Bucking the condo trend

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Unique luxury features make the difference as 50 Scollard nearly sells out

Toronto condo developers haven’t had a lot to celebrate lately as the market downturn continues, but the team behind 50 Scollard have a couple of things to toast to.

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One is timing. The 41-storey, 129-unit tower from Lanterra Developments is nearing completion — and almost sold out — at a moment when pre-construction sales have ground to a halt.

Another is the project’s target market. As an ultra-luxury build in Yorkville, 50 Scollard caters to end users, rather than the investors who have disappeared from the new-home market.

“It is very hard to sell now. However, having said that, user buildings, typically even in today’s market, do much better than investor buildings,” said Mark Mandelbaum, chairman of Lanterra, at a recent promotional event for 50 Scollard at its presentation centre.

“People who buy here want to live here, and they can afford it,” he continued. In a tough market, it also helps if the project is unique, Mandelbaum suggested, and Lanterra has spent a great deal of time trying to make 50 Scollard stand out, right down to the tower’s commercial tenant.

Though the project began selling before the COVID-19 pandemic, it was only about two months ago that the developer signed a lease with Salt, Grass & Rare, a new upscale steakhouse set to occupy the development’s entire third floor.

“It took guts, there’s no question. It was such a unique space, and we held out and finally found the right person,” said Mandelbaum. When the restaurant opens, it will boast 8,000 square feet of meticulously designed dining space — the bar fixtures are being sourced from Norway, the chandeliers from Portugal, the furniture from Italy — as well as a sprawling 4,000-square-foot terrace.

“It’ll be a beautiful forest in the concrete jungle,” said Michael Dabic, co-owner of Salt, Grass & Rare. Mandlebaum sees a fine-dining establishment not only as a way to put 50 Scollard on the map but to command a premium, too.

“We actually think that having a restaurant like that is a big value enhancer, not just for the initial buyer but for the resale,” he said.

When it opens to the public next year, the restaurant will offer room service to residents, who can order off an exclusive menu. It’s an example of the kind of “five-star portable hotel-style service” and amenities that the property manager promises to maintain.

“Obviously the standards are exceptionally high for this project because we’re neighbouring the Four Seasons Toronto,” said Robert Klopot, president and CEO of property manager The Forest Hill Group.

Once homebuyers begin occupying the Norman Foster-designed tower around the end of this year, The Forest Hill Group is going to employ a full daily staff of about 20 to handle everything from cleaning, maintenance, and administrative work, to valet and porter services.

They’re even hiring a sommelier to host tastings, make recommendations, and oversee the wine lounge, where residents can store their libations. “We wanted to make sure we didn’t miss anything,” Klopot said of the offerings at 50 Scollard, which also include a pool, spa with steam room, dry sauna and treatment lounge, fitness centre and yoga studio, private dining room, and a pet spa.

As for the suites themselves, they’re large even by luxury standards. Of the approximately 15 units remaining for sale in the development, the largest is 5,190 square feet, and most floors contain only one or two suites.

The smallest floor plan is just over 1,200 square feet — nearly double the average for unsold units in the combined Greater Toronto Area and Hamilton markets last quarter, according to Zonda Urban, a real estate data firm.

“This is not really a condominium development. This is like a custom home in the sky,” said Diana Girgis, Lanterra’s director of sales and marketing for the GTA. “Some of our purchasers have brought their own interior designers into the project because they wanted to put their own unique spin on the residence,” she added.

To close a luxury condo deal, it can take six months to a year of negotiations, Girgis explained, but units are still selling. “It’s not as busy as it would’ve been pre-pandemic or even during the pandemic at the height of the market, but we are still moving along and selling consistently,” said Girgis, noting the project has especially appealed to downsizers from the city or just outside its borders.

Pauline Lierman, vice president of market research at Zonda Urban, agreed that boutique end-user buildings are less exposed to the current downswing than other condo segments. “We do see a bit more of an enthusiasm for new projects like this to the market,” she said.

However, Lierman added, it’s a niche accounting for a sliver of overall market share. Just 242, or about 1 per cent, of the total inventory of 22,456 unsold condos in the GTA and Hamilton as of the fourth quarter were in smaller luxury developments, according to Lierman.

While a development such as 50 Scollard, where prices range from $3.3 million up to $18.3 million, may serve a limited set of affluent buyers, the building’s focus on end users is something that both Mandelbaum and Lierman expect to see more of when the Toronto condo market eventually rebounds. “We may not have tiny, tiny units,” said Mandelbaum. “There’ll be more units that will be ultimately more user-friendly.”