chazed,
As much as I've a owner/resident in Solaris ... I wouldn't pay more than $400,000 for
any unit in Solaris
Don't take me wrong, I love the unit finishes and my layout and the east exposure not blocked by anything, but there are problems such as:
- super high proportion of rental units (near 50%) although this is not close to transit = transient population = high turnover
- high rental = high damage in common areas, Tridel was so smart to put in WHITE furniture throughout lobby and party roomand in less than 1 year common areas are already less than decent looking (certainly stained to say the least)
- weak condo board that decides to not do anything to keep up the common areas / lobby for costs reasons (ie: even lobby lights are turned off), therefore interior aesthetics are disspointing which will affect property value
- weak security team that does not enforce illegal parking nor patrols the site properly and seems to care less, I once was asked by a guard "why do you care so much anyways?"
- property management that does not up keep the property, ie: dying trees in front courtyard, dead landscape throughout outdoor terraces
- in my experience, Solaris is definitely one of the MOST value-engineered (cheapened) building that Tridel has done to date therefore common areas are sub-par for a Tridel condo
- the location/area is not all that desirable given proximity to the major rental cluster SW of Kennedy/401 (Antrim Cres.) which has a pattern of police incidents
Solaris resale prices continue to be deflated for the fact it is in Scarborough ... since I've acquired the property in 2007, the property value only increased a mere 12% (while the rest of GTA real estate market has skyrocketed) ... the low resale value after Solaris registered was a suprise to me personally and to Tridel sales staff (off the record), which has directly impacted sales of the Avani building ... why would anyone pay high PSF prices for a unit in Avani when a new building in the same community with comparable finishes like Solaris be underperforming? It sure would be interesting to see how resale prices turn out when Ventus comes onto the resale market, though I doubt it will be any better.
In terms of Penthouses @ Solaris 1 or Solaris 2 ... I think it would be a bad idea to purchase because the uplift potential is low (the rest of the complex is not high-end?) ... even though the PH units are large being 1,000 ft2 +, the finishing is not any nicer than typical units below and it has the same 8 foot ceilings (except for 9 foot on 40th floor)
wang888 ... to my understanding, as terrible as Solaris is
, the PSF value is still higher than any of the condos at Scarborough Town Centre including Centro