Costas Kivelos:
Welcome everyone to another week of condo investing with Costas. Today we have the pleasure of bringing to you One Delisle. An iconic building, a special opportunity that’s not just one to make money but to own or invest into a project that will literally change our city skyline and put you as an owner in a world-class property known all over. No matter where you go, certain structures, certain towers, certain buildings are world-renowned. We’ve had one in the last few years at King Toronto. Now, we have another one that we are bringing to you from First Access Condos called One Delisle, Slate Asset Management is the developer, Studio Gang is the architect out of Chicago, RAD Marketing founded by Riz Dhanji who is one of the forefathers of condo living in our city. These three have collaborated to bring you one of the best towers that we will ever see in the city. We are right outside the sales center. As you can see, construction is on its way. We can’t go inside but this will be open, unique like sales centers we haven’t seen in the past, you will actually see terraces and Juliet balconies and how they can work for you. I’m going to tell you this right now, the terraces here are first of its kind on the planet. We’re going to touch on that later with Riz. Now, we’re going to walk down, get on the roof at Yonge and St. Clair and show you the views that you will be able to see from your new address, One Delisle.
Welcome back everyone and this week on First Access Condos, condo investing with Costas, I have the pleasure of being with someone who I look up to, a mentor to me in the condo industry of our city, Riz Dhanji, President of RAD Marketing. Welcome Riz.
Riz Dhanji:
Thank you Costas for having me here today.
Costas Kivelos:
Now, this is a unique episode. Since we started airing our show, I’ve received hundreds of calls and emails thanking me for educating the public on pre-construction investing. Today, I am speaking to someone who educates me. I go to Riz for advice. Riz is one of the forefathers of the condo industry in our city and he is the only person that I know that has the unique ability, the foresight and the know-how to bring the project of the decade over and over again. Over two decades ago, Riz was one of the driving forces behind Aura condos; Canada’s tallest tower for decades located just south of College Park on Gerrard just west of Yonge. In the past decade, Riz collaborated with West Bank, the west coast construction juggernaut and Bjarke Ingels, who was voted architect of the year by his peers and brought us King Toronto, an iconic building combining outdoor foliage, unique construction and architecture, a cascade system built with glass block, yes, glass block. The first world-class tower Toronto has seen and the world was talking about it. Now, Riz, behind Toronto’s most iconic structure of the decade, I am predicting this now early on, One Delisle. Riz, tell us about how you are able to mold our skyline and the driving force behind you founding RAD Marketing.
Riz Dhanji:
So, Costas, the reason I started RAD Marketing is I felt that there was a void in the marketplace for true real estate sales and marketing expertise not only to do iconic projects, like what you mentioned, which is Aura, College Park or King Toronto but many other projects in the city that bring true architecture and design to Toronto. Whenever I speak to people and I talk to them, they always feel that Toronto has never been up to that level of a Shanghai, a Tokyo, a New York and they feel that Torontonians don’t feel that we can achieve that level and I felt that that was very sad because we have probably the most exciting city in the world today and I really mean that. We have the highest immigration in the world, we have people from all over that want to come to Toronto because of it’s so much that it has to offer on a lifestyle basis, there’s no reason why we can’t elevate our architecture and design and build iconic stuff so more people from around the world want to come to Toronto because of what we have and that’s what we’re going to be doing at King Toronto and soon to be One Delisle.
Costas Kivelos:
And you know what? Many of you had heard me say this and this is something that I’ve been saying for years. Toronto in the past while, for years, is kind of like a child that was growing up. It was an adolescent for a very long time, especially with respect to our real estate and our immigration which is the foundation of our market but in the past 5 to 6 years, we’ve really seen us coming to age, a growing up of sorts and you’re one of the driving forces behind that and it’s actually my conversations with Riz that had me found that idea and the term where we are a teenager and we are growing up and we are going to reach levels of New York and Shanghai. Now, that is fundamental to our marketplace but also, you mentioned that you wanted to elevate our level of architecture. Condos were synonymous with towers of glass and they were very bland and not exciting. What we saw in the cities you mentioned are beautiful, architectural masterpieces and iconic buildings and not necessarily just towers that are a hundred stories and unique but also smaller boutique buildings. I find that your product that you bring to market, it has aesthetic properties where a lot of other developers are lacking. Tell us how you are a driving force behind making our skyline beautiful.
Riz Dhanji:
Well, if I can talk about this project that we’re going to be doing is with One Delisle, I mean, you can see the backdrop of where we at at Yonge and St. Clair. One of the things that was important to Slate Asset Management who is the developer behind this project, was not to just build a building because they are one of the largest land owners of Yonge and St. Clair here. They own all four corners of Yonge and St. Clair and 10 buildings in total. They are in here for a long time. We’re talking decades.
Costas Kivelos:
Yes.
Riz Dhanji:
They wanted to create something that will be a pinnacle of this location, that will draw more people and more businesses and more office, more retail, more residential to this neighborhood. So, they went out and they searched the world for the top architect to be part of this vision that they have.
Costas Kivelos:
Studio Gang out of Chicago.
Riz Dhanji:
And Studio Gang they hired and Jeanne Gang who is now voted as 100 most influential people in Time Magazine just recently and she’s doing some amazing projects around the world from New York to San Francisco, to Paris and so on, so forth. This is her first project in Toronto and so they wanted to design something that had height to it and also had a lot of outdoor terracing and a unique architect that when you’re driving down south or north on Yonge street, this would be the pinnacle of Yonge street and this is what this project is and this is why we’re excited about it because this will be the next level of architecture and design that the city of Toronto will be part of and I can’t wait till we launch this and for people to see it.
Costas Kivelos:
Now, when you have two juggernauts in their industry like Slate Asset Management and Studio Gang out of chicago, when they combine and they fuse their capabilities, you will get something monumental and great and that’s what One Delisle is and that’s what we’re talking about this week. One Delisle, geographically and topographically is located at the height of our city. So, whether you’re driving south, as Riz mentioned, or driving north, that’ll be the focal point for your vision and the luckily, we have a collaboration including yourself that’ll bring us something that really will not only highlight the area, but Toronto as a whole on the world stage. Now, you mentioned about the actual architecture. Now, a few years ago, when you and I were discussing what they were attempting to build, it blew me away. I didn’t know these things existed. Briefly touch on that.
Riz Dhanji:
So, one of the things that’s very important about this building is the way that it elevates off of grade is it’s got this terracing effect all the way up the building to allow for almost 80% of the units to have large terraces and balconies. Now, as you know, you see on a many projects that are coming out in downtown, the city is getting away from any balcony whatsoever.
Costas Kivelos:
Yes.
Riz Dhanji:
This is one of the very few buildings that not only are you going to have large terraces or balconies but some of them will have up to two balconies or two terraces on them itself and what Jeanne Gang has designed is that because she’s actually done one of her very famous projects, the Aqua tower in Chicago, she knows about inclement weather and so these balconies and terraces have a wind protection on the side which means that you can actually extend the use of this outdoor area into the winter time, right? Which is very, very, very rare. Most balcony and you see you go outside and the elements’ all around you but she’s designed it in a way that it curves so that this element and the building and actually the design curves so that you can actually use the outdoor elements for a lot longer period. So, very small details like that or actually big details like that and how it actually hits the ground of the building and how the retail at the base gets incorporated are very unique elements that you’ve never seen in Toronto before that only this project will have.
Costas Kivelos:
Now, that we’ve talked about the architecture and the vision and the actual aesthetics and beauty of the project, what we’re going to do is get back to the foundation of investing and the numbers. Riz, tell me what’s going on in the Yonge and St. Clair neighborhood, one of the oldest, most prestigious neighborhoods in the city and talk to me about how that relates to what we’re going to do here at one Delisle numbers wise.
Riz Dhanji:
Yeah and I think, Costas, this is really important for people to understand that you are bordered by four of the most expensive neighborhoods in all of Toronto, right here at Yonge and St. Clair.
Costas Kivelos:
In all of Canada, mind you.
Riz Dhanji:
And all of Canada. If you look to my right, literally just a block away is Rosedale. The average price in Rosedale today for a single-family home is well over $4 million. You are right in the Deer Park neighborhood, the average price here is between 3.5 to $4 million here. Jjust to my leftover here is Rosedale… I mean, Forest Hill and that is averaging over $4 million. If you look south here and you look two minutes away, you’re at the Summerhill neighborhood and that’s almost $5 million on average price for homes. So, to buy into a neighborhood like this, with the pricing that’s going to be coming out is the last affordable option for people to buy in and the last opportunity for people to buy into a condominium because there has not been a launch at Yonge and St. Clair since 2015. So, think about it. All these people who want to downsize into larger condos or into a condominium and get into this neighborhood, there’s no opportunity for them to do that. This is the only opportunity for people to get in in the Yonge and St Clair neighborhood by buying at One Delisle.
Costas Kivelos:
And I want to add a little bit, because, as I say, First Access Condos does its research. There’s also nothing coming up as another launch of another project for a very long time. So, not only is this the first launch in five years but it will be the first launch in a while. This is literally the only opportunity to get in to one of the best neighborhoods in the country. Best neighborhoods in the country, best project of the decade, Riz, let’s walk this neighborhood and show our viewers what it is to be at Yonge and St. Clair.
Riz Dhanji:
Let’s go and take a look.
Costas Kivelos:
Welcome back everybody. Now, earlier, we were up on the rooftop, almost 30 stories up in the air seeing what makes our skyline one of the best in the world. Now, you might live in the sky but you have to interact on the ground. We are here at Yonge and St. Clair, one of the best intersections in the city, again, with my friend Riz Dhanji and we’re going to tell you why this area is what it is and why you want to invest in live here. Riz, tell us about Yonge and St. Clair and how it applies with Slate Asset Management.
Riz Dhanji:
Yeah. I want to really tell people that Yonge and St. Clair is probably one of the most busiest intersections in all of Toronto. Next to Yonge and Bloor and next to Yonge and Eglinton, this is the third busiest intersection in all of Toronto. Why is it so important? First of all, you can see the subway is right across the street at where the Loblaws is, that is where the subway is, the site of One Delisle is directly across the street from there. So, directly right across the street, you can be on the subway, in downtown Toronto in literally 10 minutes at Yonge and Bloor. The second thing that’s important about this is, Slate Asset Management owns all four sections of this intersection. So, they control a lot of the commercial and the office that’s in here. So, all the retail that you see, the 10 buildings that they also own along Yonge and St. Clair means that they control this area. So, that’s very hard to find for one owner control that amount of real estate.
Costas Kivelos:
And why that is beneficial to us in our investors is that Slate Asset Management actually controls the tenants that are going to be in this building. They make sure that they will have triple A tenants bringing you triple A businesses worthy of the type of person that lives at One Delisle.
Riz Dhanji:
Yeah and the other important thing is, close to 25,000 people work at Yonge and St. Clair on a daily basis and that’s going to only grow as you can see, there’s new renovations that are going on with office building, adding more office to the area, adding more retail to the area. So, more office workers will be coming here. The dedicated streetcar along St. Clair is right here, right in front of your door. There’s new restaurants that are opening up and the one thing that’s really important to understand is that One Delisle will be the beacon of this neighborhood. It’s at the highest intersection of Yonge and St. Clair. What that means is if you’re driving north on Yonge Street or you’re driving south, this will be the center of the city when it’s completed. So, that is why this is such an important intersection and important element of this project. That’s going to be so important for people when they buy in this building.
Costas Kivelos:
When you own at One Delisle, no matter where you are along Yonge street, it’ll be the focal point, essentially the lighthouse that attracts everybody’s eyes. It will be the building that you see no matter where you are and that’s why it’ll be one of the number one buildings in Canada ever. A truly iconic address. Riz, what do you say we walk up a little bit and see where we’re going to be actually building?
Riz Dhanji:
Yeah, let’s go.
Costas Kivelos:
We are steps from Yonge and St. Clair, just north and across from us, you can see the sales center where One Delisle is going to be built, the actual site of construction. Being one block north of Yonge and St. Clair, it is surrounded by all types of retail making an ease of living that’s seldom to find in any other project. You have Loblaws, hair salons, clothing stores, multiple restaurants, all at the base of your new home. Now, we’ve talked about the area, we’ve talked about the views, we’ve talked about Toronto, past project but what we haven’t brought to you is the actual information about the tower. Now, Riz, we have 47 stories situated at the highest point of Yonge street. Tell us a little bit more about the building, the unit mix and the fantastic world-class amenities that you would expect from an iconic structure.
Riz Dhanji:
So, yeah, One Delisle like [0:19:31] right across the street, that’s where the sales office is going to be completed. The first portion of the building is called the City Collection. That’s from the fourth floor up to the 27th floor and that’s going to have a mixture of one bedroom, 1+dens, two bedrooms and some three bedrooms. The higher floors, which we were on the rooftop, is going to be from the 28th floor up to the 44th floor and that’s going to have call our Sky Collection. A higher level of finish, larger units that will be there, great views, great space for a lot of buyers there, a lot of outdoor space and then our creme de la creme will be the top three floors of the building which will be our penthouses which will have the ultimate in finishes, views, size and outdoor spaces. So, there’s a wide range of collection of spaces for people to buy in this project.
Costas Kivelos:
And why is it important, you might ask, that we have different tiers of the building? Well, as you can see, from what you’ve seen about the project and you can tell, being a world-class iconic structure, it’s not a price point that can appeal to everybody but at One Delisle, there are different tiers. So, when you might think I could never afford this building, you’ll be pleasantly surprised. This is truly an opportunity for almost everyone to be able to invest in one of the best projects on the planet. Now, we’ve talked about the different tiers, the different collections, the different views that we will obviously have, some of the best views in the country. Tell me a little bit more about the world-class amenities.
Riz Dhanji:
Yeah. So, one of the things I want to tell people about is that the prices are going to start around the 900 thousands in this project which is very hard to find in this neighborhood at all but their world-class amenities was an important feature for Slate and an important feature for Studio Gang. So, when they went around to London, they went around to New York and all these other locations, they found these five-star hotels, whether they went to the Mandarin Oriental or anything that you saw and they said what if we could bring that kind of level of amenity space to Toronto in a condominium building, not a hotel condo but a condominium building. So, here, the amenities are out of this world. I don’t think Torontonians have seen anything like this. You’re going to have a zero-edge pool, you’re going to have an amazing wine lounge, you’re going to have kids areas, you’re going to have coworking lounges, you’re going to have a large landscape outdoor that was designed by Janet Rosenberg and Associates. So, the amenities that you will see in this building will rival these five-star hotels around the world. Something that Torontonians will love when they see it.
Costas Kivelos:
Now, Riz touched on the world-class amenities that we have never seen in a condo in Toronto before. This project is truly a trendsetter here in the city but what you also spoke about was the starting price point. This project in any other city of the world, a world-class city comparable to us, would be starting at 1.9 as opposed to 900. It’s truly an opportunity, like the tier system I spoke of before, for more people that they actually know that can actually get into this project. Don’t sit there and think that you can’t afford a project like this. This is part of history. Buying here will be buying in something that will be known across the planet. Now, Riz, what do you say we go across the street and show everybody that although you’re near one of the busiest intersections in the city, you’re actually on a very quiet residential street.
Riz Dhanji:
Yeah. Let’s go down to Delisle Street.
Costas Kivelos:
Delisle, a perfect balance of the city and living. Now, we were just at the busy intersection of Yonge and St. Clair and a few steps from that, we find ourselves on Delisle, a very quiet, peaceful, tranquil residential street in the heart of the concrete jungle known as Toronto. Now, earlier, I said when you have a combination of two powerhouses; Slate Asset Management and Studio Gang Architecture, that something great and monumental is going to form, something close to perfection. Now, to follow that mantra, what Slate Asset Management did was they acquired an additional property that allowed them to extend the base west. Now, the base of the building extends to Delisle Park, this quaint a little oasis in the heart of the city but what we just found out from my friend Riz, President of RAD Marketing, is that there is about to be a worldwide competition for designs and plans to totally revamp, recreate this park into something that is worthy and compliment a world-class iconic building like One Delisle. Tell us about that Riz and thanks for letting First Access Condos know about it first.
Riz Dhanji:
Yeah. This is something that we don’t talk about and you’re one of the first to hear about is that what Slate has done is they’ve acquired a site like Costas has talked about to allow retail to extend along Delisle avenue right up to the edge of the park and this park here, Delisle Park, will be fully retransformed and they’re going to work with the city and worldwide landscape architects to make this something that’s so unique, so different that the city will all be talking up, people from all over Toronto will be talking about. Slate is all about art and architecture and design. So, this is one of their pillars of this. There’s also going to be an art component that’s going to lead into the park that I haven’t got details yet but this is all about what we talked about; the design, the architecture, Yonge and St. Clair, this quite street at Delisle, you have everything here at One Delisle that you can’t find anywhere else in the city. The most expensive neighborhoods right here in Deer Park, everything that you have is at your fingertips. So, to get into a building like this with the units that are available, I encourage people to buy into. I’m actually buying into this building to actually personally live into. So, I know that over the next 5 to 6 years, when this building is completed, the value that you will buy in today will be substantially more, given where construction and land costs are going, that people will be overly excited with their purchase at One Delisle.
Costas Kivelos:
Now, we’ve heard almost everything that we need to know to make an educated decision and buy in, probably, the tower of the decade but what I want to highlight is when you first think of a project, see a project like this, basically, the beacon on Canada’s number one street, Yonge Street. don’t think that it is out of reach. Riz has been in very, very tense discussions with the developers and the financiers to bring one of the best, the most affordable and the easiest deposit structures to assist everybody in their purchase here at the world-class building known as One Delisle. Stay tuned and reach out, [email protected] Call me to find out more details. Riz, thank you for your time today. It was a pleasure.
Riz Dhanji:
Thanks Costas. I really appreciate it.
Costas Kivelos:
And I look forward to this.
Riz Dhanji:
Absolutely. Thank you.
Costas Kivelos:
RAD Marketing, First Access Condos bringing you the number one addresses in the best projects and the greatest opportunities for you to make money in the city.
Costas Kivelos:
Welcome back everyone. We just finished one of my favorite episodes of the year, One Delisle, talking to you about how this iconic structure is going to change Toronto skyline for decades. Don’t delay. You have to reach out to us. People are calling from overseas already. We want to be able to take care of all our clients and get them first access. Remember that’s the best and only opportunity to buy. If you are going to capitalize on that, you need to call me, 416-662-5701 or email [email protected] and don’t forget, you can always register on our website, firstaccesscondos.com. Don’t delay. Reach out to us. This is a once in a lifetime opportunity. One Delisle changing the skyline forever.