eco-cite on the canal | 5 fl | u/c

[YOWetal]

Originally Posted by nredding

I was walking past this building today and two men in a hydraulic bucket were cleaning the exterior windows. So they are still keeping up appearances despite still having 19 of 25 units unsold.

Looks like in the past month they sold another unit. At this rate only 7 years to go. Always good to see a greedy bank get burned.

[LeadingEdgeBoomer]

Always good to see a greedy bank get burned.

Not if you are a greedy retired shareholder of the bank, who loves to get those quarterly dividends.

[LeadingEdgeBoomer]

An article on this building just appeared on OpenFile

Reported on

April 26, 2012


by William Wilson

The idea was simple and the market was obvious: build a modern, environmentally friendly condominium along midtown Bank Street, sit back and watch young urbanites occupy it in less than your average compost cycle.

This was the original idea behind EcoCité on the Canal, and in many respects, the building delivered. It has a distinctly modern look, it's one of the most advanced eco-buildings in the city, and it enjoys a decent location just across the street from Lansdowne Park. Nonetheless, there is one important catch: the swarm of interest never really developed.

Construction began on the building in the spring of 2008 and was completed in November of the following year. Along the way, however, the building switched owners due to financial difficulties, and it has never really recovered.

Unit prices increased after the switch, and by the time it finally opened, many of the building’s 25 units were still available for purchase.

Years later, the number of occupants has increased, but many units remain in the dark. On Feb. 22, for instance, potential buyers had their choice of 12 different units, representing almost half of the building. That number hadn't changed as of March 12.

So what happened?

The financial controversy surrounding EcoCité on the Canal has already been well documented, but how did that instability influence potential buyers?

Broker Paul Bourque believes the “slow pace” of sales is directly attributable to the early bad press received by the building. He also believes many of the issues concerning its early sale were not properly explained to the public.

Since his retention, the marketing focus behind the building has changed along with the pace of sales.

The building is now known as “ten14 bank street,” and attention has been refocused on its location, quality of construction and eco-merits—in that order.

For all intents and purposes, the new pitch is starting to turn heads.

“Sales have really picked up. We sold three units this month," Bourque says. "The name change was to distance us from irresponsible information that still dwells on the internet."