Pulse Condominiums in North York (Pemberton, 27s, Burka Varacalli)

[GTAman]

Personally I am not particular fond of the PULSE towers ... it seems too blank for my likings, seems to be consistent to Pemberton's product price though (like Avatarreb said, taste is subjective), it reminds me of 1970 towers built along Bathurst with balconies wrapped around the entire building ... however the podium does serve Yonge well ... none the less I like C-condos and Meridian way more hands down ... though Casa is kind of like Pulse in design, the brownish-black tones make that project more classic and IMO classier

Andrew3D... sorry, these are rather small units targetted to purchasers wishing to invest in a property, many were actually rented out today (given accessiblity to transit of Yonge/Finch), if I recall properly units range from about 500 sq.ft. to 650 sq.ft. (corner units maybe around 800 sq.ft.)

I think the design could have been better, especially since it was designed by Burka Varacalli Architects. They were involved in the condo design that drew so much attention, "the Absolute".
http://www.burka.net/burka_absolute.html
But I think it looks better than the Tridel quad of condos down the street.


I was looking into these condos about 3 years ago as an investment when it was just phase one preconstruction. At the time there were other condos that were priced a bit cheaper. So I'm not sure if these were geared towards investors with the price they offered. Units ranged from about 550 ft to the 850 range being the largest with two bedrooms. Back then two bedroom units were not as common. Prices were about $160000 for the smallest unit, and thats for a condo without a pool as well. They also wanted 15% down, which was a bit much considering everyone else was asking for a smaller deposit structure. Wasn't too good of an investment condo. Better for people to live in IMHO.

I found out some more info about the condo you guys might find interesting. Looks like they have a pretty good team building the condo:
http://www.dailycommercialnews.com/article/id27013&search_term=pulse condo

- Burka Varacalli Architects - quite a few well known projects
http://www.burka.net/burka_projects.html
- Adjeleian Allen Rubeli Ltd. (structural consultants) - Structural consultation on a lot of famous landmarks including Skydome, BMW whitby headquaters, National Arts Centre in Ottawa, National Aviation Mueseum in Ottawa, Ottawa International Airport, etc.
http://www.aar.on.ca/projects.asp
- TeGi Engineering (mechanical/electrical) - They've designed the facilities for UofT, McMaster, Ryerson, Western, York, etc.
http://www.tegi.ca/html/projects.html
- Deep Foundations Contractors Inc. - One of their most well known projects was the TTC subway expansion.

It will be a sad waste if this becomes just another rental condo.

 

[GTAman]

I found some images I saved, while I was thinking of investing in one of the units. I've attached the images in no particular order. I think the Lambada was the largest at around 850 sq ft. The images unfortunately don't have the entire sq foot sizes on them, but should still give a pretty good idea of how large the suites were.

I noticed that condos introduced later in the same year and the following years got bigger and bigger, leading to two bedrooms and over 1000 sq ft being very common today. Unfortunately the price tag also ballooned as well.

 

[scarberiankhatru]

The colour of the Pulse towers is oppressingly, overwhelmingly vile. The retail spaces are bigger than I expected, but the setback from Yonge is unnecessarily deep...patios or bust?

 

[Edward Skira]

but the setback from Yonge is unnecessarily deep...patios or bust?

More than directly north where the retail is all quite setback from Yonge?

 

[scarberiankhatru]

It definitely seems to open up into a barren swath of sidewalk once you get north of the Dynasty building...I wonder if Pulse's setback has been lined up with the properties directly north - and there is a patio there to break up the Tianenman sized sidewalk there - but properties on the west side of Yonge do tend to drift away from Yonge itself since they don't meet at right angles (most noticeable in front of the Transamerica Tower where even Baton Rouge's large patio barely fills in the space between the tower and Yonge). Pulse would have been far more polite to Yonge if it had a setback to match the property to the south rather than the condo fodder to the north...unnecessarily wide sidewalks do nothing for the street.

 

[Urban_Frog]

If you look carefully, Pulse is a project that talks efficiency. The square floor plates makes the forming of concrete slabs an easy job! Every thing is repetitive here: the glass balconies, the window wall behind, making fabrication much simpler. Simple building process means the builder can get the building done faster and cheaper.

At the end of the day, it's the builders / developers that control the budget of the project, not the architect. I don't want to put Pemberton down, because they do provide good housing to the general public, but sadly most of their older projects fall into a level of mediocrity in term of architecture. Princess Place, Papillion Place, Port Royal Place, and Bayview Glen are some examples. However, It seems that their recent projects are starting to show some lives. I hope the Uptown turns out okay. and their newly released condo called U looks interesting.

 

[interchange42]

I think the design could have been better, especially since it was designed by Burka Varacalli Architects. They were involved in the condo design that drew so much attention, "the Absolute".

Burka Varacalli had nothing to do with the exterior design of the last two Absolute towers - that was handled by Chinese architect Yansong Ma. Burka Varacalli are better known for not designing anything that will be better known.

42

 

[Urban_Frog]

Burka Varacalli had nothing to do with the exterior design of the last two Absolute towers - that was handled by Chinese architect Yansong Ma. Burka Varacalli are better known for not designing anything that will be better known.

42

From what I have heard is that the Chinese Architect Ma provided only the concept of the twisted form. The podium, the street related townhouses as well as the interior suite layouts of the last two absolute towers are still designed and spearheaded by Burka Architects. Burka is also responsible of managing the project with all consultants and the builder.

 

[scarberiankhatru]

From what I have heard is that the Chinese Architect Ma provided only the concept of the twisted form. The podium, the street related townhouses as well as the interior suite layouts of the last two absolute towers are still designed and spearheaded by Burka Architects. Burka is also responsible of managing the project with all consultants and the builder.

So Burka Varacalli designed everything that is ugly, won't be seen, or doesn't matter?

 

[fred]

Back in the 70's this was the site of Canadian Tire. It came down when the Dynasty was built. The Canadian Tire moved to Centrepoint Mall.

These two towers were built on a site that was previously a Loblaw's store, most recently a No-Frills. Between the Canadian Tire Store and Loblaw's was a Red Barn Fried Chicken outlet. It was similar to KFC.

 

[Urban_Frog]

So Burka Varacalli designed everything that is ugly, won't be seen, or doesn't matter?

hahaha... maybe........
btw, Burka's website says Burka Architects only, not Burka Varacalli anymore. I believe Varacalli has left the company to join the Bazis Kazahkstanian.

 

[scarberiankhatru]

hahaha... maybe........
btw, Burka's website says Burka Architects only, not Burka Varacalli anymore. I believe Varacalli has left the company to join the Bazis Kazahkstanian.

It would have been Burka Varacalli back when Absolute was actually designed.

 

[Edward Skira]

These two towers were built on a site that was previously a Loblaw's store, most recently a No-Frills. Between the Canadian Tire Store and Loblaw's was a Red Barn Fried Chicken outlet. It was similar to KFC.

I remember the Red Barn. Went there a few times. I guess the condo to the south was the Canadian Tire. Though I remember the Canadian Tire being set back from the street with parking along Yonge. I'm pretty sure the Loblaws/No Frills parking lot contained the Red Barn and maybe part of the Canadian Tire. It was at least 25 years ago so I could be wrong.

 

[GTAman]

Where was the original North York location of the Futureshop back in the 90's? It was close by I think?

Anyways, does anyone know someone who actually lives in this place. I've driven by and it looks completely occupied now. It would be interesting know how the owners like it.

 

[maestro]

^probably a lot of students.