Toronto King West Life Condominiums | ?m | 25s | Plaza | Gabriel Bodor

I'm really shocked at some of the comments made on LV threads these days. Had the detractors ever been to LV before the condo boom, I doubt they would be saying this stuff. Foot traffic in the area has gone up at least fourfold since the early 2000s, thus proving that not having retail does not necessarily mean a "dead zone." Anyone that spends time in LV will realize that the newer areas actually have the highest pedestrian activity, and it makes sense, since they're more dense, more urban, etc. Anyways, the lack of retail is a nonissue, as many others have stated. When demand increases as a result of more people moving in and the area becoming less of a construction zone, live-work units will flourish.
 
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Thanks for the photo midtowner. Great vantage point. Haven't seen a photo of LV from this angle before.
 
this entire project is an urban planning and architectural crime. no sense of community or place. plain, sterile, uninspiring. cheap materials, wrong scale etc etc. Hard o believe it's being built in 2013 Toronto.
 
Darwin said:
this entire project is an urban planning and architectural crime. no sense of community or place. plain, sterile, uninspiring. cheap materials, wrong scale etc etc. Hard o believe it's being built in 2013 Toronto.
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Agreed, but it is a well built building and the finishes in the units are good. I have been inside and was pleasantly surprised. Feels like a solid building. Ugly on the outside? Yes. But a lot of builders get away with nice on the outside and shit on the inside, so I'd take the former.
 
TheKingEast said:
Agreed, but it is a well built building and the finishes in the units are good. I have been inside and was pleasantly surprised. Feels like a solid building. Ugly on the outside? Yes. But a lot of builders get away with nice on the outside and shit on the inside, so I'd take the former.
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good for the residents, at least they have a nice home inside. but reality is that architecture is about both interior and exterior. So, sad for built environment of the city. Some parts of LV were heading on the right direction, hopefully some improvement will come in the future.
 
Darwin said:
good for the residents, at least they have a nice home inside. but reality is that architecture is about both interior and exterior. So, sad for built environment of the city. Some parts of LV were heading on the right direction, hopefully some improvement will come in the future.
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Units are nice, but you are right, they are an eyesore; especially from the Gardiner.
 
Darwin said:
good for the residents, at least they have a nice home inside. but reality is that architecture is about both interior and exterior. So, sad for built environment of the city. Some parts of LV were heading on the right direction, hopefully some improvement will come in the future.
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What parts might they be?
 
Darwin said:
good for the residents, at least they have a nice home inside. but reality is that architecture is about both interior and exterior. So, sad for built environment of the city. Some parts of LV were heading on the right direction, hopefully some improvement will come in the future.
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I agree. LV is a huge missed opportunity IMO. Just wanted to point out that the building is not all terrible. Plazacorp designs some of the uglier buildings in the city.
 
The area south and west of Lamport Stadium is pretty good. I worked on Pardee for a year and almost everything was easily walkable. The south side of Liberty Street sidewalk ending at Jefferson was a stupid idea, though.
 
Darwin said:
this entire project is an urban planning and architectural crime. no sense of community or place. plain, sterile, uninspiring. cheap materials, wrong scale etc etc. Hard o believe it's being built in 2013 Toronto.
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Wouldn't sense of community come more from the people and not what their building looks like? I just moved to LV (this complex specifically) from Burlington where I had amazing neighbours. I don't feel any less sense of community here than I did in the burbs. Matter of fact, I probably feel better in LV than I did there just from all the action and all the people I can now interact with. For example, there are always at least 3-10 other people walking their dogs across the street at LV park. In the burbs, I knew my immediate neighbours and no one else.

As for cheap materials, I wasn't aware that offering marble in the washrooms and granite in the kitchens as standard items (just one example) was considered cheap.

I agree with some of the concerns around the planning of LV and myself wouldn't like to see anymore new buildings but I think for the most part people who have negative things to say about LV don't and never have lived in LV and base everything on assumptions they make from the outside looking in.
 
LV has an amazing resident's association that works hard at community-building
 
shlammed said:
Wouldn't sense of community come more from the people and not what their building looks like? I just moved to LV (this complex specifically) from Burlington where I had amazing neighbours. I don't feel any less sense of community here than I did in the burbs. Matter of fact, I probably feel better in LV than I did there just from all the action and all the people I can now interact with. For example, there are always at least 3-10 other people walking their dogs across the street at LV park. In the burbs, I knew my immediate neighbours and no one else.

As for cheap materials, I wasn't aware that offering marble in the washrooms and granite in the kitchens as standard items (just one example) was considered cheap.

I agree with some of the concerns around the planning of LV and myself wouldn't like to see anymore new buildings but I think for the most part people who have negative things to say about LV don't and never have lived in LV and base everything on assumptions they make from the outside looking in.
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Referring to KWL, the interior materials are nice. Those fridges are great! However, the common areas (specifically carpet, tile, wallpaper) are cheap. In addition, many of the condos use faux brick (cheap) and stucco (cheap). Now, KWL was priced accordingly so I have no issue with that. However, I've been in the building and a lot of the finishes and design is home depot-like. That said, I live in a building with wonderful finishes inside and out, but the actual quality is poor. So, the "cheapness" isn't really that bad as long as the price reflects it and they do a good job of actually building the condo and producing a sound, product..which I think Plazacorp does.

As far as the community. I think LV has a strong community. The bars and shopping are a big reason for that. At your door you have a grocery store, furniture stores, a couple gyms, several restaurants and bars, takeout, a park, patios, etc... While I don't like the architecture of the buildings I still have to agree that it's a nice community if you're under 30.
 
I would agree with the hallways...but do I care? Not really, because I spend about 10 minutes a day inside of them. With all the people and dogs going in and out, it's probably better that they destroy a cheaper carpet and not something fancy.
 
shlammed said:
I would agree with the hallways...but do I care? Not really, because I spend about 10 minutes a day inside of them. With all the people and dogs going in and out, it's probably better that they destroy a cheaper carpet and not something fancy.
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Do you own a unit there? If that carpet is destroyed (it's already pretty worn in some areas) then the owners will have to pay to have a new carpet replaced. Having to replace carpet in an entire building is expensive..no matter how cheap it is.
 
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