Hottest and most noteworthy condo projects in the GTA for 2010

Toronto boasts more high-rise construction than any city in North America and 2010 was a big year for new GTA condos. In the words of Heath Ledger's Joker, "I wanted to see what you'd do. And you didn't disappoint."

Throughout the year we saw dozens of condo launches, relaunches and a few outright condo failures. Looking back, we can say some of these projects stood out from the crowd. They may have had more hype, purchaser interest, noteworthy design, online interest or something else that caught our attention.

And so, without further ado, below are the hottest condos in the GTA in 2010 according to our analytics and our own opinions. Due to the fact that the list is both objective and subjective, the list is in no particular order.

 

Check them out below:

 

Number One Bloor

Was there any project with more hype than the launch of Great Gulf’s Number One Bloor on the site of the failed One Bloor? We don’t think so. With construction potentially starting in March, we are sure that One Bloor will surely be in the headlines again in the new year.

 

 

12 Degrees

This is one of BuzzBuzzHome’s favourites. Not only are the renderings below awesome and powerful, but the building is unique in that it is trying to offer more larger three-bedroom suites in the downtown core for families, something that would be a welcome lifestyle change to downtown condos.

 

 

Five Condos

With its sleek design and cool location, this project caught the attention of BuzzBuzzHome. But, more than just the looks appeal to us, we especially love how this project will transform Yonge Street.

 

 

Twenty One Clairtrell

This project has been trending on BuzzBuzzHome all year. People love it! We love it.

 

 

Downtown

Every now and again an idea comes along where you think to yourself, 'why didn't I think of that?!'

 

Downtown by Parallax Investment Corp. is bringing such an idea to the Toronto condo market, and it's called Flexinatur.

 

Flexinatur's tagline is 'Any Style of Living. Any stage of Life'. In a nutshell, you can buy multiple units next to each other, rent them out, then in a few years transform all the units into one large luxury suite. Love it! Brilliant.

 

 

DNA3

Coolest sales centre ever, and unique marketing campaign! Also, a wicked looking building that people are loving!

 

 

Bisha Hotel and Residences

When we first walked into the Bisha Hotel and Residences sales centre and were bathed in a dark glow resonating from the slick black and gold trimmed walls we knew we were in for a treat!

 

BISHA is positioning itself as the most luxurious place to live in Toronto and from what we saw last week it's hard to argue against.

 

The brain child of Lifetime Developments Principal Mel Pearl and CEO of INK Entertainment Charles Khabouth, Bisha was conceived through the shared belief that Toronto was missing something that a city of it's size and standing deserved - a luxury property that has a bit of a kick, an edge, and a lifestyle to it.

 

 

Studio on Richmond

Just check out the rendering below. Need we say more???

 

The Yorkville Condominiums

Not much is known about this project yet, but the rendering is slick and people are loving it.

 

I am thinking sell-out the first weekend the launch to the public.

 

 

Backstage on the Esplanade

Coolest online campaign, ever! First they had the “Name Our Condo” contest, where people were given the opportunity to literally name the condo, now they have a “virtual broker” program going on… what is next? Who knows, but there are a lot of prizes to be had, and an other cool rendering to check out!

 

 

Theatre Park

We don’t really have anything to say about this project, but it sure got a lot of hype going on!

Posted via email from Sunny Batra's Blog

The top tech trends to watch for in 2011

The top tech trends to watch for in 2011

Pre-New Year projections are nothing new in the tech world. As we get set to welcome in 2011, however, it’s becoming increasingly clear that the year ahead will offer more than its fair share of geek-infused excitement.

2010 was the year when Apple’s iPad finally broke the industry’s 15-year tablet computer hex, 3D television came to the big box store, and WikiLeaks underscored just how vulnerable we’ve become to relatively simple security threats. The new year promises to build on the past 12 months with a wave of better tablets, better security offerings, and an ever-accelerating stream of increasingly interconnected devices and services.

Pull out your crystal ball as we look ahead at the following trends:

Tablets

For now, Apple’s iPad has the tablet market largely to itself, but that will change dramatically early in the new year. New devices powered by Google’s Android operating system are already hitting store shelves — Samsung’s Galaxy Tab is a strong early contender for iPad-alternative status — and RIM’s PlayBook is showing promise in advance of its anticipated release in the first quarter of the year.

“I’m pretty sure 2011 will be the year of the tablets,” says Chris Brozenick, vice president and general manager of WeatherBug Mobile, a mobile app development company. “We’ve already seen it start to take off. There’s no question these are transformational devices and they’re already causing a shift in people’s habits.”

3D TV

Last year’s blockbuster film, Avatar, whetted consumers’ appetite for three-dimensional content just in time for the first 3D flat-screens from major manufacturers to hit store shelves. But the majority of these first-generation televisions required users to don finicky and expensive glasses. And don’t even think about carting your glasses to your friend’s house, because the lack of industry standards means most of them won’t work with televisions from other manufacturers.

“This isn’t just inconvenient,” says Dave Evans, chief technologist with Cisco’s Internet Business Solutions Group (IBSG), “it precludes being able to experience 3D outside the home, like at the mall or at a car dealership. It’s a burden in many ways that today’s screens require glasses because it’s another thing you’ve got to carry around, another device you’ve got to worry about.”

Evans says new 3D TVs that don’t require glasses will allow the technology to become much more pervasive and easy-to-use in 2011.

Pico projectors

Everyone’s familiar with the overhead projectors that drive yawn-inducing PowerPoint presentations everywhere. Shrunken versions of those devices, typically the size of a deck of cards and known as pico projectors, have been available for the past couple of years, but their relatively high price has relegated them to the realm of senior executive plaything. As the technology shrinks in both size and cost, the ability to project information normally displayed onto a screen will be increasingly built into smartphones and other pocket devices.

“Today we use pico projectors as stand-alone devices,” says Evans. “But in 2011, they’ll become pervasive. Consumers will very quickly get used to them, as they’ll allow video and photos to be displayed anyplace, anytime.”

Augmented reality

Imagine holding a smartphone or tablet up in front of you and using the camera to record the scene. Augmented reality adds layers of detailed information about what you’re seeing, in real-time. So if you’re walking past the CN Tower, for example, an augmented reality application would display stats on the structure, and include details on how you could purchase tickets to the top and make lunch reservations once you’re there.

Camera-equipped devices with enough processing power made augmented reality a reality in 2010. Next year, wider availability of even more capable hardware and software will drive it mainstream.

Mobile shopping

The combination of increasingly popular and powerful smartphones with recession-weary consumers will see shoppers lean more heavily on their devices when they hit the mall.

“We’re seeing a lot more people using their mobile devices to find bargains, compare prices, conduct research and actually conduct commerce,” says Simon Buckingham, founder and CEO of Appitalism. “Three times more people used mobile devices while shopping on Black Friday compared to the previous year, so this will definitely continue to be a big trend into 2011.”

The arrival next year of even more powerful smartphone and tablet processors and the first wave of next-generation advanced 3.5G and 4G data networks will only fuel this trend, adds Buckingham.

Solid state drives

The spinning magnetic — and often crash-prone — hard drives that have stored documents, pictures and music on our desktop and laptop computers for decades could soon be replaced by a drive that doesn’t spin at all. Apple’s recently updated MacBook Air computers, for example, ship only with solid state drives (SSDs) that consume less power, generate less heat, and are more rugged than sometimes-fragile conventional drives.

Cost remains an issue, as typical hard drives still cost significantly less and are available in much higher capacities. But the price/size gap continues to shrink, and in 2011 SSDs will become more common.

The green agenda

Smarter, faster, better connected devices running smarter software will drive the push beyond simply using smartphones for email and basic web access. According to Don Campbell, chief technology officer of IBM Business Analytics, next year we’ll begin to use all that power to become a little greener.

“We’re moving to a place where more and more people can play a role in helping save our planet,” he says. “The fact is we all carry around these mobile devices and they have GPS, cameras and other capabilities. Being able to leverage the masses and the data and communication capabilities of these mobile devices is something that will start building steam in 2011.”

Campbell describes a scenario where a GPS-enabled smartphone uses knowledge of the environment, including weather and traffic data, to predictively suggest alternative — and more efficient — routes.

“We’ve already made the investment in infrastructure,” he says. “Once you start putting all of these pieces together, these mobile devices will allow us to be very intelligent and environmentally friendly by not wasting either our time or our energy.”

Carmi Levy is a London, Ont.-based independent technology analyst and journalist. carmilevy@gmail.com

Source: http://www.thestar.com/iphone/Business/article/909612

Posted via email from Sunny Batra's Blog

The top tech trends to watch for in 2011

The top tech trends to watch for in 2011

Pre-New Year projections are nothing new in the tech world. As we get set to welcome in 2011, however, it’s becoming increasingly clear that the year ahead will offer more than its fair share of geek-infused excitement.

2010 was the year when Apple’s iPad finally broke the industry’s 15-year tablet computer hex, 3D television came to the big box store, and WikiLeaks underscored just how vulnerable we’ve become to relatively simple security threats. The new year promises to build on the past 12 months with a wave of better tablets, better security offerings, and an ever-accelerating stream of increasingly interconnected devices and services.

Pull out your crystal ball as we look ahead at the following trends:

Tablets

For now, Apple’s iPad has the tablet market largely to itself, but that will change dramatically early in the new year. New devices powered by Google’s Android operating system are already hitting store shelves — Samsung’s Galaxy Tab is a strong early contender for iPad-alternative status — and RIM’s PlayBook is showing promise in advance of its anticipated release in the first quarter of the year.

“I’m pretty sure 2011 will be the year of the tablets,” says Chris Brozenick, vice president and general manager of WeatherBug Mobile, a mobile app development company. “We’ve already seen it start to take off. There’s no question these are transformational devices and they’re already causing a shift in people’s habits.”

3D TV

Last year’s blockbuster film, Avatar, whetted consumers’ appetite for three-dimensional content just in time for the first 3D flat-screens from major manufacturers to hit store shelves. But the majority of these first-generation televisions required users to don finicky and expensive glasses. And don’t even think about carting your glasses to your friend’s house, because the lack of industry standards means most of them won’t work with televisions from other manufacturers.

“This isn’t just inconvenient,” says Dave Evans, chief technologist with Cisco’s Internet Business Solutions Group (IBSG), “it precludes being able to experience 3D outside the home, like at the mall or at a car dealership. It’s a burden in many ways that today’s screens require glasses because it’s another thing you’ve got to carry around, another device you’ve got to worry about.”

Evans says new 3D TVs that don’t require glasses will allow the technology to become much more pervasive and easy-to-use in 2011.

Pico projectors

Everyone’s familiar with the overhead projectors that drive yawn-inducing PowerPoint presentations everywhere. Shrunken versions of those devices, typically the size of a deck of cards and known as pico projectors, have been available for the past couple of years, but their relatively high price has relegated them to the realm of senior executive plaything. As the technology shrinks in both size and cost, the ability to project information normally displayed onto a screen will be increasingly built into smartphones and other pocket devices.

“Today we use pico projectors as stand-alone devices,” says Evans. “But in 2011, they’ll become pervasive. Consumers will very quickly get used to them, as they’ll allow video and photos to be displayed anyplace, anytime.”

Augmented reality

Imagine holding a smartphone or tablet up in front of you and using the camera to record the scene. Augmented reality adds layers of detailed information about what you’re seeing, in real-time. So if you’re walking past the CN Tower, for example, an augmented reality application would display stats on the structure, and include details on how you could purchase tickets to the top and make lunch reservations once you’re there.

Camera-equipped devices with enough processing power made augmented reality a reality in 2010. Next year, wider availability of even more capable hardware and software will drive it mainstream.

Mobile shopping

The combination of increasingly popular and powerful smartphones with recession-weary consumers will see shoppers lean more heavily on their devices when they hit the mall.

“We’re seeing a lot more people using their mobile devices to find bargains, compare prices, conduct research and actually conduct commerce,” says Simon Buckingham, founder and CEO of Appitalism. “Three times more people used mobile devices while shopping on Black Friday compared to the previous year, so this will definitely continue to be a big trend into 2011.”

The arrival next year of even more powerful smartphone and tablet processors and the first wave of next-generation advanced 3.5G and 4G data networks will only fuel this trend, adds Buckingham.

Solid state drives

The spinning magnetic — and often crash-prone — hard drives that have stored documents, pictures and music on our desktop and laptop computers for decades could soon be replaced by a drive that doesn’t spin at all. Apple’s recently updated MacBook Air computers, for example, ship only with solid state drives (SSDs) that consume less power, generate less heat, and are more rugged than sometimes-fragile conventional drives.

Cost remains an issue, as typical hard drives still cost significantly less and are available in much higher capacities. But the price/size gap continues to shrink, and in 2011 SSDs will become more common.

The green agenda

Smarter, faster, better connected devices running smarter software will drive the push beyond simply using smartphones for email and basic web access. According to Don Campbell, chief technology officer of IBM Business Analytics, next year we’ll begin to use all that power to become a little greener.

“We’re moving to a place where more and more people can play a role in helping save our planet,” he says. “The fact is we all carry around these mobile devices and they have GPS, cameras and other capabilities. Being able to leverage the masses and the data and communication capabilities of these mobile devices is something that will start building steam in 2011.”

Campbell describes a scenario where a GPS-enabled smartphone uses knowledge of the environment, including weather and traffic data, to predictively suggest alternative — and more efficient — routes.

“We’ve already made the investment in infrastructure,” he says. “Once you start putting all of these pieces together, these mobile devices will allow us to be very intelligent and environmentally friendly by not wasting either our time or our energy.”

Carmi Levy is a London, Ont.-based independent technology analyst and journalist. carmilevy@gmail.com

Posted via email from Sunny Batra's Blog

Happy Holidays!! Ho… Ho … Ho …!

December 2010

Dear Friend,

Ho… Ho… Ho…

 

Guess what! This gift-giving all started with a Saint named Nicholas throwing a
purse of gold through a window each night for three successive nights.
It happened that Saint Nicholas knew a poor nobleman in Lycia, Asia Minor. The
fellow had three lovely daughters and he worried about their future, so Nick threw
a purse of gold through their window, and returned the two following nights to do
it again.

Well, you can imagine how happy that made them. And the news got ‘round and
folks all over Europe decided to make each other happy by giving gifts on a night
called Saint Nicholas’ Eve. For economy’s sake they cut it down to one night,
and dropped the gold purse idea – they just filled shoes and stockings with
candy, cookies, and handmade toys and trinkets.

Maybe I am just a silly softie, as you might say, but I am still old-fashioned
enough to believe there’s some sentiment left in business, after all.
So, not a single sentence about the real estate markets this month. Just a single
sincere statement…

May your Holiday Season be most Joyful
And

The New Year be most Prosperous.

 

 

Sunny Batra

Your Friend in Real Estate

Posted via email from Sunny Batra's Blog