and feeling your larger than life personality fitting perfectly in its scale and proportions, the walk-to-everything lickety-split location is dynamite.
After all, isn’t where you Live & Love what it’s all about?
~Steve
Did you enjoy this post? Check out some of my related posts:
Dear Urbaneer: How Do I Know This Is The Right Home To Buy?
Stylish Two-Bedroom Condos Are In Demand, But Hard To Find In Downtown Toronto
Hybrid Home/Work Arrangement Trend Calls For A Cool Home Office
Exploring Vintage Brick & Beam Factory Conversions & Concrete ‘N Cool Contemporary Lofts In Toronto
Toronto Loves The CN Tower (And So Do I!)
Before & After: A Builder Grade Toronto Condo Goes Back To Its Factory Roots
A Conversation About Corner Store Conversions In Toronto
12 Recent Adaptive Reuse, Live/Work, Storefront & Coach House Conversion Sales In Toronto
Want to have someone on your side?
Since 1989, I’ve steered my career through a real estate market crash and burn; survived a slow painful cross-country recession; completed an M.E.S. graduate degree from York University called ‘Planning Housing Environments’; executed the concept, sales & marketing of multiple new condo and vintage loft conversions; and guided hundreds of clients through the purchase and sale of hundreds of freehold and condominium dwellings across the original City of Toronto. From a gritty port industrial city into a glittering post-industrial global centre, I’ve navigated the ebbs and flows of a property market as a consistent Top Producer. And I remain as passionate about it today as when I started.
We’d love to introduce our services to you.
Serving first and second-time Buyers, relocations, renovators, and those building their long-term property portfolios, our mandate is to help clients choose the property that will realize the highest future return on their investment while ensuring the property best serves their practical needs and their dream of “Home” during their ownership.
Are you considering selling? We welcome providing you with a comprehensive assessment free of charge, including determining your Buyer profile, ways to optimize your return on investment, and tailoring the listing process to suit your circumstances. Check out How Urbaneer’s Custom Marketing Program Sold This Authentic Broadview Loft In Riverside to learn more about what we do!
Consider letting Urbaneer guide you through your Buying or Selling process, without pressure, or hassle.
We are here to help!
Thanks for reading!
-The Urbaneer Team
Steven Fudge, Sales Representative
& The Innovative Urbaneer Team
Bosley Real Estate Ltd., Brokerage – (416) 322-800
– we’re here to earn your trust, then your business –
Celebrating Thirty-Four Years As A Top-Producing Toronto Realtor
*Did you know we were recently listed as one of The Top 25 Toronto Real Estate Agents To Follow On Twitter! – The Top 50 Blogs On Toronto – and The Top 100 Real Estate Blogs In Canada? Consider signing up in the box below to receive our FREE monthly e-newsletter on housing, culture, and design including our love for unique urban homes and other Toronto real estate!
*Love Canadian Housing? Check out Steve’s University Student Mentorship site called Canadian Real Estate, Housing & Home which focuses on architecture, landscape, design, products, and real estate in Canada!