William Thomas Residence | ? | 21 fl | Complete

[atnor]

Rich Chinese and other foreign students will take up occupancy. Any sane student (or parent) will have living arrangements in Westdale.

If I had the opportunity I’d chose living in Westdale rather than these overpriced hotel rooms.

[movingtohamilton]

Originally Posted by atnor

Rich Chinese and other foreign students will take up occupancy. Any sane student (or parent) will have living arrangements in Westdale.

If I had the opportunity I’d chose living in Westdale rather than these overpriced hotel rooms.

Stereotype much?

There's a off-campus student residence being proposed, near the university. Likely the NIMBYs will be out in force to object. Oh wait...they're already bleating. http://bit.ly/2DGyPnt

[atnor]

Originally Posted by movingtohamilton

Stereotype much?

There's a off-campus student residence being proposed, near the university. Likely the NIMBYs will be out in force to object. Oh wait...they're already bleating. http://bit.ly/2DGyPnt

There's no stereotype in what I posted.

[davidcappi]

That price seems pretty reasonable to me for a unit that is fully furnished, utilities included, with onsite staff and amenities. The only zinger I can see is that the units don't include WIFI.

[movingtohamilton]

Originally Posted by atnor

There's no stereotype in what I posted.

Glad to know that your comment has a reliable dataset to back it up, rather than it just being an anecdote or guesswork or something

Anyway, this is how free enterprise operates, apparently.

[TheRitsman]

I guess we'll have to wait and see based on the sales. Although the that no WiFi thing is probably the stupidest thing I've heard from this whole development. Otherwise it is beautiful and will hopefully bring youth to the downtown core.

[atnor]

Originally Posted by movingtohamilton

Glad to know that your comment has a reliable dataset to back it up, rather than it just being an anecdote or guesswork or something

Anyway, this is how free enterprise operates, apparently.

Of course it's speculation. I speculate the main occupants will be foreign students that happen to have money, ie rich. How you take offence/issue with that is unwarranted and beyond me.

Again, no sane student or parent (middle class) would choose this residence over renting a room in Westdale.

[movingtohamilton]

Originally Posted by atnor

...Again, no sane student or parent (middle class) would choose this residence over renting a room in Westdale.

You're right. I have a feeling you're right about the origins and wealth of the potential tenants. But how many actual f$cks should we really give about this? IMO,none. If the target market is students able to pay, and and they do, and the building fills up...success!

Your comment about "sane" is just your own bias, right? There are lots of reasons why someone will rent in this building. Ultimately it's their own business.

[Sehnsucht]

Originally Posted by movingtohamilton

You're right. I have a feeling you're right about the origins and wealth of the potential tenants. But how many actual f$cks should we really give about this? IMO,none. If the target market is students able to pay, and and they do, and the building fills up...success!

Your comment about "sane" is just your own bias, right? There are lots of reasons why someone will rent in this building. Ultimately it's their own business.

Right. Let's see what the market will bear. If they can't pack it full of students, then they'll rent to the regular community, who will pay. Or they'll adjust their pricing to market value.

The building is nice, in a great location, has great amenities, and is nicely furnished. Besides, there's always cache to living in a new building. It'll fill.

[matt602]

It doesn't seem that expensive to me if you look at the prices of other new rental builds downtown. I'm pretty sure that new rental on Cannon just East of this is similarly priced at a slightly bigger size. I was honestly expecting it to be even pricier than it is.

[Chronamut]

The way I see it is it's win win for them - they are built like regular (albeit small) apartments, right in the core of the downtown - either they get rich students whose parents are paying for their tuition (and many do) or they sell them to regular people looking for an apartment in the core - regardless someone WILL pay those prices - even if it's someone in toronto - or 4 people living in a residence there from toronto.

After all they make those insane prices work in toronto..

[Innsertnamehere]

That is only a little less than I pay psf for my downtown Toronto apartment, which is in a 10yr old building and was gutted and upgraded before I moved it. I would pay $1,191 if it was the same rate as my place. It does seem expensive for Hamilton. Student residences are usually inflated in price though, for whatever reason.

[atnor]

My take is why would you pay $1000+ per month when you can live in a house with your friends/classmates in Westdale for half that?

Pros of living in Westdale are the proximity to school, an entire house to live in, you are surrounded by students, parties, living in an insulated bubble while remaining close to downtown.

Cons: living arrangements aren’t the nicest depending on your landlord, limited food options if you aren’t willing to leave Westdale.

Pros of WTR: new build, clean, decent amenities within the building, close to restaurants, coffee shops, etc.

Cons: price, you must take a bus to get to Mac which may involve fighting crowds, downtown isn’t that lively at night (subject to change).

I’m sure there are more pros and cons for both depending on the person but for me living in Westdale is the better choice mainly because you are close to school, lower cost, you can live with your friends/classmates in the same house, and you are surrounded by students.

That’s just my take on this, if I was given the option I’d live in Westdale. Unfortunately when I went to Mac I couldn’t afford to live off campus so I commuted, oh well.

[Dr Awesomesauce]

I believe the answer was stated earlier by atnor, so just to repeat that, it may be that the developer has targeted the international student market - undergraduate and graduate programmes certainly have, so why not developers?

If I'm a foreign student or more likely the parents of that student, then I'm looking for something new, safe and simple. This place is perfect in that regard, while a shared house in Westdale doesn't really fit the bill. They might buy that house but then that's a lot of trouble so...

The international student market is massively lucrative and it's entirely possible that there's enough demand to fill this building more than two times over.

[ihateittoo]

I know there has been a business model like this for a couple years now in Montreal. A developer took over two old hotels in the downtown area and altered them to be more appealing to students and then marketed heavily to international students and it seems to be working. Both properties are quite full.

http://www.evomontreal.com/

The prices are similar and Montreal's rental market is very similar to Hamiltons in terms of price. Montreal does have more schools and a bigger student population though but i assume that these are also being marketed as an alternative to Columbia College residences? (not sure what the going rates for those units is)

I actually worked out of an office space in the top of one of the EVO buildings for two years and from what i could tell is that it had a similar turn over to university residences... in that a majority of students just stay for their first year and get settled in the city and then move on to cheaper pastures.

I wonder if a building like this with a smaller student population could sustain on that kind of turnover? I am assuming they put more research into this than we did... or maybe it's a gamble...

[davidcappi]

There are also several luxury student buildings that I know of in London Ont with rents in a similar range. They built a few on Richmond if anyone is familiar, just past the UWO campus.

[realcity]

What do you need to prove you can live there? show student ID? What makes it "student" as opposed to common "residential", common social areas? ie a lobby, free wifi? Only students socialize right?. Was there some sort of agreement made with the City for the height? Speaking of which, the height you barely know its there when walking on James, if it was 40-floors same thing at street level.

[Sehnsucht]

Originally Posted by realcity

What do you need to prove you can live there? show student ID? What makes it "student" as opposed to common "residential", common social areas? ie a lobby, free wifi? Only students socialize right?. Was there some sort of agreement made with the City for the height? Speaking of which, the height you barely know its there when walking on James, if it was 40-floors same thing at street level.

Good point re height. It's true: when walking down James, you don't feel as though there's a large tower above, and, like you say, if it were 40 storeys, it would have the exact same feel. So, good design makes for great height.

[Chronamut]

Originally Posted by realcity

What do you need to prove you can live there? show student ID? What makes it "student" as opposed to common "residential", common social areas? ie a lobby, free wifi? Only students socialize right?. Was there some sort of agreement made with the City for the height? Speaking of which, the height you barely know its there when walking on James, if it was 40-floors same thing at street level.

I heard the 2nd and 3rd floor are going to be common areas for students.. at least that was the plan when it was being built..

..and yeah the setback makes it a really great design where you barely notice the condo on top - great design

Hope to see more units like that, where the bottom still feels like part of a smaller vibe but the top has all the units.

[Dr Awesomesauce]

Apologies if this has been discussed already, but it seems these units are not for sale, is that right?