Cityzen Developments

Bye Bye BuskerFest! See you next year!

This year's Toronto Scotiabank BuskerFest was a resounding success and we were treated to 4 days of spectacular street performers in the downtown sunshine!

We weren't there just to have fun, however; we had ourselves a nice little tent just outside The Sony Centre where we provided information on some of our projects, giveaways and more.

It was a great weekend all around and we received a ton of interest which we are delighted about. Thanks to all those who visited our tent and we're already counting down the days until next years event!

Getting the tent set up nice and early on Friday morning

Lucky our staff was under the shade. HOT weekend!

It may not look like much here, but it was the prettiest tent in all of BuskerFest!

Our emcee got the crowd involved by getting a "When I say 'condo', you say 'fest'" chant going!

Name Our Condo Winner Adam Thody speaks!

We managed to grab a quick word with Adam right after he won. Check out the video to see what he had to say!

Name Our Condo: And the winner is...

Over 3,200 names were entered, more than 120,000 votes were cast, and we finally have a winner. The name of the newest addition to the Citzyzen Development Group's family is called BACKSTAGE!

We were on hand at today's announcement at the main stage of the Scotiabank BuskerFest Toronto where a crowd gathered to hear The Edge 102.1's Todd announce the winner. Take a look below to see the action.

Sara Crignano and Sam Crignano keep the novelty cheque under wraps!

Some of the contestants anxiously await the announcement...

Todd from station Edge201 talks to Sam and Sara before the announcement

First runner up and winner of an iPad was Y.ES Tower 

Adam Thody who came up with BACKSTAGE accepts his grand prize of $5,000

Adam looks a little surprised at all the attention he received

Some of the other Top 10 contestants posing. Congrats go out to all who participated!

Adam and his wife pose with the cheque. She mentioned that she already spent the money spent!

Thanks to each and every person who entered the contest and made it the success that it was. We're not done with our giveaways yet though. For more info on how to win up to $250,000 in cash and prizes, visit us here.

The Scotiabank Toronto BuskerBall: A great evening for a great cause

Last night saw the second annual Scotiabank BuskerBall take place in the north building of the St. Lawrence Market, and Cityzen were there in full force to enjoy a great evening of entertainment.

Now in it's eleventh year, the Scotiabank Toronto BuskerFest takes place this weekend from Thursday to Sunday with hundreds of street performers showcasing their talents to raise funds for Epilepsy Toronto. Cityzen is proud to be involved again this year and we'd like to thank everyone at BuskerFest for throwing a great part for a great cause.

We snapped a few photos which you can see below. The place was packed and everyone had a great time. Thanks to everyone involved for a really great evening, and we can't wait until this weekend to see more performers!  

 

An aerial performer gets the crowd going early on 

   

 Impressive acrobatics had the crowd paying attention

   
 

A performer mingles amongst the crowd outdoors

 
 
Volunteers help hand out the auction cards to attendees 

 

A performer tries to impress a young BuskerBall guest

  

One of the many local vendors showcasing their products 

Another acrobatic aerial show 

 
 
Just one of the many performers that will be there all weekend

 

   

The Caricaturist was a busy man all night 

  

Putting the finishing touches to some body paint

 
 
Our very own Sam Crignano accepting his award for outstanding contribution to the community 

The crowd inside the market were treated to an evening to remember

Checking out some of the auction items

Sara Crignano, the face of Cityzen and also new spokesperson for Tiny Tim donuts! 

These lucky folk won a brand new TV in the raffle 

Cirque de Eloize getting the show under way

 

A "lucky" audience member becomes part of the act

 

The performers helped out with collecting funds

Name Our Condo winning name TBA at the Scotiabank BuskerFest on Thursday

It has been a long road, but the top ten names are now confirmed and our specially selected judges panel now have the envious (or un-envious?) task of agreeing on the winning one. Here are the final ten in all their glory. Which one is your favorite? Be sure to drop by the main stage at the Scotiabank BuskerFest this Thursday at 12pm sharp to see the winning name announced.

EXCITING!

 

The naming contest might be over but we're far from finished! We're giving away up to $250,000 in cash and prizes. All will be announced soon! 

L Tower construction site photos

We went and shot a bit of footage of the L Tower construction site the other week to put up on the blog (here). The shots below are courtesy of our site super, Jordan, who jumped in his lift and, trying to out-do us, snapped some pictures of his own!

We must admit that we're impressed. The higher elevation really gives you an idea of what the views are going to be like once the building is completed.

Feast your eyes on the below. Thanks Jordan!  

Equipment Galore

Sawing some of the barrier off

View of L Tower's base from the lift

Some good parking by our construction equipment drivers

A north-facing view of the city

Union Station will be undergoing a huge overhaul so most of this will be covered soon enough

The digger looks like a micro-machine!

Sony Centre roof and northeast facing view

This is where the 'Name Our Condo' condo will be situated

Here, we can see how the concrete is smoothed out

Name our Condo: Meet Marco. He wants your votes.

The Name Our Condo contest is almost over and the Top 10 names will be put to our judges panel very soon. One person who has a lot more riding on his entry than most people is Marco, who entered the name "Escapade Condominiums" into the contest.

After not seeing much voting activity on his name, he decided to take matters into his own hands and convince people to vote for him by setting up a website in which he performs a stunt for every 200 votes reached. Check the site out here for an idea of what sort of punishment he's put his body through to get your clicks!

We met with Marco earlier this afternoon and asked him a couple of questions. Check the video below to see what he had to say! Could he be getting a tattoo pretty soon? We love the unpredictability.

 

 If you think Escapade Condominiums deserves to win, or just even have a soft spot in your heart for Marco, then vote for his entry here. Who knows what he might do if he keeps getting votes!

A very sneak peek at the construction of the pool at London on the Esplanade

We recently headed over to London on the Esplanade to take a quick look at  where the pool will be situated on site. Although the pool is currently covered and work is still ongoing, hopefully you'll get an idea of how it will fit into the outdoor area with our video below.

The good news is that the pool itself was water-proofed a couple of weeks ago and now the cosmetic work is well underway. Check back to the blog for regular updates on all of our projects. If you have a question or comment, please leave one here and we'll get back to you.

L Tower Construction Update: Video

We paid a flying visit to the construction site of L Tower last week and met with Dom Crignano, Assistant Site Supervisor, who was kind enough to walk us through the site. He explained things to us that we didn't know about, such as all that yellow stuff on the southeast walls of the Sony Centre.

As it's a busy site, there is some noise in the background so be careful with your volume control when watching it! 

L Tower announces the release of new suites

Last week, L Tower released thirty-six new suites located at Yonge and Front St. right in the heart of the downtown core. To celebrate, we headed over to the irresistible Oliver and Bonacini, just a stones throw away from the building site.

Hunter Milborne, Managing Director of Sotheby's Canada, spoke with the crowd and talked about the  location, the amazing job done by world renowned architect Daniel Libeskind, and also announced that construction will be starting in the next sixty days with occupancy still scheduled for November 2012.

Check out the photos below on what was a very enjoyable afternoon.

3D Model of L Tower

North face of L Tower 

Sony Centre view