Transit City Condos Webinar Replay - In Depth Look at Transit City

Last night (Thursday May 18th), TalkCondo held a live webinar for hundreds of registrants eager to learn more about Transit City Condos, one of the most exciting new condo launches in the GTA. In case you didn’t get a chance to jump on the call live, below is a recording of the webinar where we discuss:

Why buying with the right agent is crucial for high demand new condo launches like Transit City
The development teams involved in Transit City with an in depth look at what sets CentreCourt apart from the competition
A look at the Vaughan Metropolitan Centre with key notes on the scope of this brand new Downtown that makes it the largest Urban re-development in Canada
A look at the 100 acre plan that will make up Transit City and why we believe this is a special once-in-a-lifetime project
A closer look at the first phases of Transit City
How you will be able to purchase at the ground level of this amazing new condominium

Slides (PDF) – Download

Transcript:

Introduction

Good evening everybody, I want to thank everyone for taking the time to join us this evening for an early look at Transit City Condos in Vaughan. We have been huge supporters of the growth in Vaughan and I think that the potential for growth in this area is enormous – it’s one of the fastest growing areas in the GTA and is an area that all serious investors should be considering. The response to Transit City has been unbelievable and we’re very excited to have the opportunity to bring this amazing project to our buyers.

Tonight we are going to educate you on why we think that Vaughan is a great place to invest and why Transit City is the cream of the crop in this huge re-development.

We are going to go through a lot of information tonight and the webinar will run about 30 minutes – but just incase you missed something or want to go back on anything – you will receive a copy of the slide deck and we will have a recording of this webinar available until next Monday at 11:59pm. Once we finish the webinar you will receive an email with the link to the recording and the slides.

My name is Roy Bhandari and I am a co-founder of TalkCondo.com and I am real estate broker with Sage Real Estate. Our team specializes in pre-construction condominiums and we help buyers like yourself secure suites at high demand launches just like this one.

If you have any questions during this presentation

If you have any questions at any time during this call tonight, simply use the chat box in the webinar window to the right of your screen. We won’t be answering any questions on the call tonight, but we will go through all your questions and get in touch with you one on one to answer them

Interview with the Developer of Transit City

We recently had a chance to sit down and do a video interview with the president of CentreCourt Developments, Shamez Virani and he gives some amazing insights for Transit City. Shamez is one of our favourite developers in Toronto and when you listen to him talk about his projects, you quickly realize why – he’s incredible passionate about urban development and he has a very sharp attention to detail to what buyers and investors are looking for. It’s why CentreCourt projects consistently sell out in record time over and over again.

If you haven’t already, we definitely recommend that you watch the video to learn some great insights about Transit City.

Preview Webinar – Why it’s important

So this evening we’re going to obviously talk about Transit City Condos in Vaughan. Tonight is a preview webinar on this condo which is going to be launching next Tuesday on May 23rd. This will be the first release of Floor Plans and Prices.

We typically run pre-launch webinars for condo projects that are very very high in demand – and the reason is because it helps you get key information on a condo launch ahead of time so that you’re prepared for next week. In new condo projects like this, where demand is usually much higher than supply – we find that the buyers who prepped in advance typically have the most success in securing a suite.

So there is a couple of reasons we’re giving you the information a week ahead of the launch:

The first reason is that early demand for Transit City has been huge. For the last month we have been getting pounded by enquiries about Transit City Condos and information on the project so we felt like inviting everyone on to a call was the best way to go through a lot of the information that we’re getting asked about.

The second, and probably most important reason for running this webinar a week before the condo launches – and is something I alluded to earlier – is because in this market, we really believe that buyers who are well prepared BEFORE the project launches are going to be the best placed to secure their suites.

Recent high demand launches – such as M City Condos in Mississauga, Icona Condos which is located across the street from Transit City, and Time and Space Condos – the buyers who were able to secure their preferred suites were the ones who were well prepared BEFORE the launch so by the time we get the final floor plans and pricing, the buyers already knew everything else about the project and were quickly able to make that decision.

So tonight we want to help you get prepared and one step closer to securing your suite at Transit City.

Before we go any further we want to make it clear what we won’t be talking about tonight – here is what not to expect on tonight’s call.

Transit Condos has not yet launched, so we’re not going to talk about the prices. The developer will not release pricing until May 23rd. Usually, a week before the launch – even the developer hasn’t finalized the prices so it is completely unknown until May 23rd. At this stage, all we know is that 2 bedroom suites will start from the low $400,000s but other than that there is no further information available.

We will not be discussing project specifics such as maintenance fees, / deposit structure or / completion date – again, because we don’t know them yet.

All this information will be released next week.

Agenda

Here is what we will cover today. This webinar is designed to give you all the information that we can give you to get you as prepared as possible for the launch next week.

We will talk about the importance of working with Platinum Brokers to help you get VIP Access to new condo projects

We will spend some time talking about Transit City Condos itself and we’re going to look at the Developers, the Vaughan Metropolitan Centre, the location of Transit City, and then take a closer look at the first building.

We are going to highlight the project launch timelines and make sure you’re aware of key dates. We expect Transit City to sell fast so the dates and timelines are going to be very important to note.

Finally, we’ll let you know how you will be able to purchase and what to do next.

How to buy (Platinum Approved Agents)

Some of you on the call tonight have been on our list for a little while, so you’re probably already familiar with the concept of Platinum VIP Agents, but we do have a lot of new people joining us today so we want to spend a little time just highlighting this for those that may not be familiar with it.

When it comes to buying a pre-construction condo suite at the launch and especially when demand is very high, your chances of success and getting a suite allocated will increase dramatically if you are working with the right platinum agent

Developers essentially have tiers of broker in which they release suites to, and in the industry – the top tiered group is called the Platinum VIP Agents and this is the group that typically controls the inventory at a new launch and your chances of successfully securing a suite at the launch is increased dramatically if you’re working with the right agent.

So naturally, the follow up question is – how do you know if you’re working with a true platinum agent? The truth is, you probably won’t because everyone will tell you that they are.

But true platinum brokers aren’t hard to identify – there is a reason that we get to interview the top developers well in advance of a condo launch and the typical agent does not – we have developed and maintained these relationships with the top builders over time and we are able to use these relationships to help our clients get the best condo investments. True Platinum agents typically focus solely on pre-construction condominiums and usually have a big voice in the media or online.

With TalkCondo, you can rest assured that you’re working platinum brokers with true access to the best condo projects

Another follow up question that we get a lot is whether you will be guaranteed a unit by working with a platinum real estate broker, and the answer to that, unfortunately is no. At the end of the day there is only so much inventory and while your chances increase dramatically by working with the right agent – or by getting prepared well in advance, there is no guarantees of suite allocation but we certainly aim to fulfill as many requests as humanly possible.

About Transit City – Developers

Next up we’re going to talk about the development team. We always emphasize the importance of working with reputable builders and there are two development teams here. The first is SmartREIT who own the 100 acre land that will be developed into Transit City. SmartREIT is one of Canada’s largest real estate investment trusts with total assets in excess of $8.6 billion. It owns and manages in excess of 31 million square feet retail plazas. Even if you are not familiar with the name SmartREIT or SmartCentres, chances are you know the company – they own plazas across Canada – many of which are anchored by Walmart’s. In fact, 108 – or approximately one in every four Walmart’s in Canada are in a SmartCentre plaza.

The second team involved at Transit City is CentreCourt Developments who one of our favourite condo builders in Toronto – they are a builder that we have personally purchased condos from as investments and will continue to do so because they have a key understanding of what makes a great condo project and it’s why their condos tend to sell out very very fast.

Here is a quick look at some of their very impressive portfolio of condominiums:

Peter Street Condominiums
Karma Condos
INDX Condos
Core Condos
Grid Condos
Axis Condos

There are a few reasons that we love CentreCourt condos, but there are some consistent traits of a CentreCourt Condo that we tend to see time and time and again

First, CentreCourt are laser focused in their approach to selecting sites. They are all in core areas nearby key rapid transit.

Second, their floor plan designs are second to none. They design all of their buildings from the inside out, which means they develop the ideal floor plans first, and then create the exterior around that. I have never met a developer that spends so much time on floor plans. Every single square millimetre from CentreCourt gets agonized over and they create some of the best, most functional floor plans that we sell.

One of the things that we, as condo agents look at is the floor plate – which is how the floor plans lay out on each floor. It gives us a quick snap shot of how the entire floor lays out and we’re able to very quickly get a sense of what to expect in terms of floor plans. What we see time and time again with CentreCourt is their floor plans always favour very square floor plans, with clean lines – and this is very important when it comes to designing floor plans. On the screen you can see a few examples of what i’m referring to – at each of these projects you can quickly see a theme here. No strange angles, no odd shaped building creating dark spots or irregular plans, all the suites have adequate amount of glass to let light through – you very quickly see that CentreCourt puts huge emphasis on the floor plans and we will see the same for Transit City.

Third, they spend a lot of time looking at how amenities are actually used throughout their buildings and they revise their amenities based on actual usage tailoring their amenities based on the location and what the end users in this location will want.

One of my favourite examples of this is – at Grid Condos, which is located just outside of Ryerson University. They quickly realized that the demographic here would be largely students and determined that the two key amenities for this user group would be a gym, and high tech study areas – and so the entire amenity package was designed with this user group in mind. For this condo project, they dedicated an entire floor of amenity to a student study area modeled after the Ryerson Student Learning Centre which is one of the most popular spaces for Ryerson Students.

These three important traits – key locations, efficient and liveable floor plans and innovative tailored amenities are very prevalent in Transit City Condos, and in many we think the offering at Transit City Condos is one of their best, ever. We’re going to break this down in more detail as we go through the presentation.

About Transit City – Master Plan & The Vaughan Metropolitan Centre

In order to understand why we think Transit City is one of the best investment opportunities in condo-land today, you have to understand what is happening in Vaughan. So first we are going to look at the Vaughan metropolitan Centre

The spark that ignited this enormous growth is the extension of the Yonge-Spadina Subway line which will connect directly to Downtown Toronto. The new subway station will be opening at the end of this year and has become the catalyst for this huge plan to re-develop this area as a brand new Downtown in Vaughan called the Vaughan Metropolitan Centre – or VMC.

The VMC is a huge, multi-billion dollar re-development that is anchored by this new Subway station and rapid transit along Highway 7. The entire plan is huge – it will span 442 acres of land and is going to include:

-1.5 million square feet of commercial office space – KPMG and RBC have already opened up corporate offices in Vaughan, with PWC and many many more coming soon.
-750,000 sq.ft. of retail
-12,000 new residences to house 25,000 people
-Unique cultural spaces
-Hotels
-Entertainment District and Venues

What is important to understand here is that this is a multi-faceted “Downtown” that will be a true live-work-play environment and is being designed by some of the best urban planners in the world.

Of the 442 acres, SmartREIT owns over 100 acres of the area which is the parcel of land that will become Transit City – which means that about ¼ of the VMC will be designed and developed by SmartREIT and CentreCourt – and because they control such an important parcel of the new Downtown – mainly the land that wraps around the Subway station, this gives Transit City a lot of advantages over the other condo projects in the VMC.

Before we go any further, I wanted to just put some content on just how big a re-development this is. 442 acres is huge – this is the largest urban re-development that is currently taking place in Canada and we wanted to highlight the scope of this development compared to some of the other large scale re-developments currently taking shape in Toronto.

Liberty Village – 43 acres
Cityplace – 44 acres
East Bayfront – 55 acres
Celestica Site – 60 acres
Unilever Site – 60 acres
Regent Park – 69 acres
Transit City Condos – 100 acres
Vaughan Metropolitan Centre – 442 acres

Just to emphasize this point even further and to help you visualize the scope of this new Downtown – we already mentioned that the VMC is 442 acres and just to help you visualize the size, and many of you will know High Park – which is the biggest park in Toronto – that park is 400 acres which is about 10% smaller than the VMC re-development we layered high park on top of the VMC here just to highlight the size

So what we wanted to do here is look at how big that space would be compared to Downtown Toronto, so what we did here was layer the 400 acre High Park on top of Downtown Toronto to get a sense of how big this is.

As you can see on the map – 400 acres would cover a huge area of Toronto – from Bloor all the way down to Dundas, and from University to Church Street. This is an enormous re-development.

And to help us transition into the next talking point, which is the 100 acres or one quarter of the VMC that makes up Transit City – the reason we are so excited about this project in particular is that it occupies some of the most important land in the VMC because it occupies the land around the Subway Station. To carry on the analogy of Downtown Toronto, this is sort of like Transit City occupying the land surrounding Yonge Street which is where the subway line runs along – and is often referred to as the Centre of Downtown Toronto and that’s exactly what we think is going to happen with Transit City in Vaughan – this will become the centre of this huge redevelopment.

About Transit City – Location – the 100 acres of Transit City

So let’s zero in a little on Transit City. Transit City, as I’ve noted makes up 100 acres of the New downtown Vaughan and there is a number of benefits of having a single owner control this portion of land when we consider the more broad scope of the VMC.

Here is a overview of the master plan for the 100 acres that Transit City will occupy and there is a couple of major areas that we are really excited about. First is the cohesion of the entire plan and how the different sections all work together – it is NOT just a collection of residential condominiums but instead, its a mixed use space that includes brand new commercial towers – so high quality jobs with KMPG already in and PWC confirmed, brand new retail, obviously new condominiums, and a huge importance placed on public spaces with the developers dedicating 10% of their land to a public 9 acre linear park that is going to become the centrepiece of Transit City.

When you have different developers owning the different parcels of land, you often get different visions for the area that don’t quite work together in a cohesive manner and unless you have a unified plan it can be a slow and cumbersome process to get this scope of development going in the right direction.

In this case, SmartREIT are able to determine what the best use case is for this parcel of land and they have bought in some of the best urban planners, designers and architects to create a huge master plan that benefits the entire VMC.

It was determined pretty early on, that there would be a major focus on how people live in urban centres – what amenities are important and what promotes growth. They identified a couple of key items:

Jobs. People want to live close to jobs – and what’s great about the VMC and Transit City is that this neighbourhood has already started to attract world class jobs and office spaces. KPMG and RBC have already opened up shop, with PWC coming next and many more in the pipeline. There will be over 1.5 million square feet of office space in the new VMC

Public Space. Public spaces play a huge role in the success or failure of urban neighbourhoods – the best neighbourhoods have some kind of unique public areas and this is really where life happens. / At the heart of Transit City will be a stunning 9 acre central park that will run approximately 1km in length and will become the centre-piece of this neighbourhood and just imagine this space that will be surrounded by amazing architecture with buildings lined with amazing restaurants and coffee shops – it’s going to be a truly incredible space.

Nowhere else is there 100 acres, transit at the doorstep, nine-acre park, one group of ownership – It won’t exist. This will be a once in a lifetime legacy type development when it’s complete.

About Transit City – Phase 1 Tower

Next we’re going to talk specifically about the first phase of condominiums at Transit City. Here is a few quick bullet points on this condominium

-At 55 storeys, it will become the tallest condominium in the new Downtown Vaughan – it will be two storeys higher than the 53 storey Icona Condos
-Transit City is going to located just steps to the Subway station and is next door to the Regional Bus Terminal which has an underground PATH connection directly to the Subway station
-One of the areas that Transit City will really shine is the lobby experience and they’ve borrowed concepts from 5 star hotels across Toronto to help make this an important space for the building and for the entire area
-For the amenities at Transit City, we’re going to discuss a very exciting partnership that is going to give residents at Transit City access to world class amenities
-And most importantly, there is a huge emphasis placed on high quality, and functional floor plans with no wasted space – and this is something we are always excited about

So let’s break each one of these down one by one

Zero Minutes to the Subway

First, and this one that we have already touched on – but Transit City is going to be just steps to the Subway. There is going to be a lot of residential development happening in Vaughan in the coming years, and just like in Downtown Toronto, the ones that are the closest to the Subway will be the ones that, over time, will command the best prices and rents.

This map shows the VMC and we’ve highlighted a couple of things here. The first is where the Subway and the Bus Terminal will sit which you can see on the map now. The green pins here highlight where the other condominiums projects are located that have launched in the last year 12-18 months and the distance from the subway is as much as 1km away, or 10-11 minute walk from the Subway – and again, to help contextualize this a little more and to compare it to Downtown Toronto – a 10-11 minute walk to the subway is the equivalent of a condominium being on Sherbourne Street as opposed to Yonge Street. And if you know anything about real estate in Toronto you know there is a world of difference in the real estate on Yonge Street and Sherbourne Street.

The next pin – the orange pin highlights where The first phase of Transit City Condos will be located, and it’s literally steps to the Transit Terminal which has an underground connection to the Subway. This is very very important to note and is one of the key reasons that we believe Transit City will be the special one in this area.

In this image you can see just how close the front door of this condominium will be to the entrance of the transit terminal.

BUCA – A World Class Experience

Next up, one of the big stories about Transit City that made it into the media was the story about the how the lobby will feature a Buca branded restaurant in an effort to help make the lobby of Transit City a “place” or a space that people will gather.

Now, whether you know about the Buca brand or you don’t, the messaging here is very important. Buca are an upscale coffee house and bar that ONLY operate out of Downtown Toronto – they have a very downtown vibe and one of their locations is in the Four Seasons Hotel in Toronto – one of the most luxurious condo and hotels in the World.

The importance of BUCA coming Vaughan is twofold – first, it sends a strong message in terms of the direction that this new Downtown Vaughan wants to go. They could have easily put in a Tim Hortons or a Second Cup or a Starbucks, or if they wanted to go the Restaurant route, they could have opted for a Kelseys or a Jack Astors, but by selecting BUCA it really helps set the tone for the direction this new Downtown Vaughan wants to go. They are trying to bring in this world class experience that you would traditionally find in Downtown Toronto and they want to bring that to Vaughan. The next key role that BUCA plays in the lobby is that the BUCA experience is exceptional and Transit City have identified that world class lobbies are very important in helping to elevate buildings and these spaces become places that people congregate, gather and meet at. The concept is borrowed from the top hotels across the City such as the Shangri La, Ritz Carlton … where their lobbies become almost like a living room for the building and have become very popular destinations in Toronto. With Transit City being one of the first buildings you will see outside of the transit entrance, we think that the BUCA lobby at Transit City is going to be a very important piece of the puzzle.

We are really excited about the BUCA connection to Transit City and we think it is going to play a huge role in making this tower stand out from the others.

World Class Amenities Like No Other

Next up – for the amenities, Transit City will be located next door to a brand new YMCA facility that residents will have access to. And this is another incredible and genius idea that I think is going to benefit the residents of Transit City. It gives residents access to world class facilities – a brand new gym, swimming pool, aquatic facilities, saunas, gymnasium, child care facilities and a huge library – the works – and at a much higher quality than you would find in traditional condo amenity spaces. No condo corporation can maintain amenity spaces to the same level and service as a fully functional YMCA. This is going to be a huge benefit to residents – but also, the long term health of the condo corporation. Without the need to upkeep and maintain these facilities, there will be a long term benefit on maintenance fees in the long term.

And finally, and we always try to save the best for last – the floor plate and plans for Transit City are going to be the best in class. We don’t have any floor plans we can show you, but based on our meetings with the team we can tell you the floor plans are as good as we could ever hope for. Here is a look at the floor plate and there are a couple of major take aways here. First, just like all the other CentreCourt projects you’ll notice that the floor plate is the stuff dreams are made of – suites are perfect square, straight lines, no angles, no dark spots from knuckle suites – as condo agents this is what we love to see.

Second – you’ll notice that there is a huge emphasis on two bedroom suites heres – in fact, / 80% of this building will be 2 bedroom or larger and this is a direct response to market feedback. We know what suites sell well, we know where the demand is – and in Vaughan there is huge demand for functional 2 bedroom suites with 2 bathrooms and efficient floor plans and that Transit City has a huge emphasis on this suite and we’re excited to let you know that Transit City have really nailed the suite mix and floor plans and we think you’re going to love them.

How to Buy & Key Dates

Finally tonight, we’re going to talk about the key dates and how you will actually be able to purchase a suite at Transit City Condos.

On May 23rd, that’s next Tuesday – that is the Platinum VIP Broker launch. This is when we will be receiving all the floor plans and prices at an event at around noon and this is really when we expect the frenzy to begin and why we’re so adamant about making sure you are prepared in advance.

On the same day, our team will be hosting a private client event in the Vaughan Metropolitan Centre from 3pm – 9pm that you will all be invited to. You will get full instructions and location details for this event in the coming days and at this event you will get first access to the floor plans and price lists and you will have the opportunity to submit your suite purchase request right on the spot.

Between now and May 23rd, we want to be as prepared as possible. If you have any questions, or feel like we missed anything on the webinar tonight – please reach us directly either by using the chat box on the webinar window – but you all also have our email addresses – just reply to the emails that you have already been receiving from us. We will respond to each and every question that we receive from you so please be in touch.

So that is everything we have for you tonight. Again we want to thank you immensely for joining us this evening and we can’t wait to work with you at Transit City Condos.

Transit City Condos Webinar Replay – In Depth Look at Transit City