You've likely seen Toronto's iconic cube house, and now the architectural icon has seen its day. Well, it's seen its day at 1 Sumach St., but there's still a chance the modular, tilted, green cube home could be saved.
Back in May, the property was purchased by commercial real estate expert Taso Boussoulas and real estate developer Jeff Craig for $2,750,000.
Way back, in 2002, the property sold for $265,000. It was bought by the founder of the Coffee Time franchise, Tom Michalopoulos, and the cubes were used as billboards for Coffee Time.
Now, Boussalas and Craig plan to redevelop the land which sits beside the Don Valley Parkway.
“Two people reached out to me saying we are interested in buying,” Boussoulas tells the Toronto Star. He also said his choice would be to auction the units or donate the structure to the city for relocation on city land.
A donation to the City of Toronto would ultimately be a process in and of itself, but Boussoulas also suggested to the Star it could go to the homeless.
And in Toronto, where condo sales dominate about 70 per cent of property sales, this proposed mixed-use development could potentially see high demand. Still, the entire approval process for the development could take about two years.
Toronto's cube house back when it was also a billboard. (Photo courtesy of John-Paul Darby via Flickr.com)
The architectural wonder was built by architect Ben Kutner and his partner Jeff Brown in 1996. Since then, it has been occupied as a private residence and used as a coffee shop billboard.
The cube home's design was actually inspired by similar cube homes in Rotterdam and Helmond in the 1970s. Piet Blom, the architect of those original structures, thought of the cubes as “trees” with living space branching out from a trunk-like base. When these homes are in groups, they become “forests.”
It’s here: Budget Day for the Trudeau government. But if you've been paying attention over the past few weeks, you'd know that the Feds have already dropped a number of significant housing announcements.
It's truly not everyday that a sprawling land listing goes up for sale along one of Muskoka's "big three" lakes. So, if you've been waiting for a sign that says it's time to bring your cottage country dreams to life... this is it.
The social value cost attributed to housing unaffordability in the GTA is about 1.75 times greater than that of cancer in the GTA, according to a new study. Moreover, the social value cost related to housing unaffordability aligns closely with the costs associated with diabetes and represents 76% of the social value cost of heart disease, further emphasizing its impact.
“Financial markets had been thinking there was a 50/50 chance of a June cut before today's data, but that probability rose to around 65% following the benign March CPI data release.”
The petition to the Supreme Court was filed last week by the West Coast Association for Property Rights, also known as the Property Rights Association of BC (PRABC).
“I feel like we're kind of in a period of growing pains where I'm still seeing a lot of people violating the policy because it's so unclear what the actual punishment will be.”
From what started as a management company for Pinemount Developments' own rental buildings, Holt Meadow has grown to a contracted-out property management service.
According to Andrew Graham, co-founder & CEO of Borrowell, Open banking would help level the playing field for renters, allowing them to build credit with rent payments.
(Photo courtesy of Sherman Clarke via Flickr.com)
Toronto's cube house back when it was also a billboard. (Photo courtesy of John-Paul Darby via Flickr.com)
