Casa 2 Shorted by One Floor, Stands at 56

Casa 2 Shortened to 56 Floors.

Well, well, skyscraper fans, it appears that Casa 2 has been shortened yet again, before construction has even begun on the south Yorkville/Charles Street Property. Those of you with an interest in new Toronto projects might already have known that the original Casa 2 was supposed to be 62 floors, and reach 202 meters, but there was some community opposition, and they had to downsize the project. The main objection was that Charles with all the projects could not handle the amount of traffic these buildings will soon create on the street. I would hope that anyone living in any project on Charles Street, would have the good sense to leave their car at home during the day, and walk or take transit, and leave the driving till after hours, when there would be a lot less traffic.

Reduction

The building was reduced it seems in agreement with a nameless City Councillor (Tam-Wong?) for community benefits and given the go ahead instead of taking the fight to the appeal board in Ontario. This board known as the Ontario Municapal Board, is usually favorable to developers, so in this instance I believe it was the city that didn't want to take a chance of the developer not only getting their way, but likely given an additional 1 or 2 floors tacked onto the tower.


Building and Developer

Casa 2 is being developed by Cresford Developments, which of course developed the successful Casa 1 project. This project, sold in no time at all, such is the word from online internet forums like urbantoronto.ca and skyscraperpage.com of which I am a member as well. The building is located on the former site of the YMCA at 42 Charles Street, and this building is currently under demolition now. So construction is likely to being sometime early into the new year, determined by how well that goes. The building is just to the southeast of the Major One Bloor East project being developed by Great Gulf Homes at the corner of Bloor and Yonge.


Snapshot

Getting a Mortgage and Mortgage Insurance through BMO Insurance for financing a loan to purchase at FIVE Condos is actually a relatively easy process, and new rules from the federal government has required that company include new regulations, which have made the home loan and mortgage process a bit more difficult. Those changes at BMO Insurance include shortening the amortization period for which the loan can be held by the consumer, and the degree to which the property is financed by the mortgage. They have also increased deposit requirements to lift the loan insurance amount. Mortgage insurance from BMO Insurance is actually one of the major financing costs on home loans.