SoBa [203 Catherine St] | 19f | Completed

[cityguy]

Ttheir ad stated a sept 1st start date and again nothing

[jimmyjones]

Still nothing going on, sales center is still up and open.

[Harley613]

I think it's time we update the storey count on this one :p

[MattRichling]

They have not announced it yet, but most likely going to be pushed till spring 2015 to start construction (They are waiting to announce as their might still be a chance it will start this year). I was told it was mainly due to the city, they are waiting on certain permits to be approved.

[MattRichling]

SoBa is now advertising "Free Condo Fees for two years", in what appears to be a final push before construction starts in the spring.

[Boxster]

Originally Posted by MattRichling

SoBa is now advertising "Free Condo Fees for two years", in what appears to be a final push before construction starts in the spring.

The free condo fees for two years may not be a great idea as it may tend to attract buyers that will not be able to afford the $500/month condos fees when they kick in two years down the road...leading to more resales than usual.

[BlueJay]

Originally Posted by Boxster

The free condo fees for two years may not be a great idea as it may tend to attract buyers that will not be able to afford the $500/month condos fees when they kick in two years down the road...leading to more resales than usual.

There is nothing wrong with re sales. As long as they get the initial sales, it's all good.

[Skipper]

there seems to be a trend going on there..... While I like his designs, the following scares me:
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/video...ticle21571875/

Are condo corporations taking into considerations this huge expense related to windows replacement not so far into the future?

[Urbanarchit]

*

[redback]

The fine print (the *) on the promotion shows that the amount that it would cost for the condo fees for the first 2 years is applied as a discount on the purchase price of the unit purchased. Having said that, the purchaser will still be responsible to pay condo fees starting day one of taking possession.

[Boxster]

Originally Posted by redback

The fine print (the *) on the promotion shows that the amount that it would cost for the condo fees for the first 2 years is applied as a discount on the purchase price of the unit purchased. Having said that, the purchaser will still be responsible to pay condo fees starting day one of taking possession.

Much better as long as initial condo fee estimated by promoter is not too low.

[Boxster]

Originally Posted by BlueJay

There is nothing wrong with re sales. As long as they get the initial sales, it's all good.

Its all good for promoter but not for condo owners.

Amount of listings could lower prices in the medium to short term

[S-Man]

For sure they should be investing in the better, triple-pane glass for all glass buildings, even if it's more expensive. It will be more expensive to do later to replace existing glass, but we can continue to get quality buildings.

However, I get the impression that some of this might be a part of the anti-condos, anti-glass building beliefs many people have. We saw the opposition to them because of the occasional glass panels that fell from highrises, with the CBC talking about how they're no good for us and the city, completely oblivious to how other buildings (current and past) made of a variety of materials had problems with bricks, stones, marble slabs, wood, concrete falling from them onto people.

Detroit removed cornices from most older buildings in the '40s because one or a few fell off (onto people). So they passed a bylaw preventing any news ones from being built and the existing ones to have theirs removed. Now, a developer is using better technologies to replace these cornices and ensure their safety. Ottawa did something similar due to concerns over weather compromising its stregnth with the National Press Building by removing their architectural balcony, and while I can't confirm this as the reason but the Blackburn Building is also missing its cornice.

Someone may confirm, but I think several years ago a chunk of concrete fell from the Union du Canada onto Dalhousie, and during the 2010 Earthquake a slab fell from Laurier Esplanade. So, not using glass for buildings for this reason is silly.

Isn't the concern about glass condos not actually the glass itself, but the seal around the glass, which has a lifespan of only a couple of decades? And the high cost to the building of updating all of these when the time comes?

I wasn't aware of this being a falling-glass issue. The falling glass in Toronto and Ottawa during the heatwave two summers ago was glass balcony rail shattering, not exterior windows.

[m0nkyman]

Just saw in my Instagram feed that construction will start March 1st on this. Final blowout image available if you follow Brad Lamb on The #IG

[nredding]

Currently offering up to $50K off.

[Boxster]

Originally Posted by nredding

Currently offering up to $50K off.

That should really piss off customers that have already purchased.

[kwoldtimer]

Originally Posted by Boxster

That should really piss off customers that have already purchased.

The usual reply to that is that they got to choose the better units by buying early. In fact, the market seems to offer very little reason to pre-buy these days, imho.

[Boxster]

16 units per floor on levels 2 to 7....there is going to be a lot of traffic in the hallways and a row of doors for units facing Catherine St.

[Simplicity]

New poster in here! I'm from Winnipeg, so it's a bit slow at the moment in our city. But we've got a Fortress project on the horizon with Charles Mady the partner - not Brad Lamb. Mady is teetering on the brink over in Barrie so it'll be interesting to see if we ever get the 'highest tower between Ontario and BC', but Fortress is now in default to their investors on this Soba project and a few others. As in, 90 days of non-payment on their syndicated mortgage bonds.

Does anybody know if this project is actually a go? Like, are there permits, are pre-sales complete, etc.

Trying to get a feel for these guys. I've been watching the Capital Pointe thread from Regina because we share a forum with Saskatchewan and it looks very similar to this one. Lots of unfulfilled promises, lots of wasted time, lots of failure...

[daud]

Originally Posted by Simplicity

Does anybody know if this project is actually a go? Like, are there permits, are pre-sales complete, etc.

Trying to get a feel for these guys. I've been watching the Capital Pointe thread from Regina because we share a forum with Saskatchewan and it looks very similar to this one. Lots of unfulfilled promises, lots of wasted time, lots of failure...

According to this post from a day or two ago:

http://www.mattrichling.com/blog/sob...struction-sale

The project is 86% sold and construction is said to begin March 1. I was aware that Fortress was financing, and that they are a syndicated mortgage financing group, but don't know much about the company or syndicated mortage investments other than they allow investors to pool capital and finance a development for a good return. I think, like any project, its success will be dependent on the financial health of the developer and sales of the project, the financer is loaning the money for construction and they are taking some risk. I would also think that one fortress project could fail without any implication on another, again, they are like a bank but they use investors capital. thats my take on syndicated mortgages but I could be wrong.

there are some other posters here that could probably confirm this.