Sam Crignano, President of Cityzen, regularly contributes to the Cityzen blog. If you have any questions you'd like to ask him, please let us know in the comments below, or reach out to us via Twitter or Facebook.
This year has graced Cityzen with tons of activity already. Our sales offices are astir, though we do anticipate the pace of sales this year to be somewhat slower than last year. I think this is a good thing for the industry because it was so overheated last year.
In terms of acquisitions, we've recently purchased the Clarion Hotel property just south of Bloor at the corner of Sherbourne and Selby. We're engaging with Chicago firm BKL Architecture and their principal, Thomas Kerwin, to come up with alluring design concepts that will likely depart from the usual architecture of the city.
At Widdicombe and Eglinton, we are currently going through an approval process. The first phase will come to market with townhomes and we hope to build condominiums in the later phases. In Oakville, we are engaged in the design process for a third phase of our Waterlilies development which encompasses some higher density condominiums. Our goal is to come to market with phase 3 sometime this summer.
Daniel Libeskind's L Tower is proceeding on schedule, but we're busy excavating the underground parking lot. Once that's excavated, we'll construct Backstage on the Esplanade which sits atop it. At Pier 27, the model suite designed by Munge Leung is nearing completion and will be unveiled sometime in May.
We're working feverishly on our upcoming Cherry Street development with Norman Foster from London firm Foster + Partners. We've paired him with two acclaimed local architects, Bruce Kuwabara and Peter Klewes, from Architects Alliance to further the development process.
Lately, Waterfront Toronto has been in the news quite a bit. We're thrilled that Tridel and Hines' first phase will stretch out to Parliament, reaching our 3C Lakeshore development which is immediately south of the Distillery District. The big news is that we're planning on linking our 3C development and the Distillery. We are working with Metrolinx, the City, and the people at Distillery to achieve this.
Evidently, there will be a swarm of activity in this area within the next 2-3 years. All of this development is a catalyst for the future of the Portlands where I personally believe that, within five years, we’re going to see plenty of development. Some naysayers have suggested that timelines will be longer, but with private sector involvement, we'll definitely be on an accelerated schedule.
Last but not least, 154 Front is still in its approval process. Make sure to call us at 416-777-2489 x 225 if you want to be added to the pre-registration list. We hope to go to market with this project late this summer or early fall.
In other news, I'm following Formula One right now as I normally do. I must say that Vettel is my favourite driver. I'm definitely going with him on this one. And although the weather has been unpredictable, I've been able to get in some cycling in preparation for the GranFondo. But more on that later.
