Cityzen Developments

Sam Talks: December 2012 Edition

Next year will be a busy year for us with several projects on the go. The next phase at Pier 27 is in the approval stages and we look forward to bringing it to market next summer. Cherry Street at Cherry and Queen's Quay is our other waterfront project. We're in discussions right now with respect to the approvals with the city and Waterfront Toronto. We're hopeful that the first phase will come to market as early as next summer or early fall.

ScotiaBank Buskerfest kicks off this week

At last! Scotiabank BuskerFest is coming up this weekend and we can hardly wait. We haven’t missed an event in 5 years and we’re really looking forward to seeing what the festival has in store for us this year.

In anticipation of the festival, last week we chatted to BuskerFest's festival director Bonnie Taylor, about the event's background and how Cityzen became involved as a sponsor. This time around, Mackenzie Muldoo, the marketing and entertainment director, talks to us about her work and what she loves the most about the festival.

What are some of your responsibilities as the entertainment and marketing director?

The biggest and probably my most favourite responsibility is programming the festival. I really enjoy coming up with the acts and programming how it all comes together. And then of course, my other responsibilities as a marketing director involves overseeing the marketing plan and getting the world out. 

How do you go about programming the festival?

Most of my weekends in the summer are spent at festivals seeing performers. My background is in acting so I’ve come up with an act that I can do so that I can go to as many festivals as I can. During the winter, if I can’t travel to go watch performances, I watch lots of Youtube videos and go through online application forms. A lot of the performers for BuskerFest come from either the application forms, from recommendations or from seeking them out.

What is the best part of your job?

The best part is when I discover a great performer. I like being able to say, “Will you come to our festival?”

How would you describe BuskerFest to anyone that has never been before?

What I tell people that have never been to our festival, is that there are amazing things happening wherever you look. There are people doing incredible acts of skill, there are insane acts of daredevilism, clever comedy and magic, food and colour. It’s a very colourful festival. We try to keep it magical.

The festival is also founded, run, organized and created by Epilepsy Toronto which means that all of the volunteers, all of the staff, all of the sponsors have a different kind of invested interest than your average festival.

What do you love the most about the performances at BuskerFest?

I love the energy that these performances bring. I love that it is art in support of a great cause. I can’t say that I’ve seen another festival like this which is an amalgamation of arts and charity and business. I also love how accessible the festival is. Anyone can come and admission is by donation. You’re welcome to give whatever you can afford.

In terms of performing. What makes you want to perform?

The interaction with your audience. I like that live, real, in the moment feeling that comes from the live performances. There is no screen, there is no delay. You’re absolutely in the moment. You respond to what’s right in front of you. You might have an exact plan of how your show is going to go or how your interaction will go but your audience dictates so much. You have to be able to be in the moment and usually in most street theatre, the best moments, the funniest moments, comes from an interaction with the audience. A good performer can adapt to this and work with it and use it. 

Do you have a favourite Buskerfest moment?

I do indeed. 4 years ago, we had about 25 giant balloons filled with helium and airlifted up into the air. Canadian Idol was going on at the same time that year and we managed to get Toronto local Mookie Morris to perform at the festival. We had it arranged so that one of the balloons would take him up into the air and land him on the stage. It was amazing and he was a really great sport.

Is there one last thing that you want people to know about Scotiabank BuskerFest?

The messaging that we really want to get out this year is about how the donations work. It’s a bit confusing but we want people to know that the donations at the gate, goes to the charity and the donations in the hat, goes to the performer.

ScotiaBank Buskerfest is coming back to town

ScotiaBank Buskerfest, Toronto's highly successul street performer festival is coming back to town on August 23rd. For the fifth year running, Cityzen will be one of the event sponsors and we're really happy to be part of this great event which raises funds for Epilepsy Toronto.

We recently spoke to Bonnie Taylor, BuskerFests Festival Director, about the festival's association with Epilespy Toronto and how Cityzen became involved in the event.

How did BuskerFest come to Toronto?

Geoff Bobb, the executive director of Epilepsy Toronto, developed BuskerFest. Thirteen years ago he was out in Halifax where there’s a street performance festival. He really liked it and wanted to start a similar festival here as a fundraising platform.  

As of last year, BuskerFest represents one third of Epilepsy Toronto’s operating budget. It’s not always about raising money; it’s also about raising awareness. We had over 40 million media hits last year. The Canadian Epilepsy Alliance made a statement last year saying that Toronto’s BuskerFest organized by Epilepsy Toronto is the biggest epilepsy awareness event on the globe. 

What’s the story behind how you approached Cityzen to become a sponsor?

Epilepsy Toronto is a very small charity and although we have Scotiabank on board, we don’t have a lot of money in our budget. When I first took over the festival, we had 250,000 people that came to the event and we raised about $60,000 for epilepsy. Seven years later, a million people have come to event and we raised about $350,000 last year on roughly the same budget.

One of the logistics that we need during the event is a generator, big generators that power all of the performance sites of our vendors. So I just walked into Sam Crignano’s office and I asked him if he could help by going to whomever his supplier was to get the generators donated because that was a $5,000 to $6,000 budget line that we had. Sam absolutely said he could do that, so he’s covered the cost of the generators for the past five years that Cityzen has been with us.

Then he said, “What else can I do to help?” I told him we wanted to try to grow the festival site that year. So now Cityzen helps with the generators and stage sponsorship and for the last three years, we’ve had this really unique partnership for BuskerBall. Sam sends out letters and it’s actually a combination between him and Danny from Fernbook; Joe Cordiano and Paolo. We sent out 1,500 letters to all of the various contractors Cityzen works with. Last year we raised $55,000 from that letter campaign alone. It’s the biggest single fundraiser that we do for BuskerBall.

It seems that you were quite lucky to walk in there and that he was on board immediately.

I think Sam wanted to be involved in a charitable cause within the community because Cityzen is working on a number of projects in the downtown core. Plus, Sam and Maria moved into the condo and they also live in the community now, so they wanted to get involved. It’s a family affair!

As Maria will tell you, it’s Cityzen’s signature event. As a business and a contractor, I’m sure they get asked to participate and show their support for a number of places. We looove Cityzen. They’re a prime example of how a business can make a huge difference. They’ve made a huge difference to our event for sure.

Do you have a personal connection to Epilepsy Toronto?

A good friends’ husband just passed away this year – he had epilepsy. That is one of the reasons I got involved in volunteering with Epilepsy Toronto because she volunteered. I also have a number of friends that have worked with the organization.

There are a lot of health organizations whose fundraising goes specifically into research. What I love about Epilepsy Toronto, is that the money goes to programs that help people with epilepsy. They’re able to reach out to a broad number of people. For example, one of the first things we did when we started BuskerBall was raise money towards a child and youth program.

There are a lot of kids who have severe epilepsy. I’m friends with a family and their son Jack – he’s 6 now – just had major surgery where they removed part of the frontal lobe of his brain. Since he’s had this major surgery, he hasn’t had any seizures at all, whereas before he was having 30 to 40 seizures a day.  After spending some time and just seeing what it’s like for the family to deal with that, it gives you a sense of purpose. 

If you could have one person on board on BuskerFest, who would it be?

I would love to try and attract Elton John. I have for a number of years now been trying to reach out to a few celebrities that have epilepsy or have had it in the past. Prince was one of them, and Danny Glover was another one. That would be my dream – to find someone to come on board as our honourary spokesperson. That would really put us on the global map. 

EXCLUSIVE: Interview with Thomas Kerwin of bKL architecture

We've teamed up with Thomas Kerwin of Chicago-based bKL Architecture to work on our Sherbourne and Selby project, the newest development from Cityzen, DiamondCorp and Fernbrook Homes.

Kerwin designs buildings all over the world and was the coordinating architect of Chicago's 2016 Olympic bid. His previous Toronto projects include the expansion of the Direct Energy Centre and the Minto Towers at Yonge and Eglinton. 

We caught up with Kerwin at the Cityzen headquarters on his only day in Toronto to talk about his latest project. 
 

Let's talk about why you're here. How far into the design process are you with the Selby?

We're at an advanced conceptual stage. We have a strong idea about the concept for the building, the materiality and the massing. We're going to the City to seek approval for the density, height and general arrangement that we hope to achieve.
 

Preliminary, highly conceptual rendering of the Selby

What can we expect to see?

We are looking in terms of materiality to do something different to make the new building stand out. The building sits in a neighbourhood that is changing in terms of density, but there is a predominance of masonry buildings. Perhaps with the use of colour we might distinguish the project architecturally within the market place for the developer while also having it serve as a contextually interesting structure. The idea of notching the building with a cantilever is really important. [We're trying] to respond to the adjacent properties and what is best for the residents that will live in this tower.

Preliminary, highly conceptual first renderings for the Selby

You mentioned the use of colour. Can you elaborate?

We really want to embrace the use of colour, and we're doing it on a couple of projects right now. I don't know if we've found the right colour for the Selby project just yet but we are excited about using new materials and colour. We think it will be unique and it will distinguish itself. Doing something elegant, modern and progressive will appeal to people who appreciate design.
 

Conceptual rendering of the integration of colour and the Gooderham mansion 
 

What influenced you for this project?

There are a few things that influence us. Architecture is an extremely collaborative process so I want to make sure that our team works hard to observe what is happening in Toronto and to think about how the building might fit into this context properly.

The site is very influential on the approach my team and I took. How we dealt with the massing of the building and the cut-out we proposed at the base is ultimately all about the site. We are trying to do what is best for our project in terms of establishing the greatest views, while also being respectful to the project adjacent to us by doing what we can for their views by carving out the lower floors.
 

 Conceptual rendering of the Selby townhomes

What is your design philosophy?

My team and I all come from modernist roots. Most of us grew up working at Skidmore, Owings & Merrill (SOM) during a period where we caught the tail end of some of the great modern buildings that SOM completed. Then we went through a period of architecture where some of those ideals were not really embraced.

A lot of us have cherished those roots of modernism and believe in an architecture that is rooted in systems that are rational but also beautiful. Rooted in structural and environmental systems, rooted in the context in which the building sits...


You've worked on two Toronto-based projects already. What's your take on architecture in this city?

There are several great new projects here with a considerable amount of talented architects, no question. There have been some really jewel-like buildings completed in Toronto. What is most noticeable is how the skyline has changed, particularly with high rise towers.

I started working in Toronto in the early 90's but I first came here 30 years ago as a freshman in architecture school. It was our first school trip and I have been fascinated by Toronto ever since. It was a wonderful experience. Toronto has changed quite a bit! It is an extremely vibrant city.


You were the coordinating architect of the Chicago 2016 Olympic bid. Can you speak about that experience?

The bid experience was a very positive thing, especially for the city. It gave Chicago terrific international exposure and provided an enhanced awareness of the numerous attributes that the city has to offer, several of which people were previously unaware.

Not winning the bid was a serious disappointment for reasons beyond much of our control. It had nothing to do with the physical plan, but with the geopolitical situation between the US and other countries and components within the Olympic movement itself.

Having said that, a lot of things came out of the bid were extremely positive for the city. I think many of the tenets of the physical plan could still be executed down the line should the city try to attract the games in the future.

It has always been part of my DNA to be involved in civic endeavours. The bid process was a case where thousands of professionals from all walks of business came together with the common goal of trying to get the games. The Olympics touches so many different pieces of commerce.

Also, the architectural community was extremely collaborative throughout the process. People who normally compete with each other were able to work alongside one another, contributing to some incredible results. 


Are there any similarities or differences you see between Toronto and Chicago?

[Both cities] are urban environments on major waterfronts, comprised of neighbourhoods, both very walkable, and both very diverse from a density and ethnicity perspective. The people have similar mindsets and the climates are very comparable – there is a bit of a symbiotic relationship between the residents.

A lot of us in the US are envious of Toronto and Canada because of the growth that has occurred and the stability of the economy. Canada has continued to embrace different ethnicities and more open immigration laws. It is a problem we have in the US right now because immigration breeds innovation in all fields. It is for that reason that Toronto is an exciting place, and it has bred the need for housing, which is a big component of what is happening here architecturally.
 

"A lot of us in the US are envious of Toronto and Canada because of the growth that has occurred and the stability of the economy"

There appears to be a real commitment here in terms of quality of buildings. Quite frankly, Chicago has some things to learn from Toronto in that regard. There are a number of prominent architects who have designed outstanding buildings here and there seems to be particular attention paid to the exterior envelopes and massing of the buildings, which is impressive.

Chicago is a great city architecturally but it went through a period where the city constructed some buildings that were not particularly attractive, especially in the housing realm. There is a renewed interest in Chicago to create quality residential buildings and we are fortunate to be involved in a few of them.


A wise man once said that good design not only sells, but it sells at a premium. Do you agree?

I definitely embrace that. It is interesting – in the high rise residential market around the world it has kind of been slow to the forefront. If you look at other building types, residential or not, good design is good business, and the residential sector seems to have been slower to the race.

Developers like Sam who embrace great architects are fantastic. It has been quite evident in the US as well – good design has been the difference between projects succeeding and failing in this difficult marketplace. In other parts of the world, Asia in particular, there have been a select few places where design has been embraced for high-rise housing, and it is becoming more and more prevalent now.


What are some of your favourite buildings in the world?

I appreciate architecture all over the world. One architect I find fascinating today is Bertrand Goldberg. He was a modernist architect who was based in Chicago and did beautiful buildings using form in a very modernist and elegant way.

 
Bertrand Goldberg's iconic Marina City, Chicago
 

What makes a city a good candidate for cutting-edge architecture?

Really good question, I think you have to have a client base that is willing to experiment and push the envelope. Creating good or great architecture takes time and energy and you have to be committed to doing it. The key is finding those types of clients who have that commitment, no matter the place.

"I do not think architecture is about this idyllic place or idea, it is truly about working with people and working with constraints"

 

One of the beautiful things about architecture is that you get inspired by the place you are in – the constraints that the site offers, the program, the client wishes, etc. I do not think architecture is about this idyllic place or idea, it is truly about working with people and working with constraints and opportunities to make something special.
 

When you're not at bKL Architecture, where can we find you?

I love to travel. I have young children so I love to bring them and show them the world. I love to explore cities. We just got back from Paris and London, and we are going to Italy in a few months. We have traveled extensively throughout Asia. Showing our kids those cultures has been an incredible experience.

I spend a fair amount of time away from my family and I like to get as much time with them as I can when I am not travelling or working. I am going white water rafting with my son in the Grand Canyon soon, which will be the first time in I do not know how long that I will be completely disconnected – it is going to be a challenge.

You're only in Toronto for a day. Anything in particular planned?

One of the critical elements of this project that we are working on is the integration of the heritage building that is on site. The Gooderham mansion, which is the front part of the hotel and the original mansion, is being retained but we are moving it.

We are taking a tour of other projects in Toronto that have incorporated a heritage piece in the design of the project and looking at some of the best examples of how it is done. It is really important as we want the new and old building to work together.

And I am going to Absolute – I have been dying to see that, so I cannot wait. 

Finally, Cubs or Sox?

That is so funny. I am a huge baseball fan and I love both teams but my allegiance is to the Sox. When I first moved to Chicago from Indiana I hung out at Sox Park. My son's allegiance is to the Cubs.

L Tower Summer 2012 Construction Update

 It's business as usual down at Yonge and The Esplanade and our L Tower project.

With 58 storeys to build, the main work for the past few months has been adding all those floors and getting more vertical. When we visited the site last week the crew were busy pouring floor 47 so there's not too long to go before we reach the top.

Aside from that, work is continuing on closing off the building, with windows installed up to floor 12, and electrical, plumbing and water works ongoing both at L and the Sony Centre Back of House.

So, not too much to report at this time. The name of the game is getting up to the top and we're well on our way to getting there soon.

Check out our photos below and take a look at the birds eye view of the Union Station construction taken from L's 45th floor!

We'll be back again with more info on L Tower's progress in September. In the meantime, you can follow all the latest news from Cityzen on Facebook and Twitter.

Are you an L Tower purchaser? What are you most looking forward to about moving in? Let us know in the comments below.

Sam Talks (to twitter followers): July 2012 edition

Many of our devoted Twitter followers are curious about the inner workings of Cityzen. When we tweeted that we would sit down with Sam for our monthly updates, followers started to chime in with their own questions for him. We asked, and Sam answered. 

Pier 27 Latest Construction Update from Toronto's Waterfront

We last checked in at Pier 27 in April and since then there's been a lot of vertical movement on our Toronto Waterfront site.

We have various crews working in three of the buidlings on site in preparation for work commencing on closing each of the buildings off in the following months.

The vast majority of the underground work is complete and we're looking forward to a great few months progress ahead.

Check out our latest images below and head on over to our Facebook page for more. We'll have all the latest information on Pier 27 right here so keep following!

Have you bought at Pier 27? What are you looking forward to most about moving in? Let us know in the comments below.

The Italian Contemporary Film Festival begins June 26

Basilicata Coast to Coast is one of the 14 films playing at the Italian Contemporary Film Festival in Toronto this summer.

Bernardo Bertolucci, Federico Fellini, Michelangelo Antonioni, Roberto Rossellini, Sergio Leone, Giuseppe Tornatore, Roberto Begnini, Vittorio De Sica. The list goes on when it comes to the best Italian filmmakers of all time. 

But it doesn't end with the classics. The first Italian Contemporary Film Festival, co-sponsored by Cityzen, features works by a new wave of Italian filmmakers.

The festival begins in Toronto from June 26 to July 1, 2012, at the TIFF Bell Lightbox, the Royal Cinema and AMC Interchange 30 in Vaughan. Tickets are available online at www.icff.ca and in person at the TIFF Bell Lightbox or the Italian Cultural Institute. 

From documentaries to comedies, a total of 14 films will be screening during the festival. We're looking forward to To Rome With Love directed by Woody Allen. And guess what? It screens at ICFF before releasing to the general public. 

 

 

Renowned Italian directors Rocco Mortelliti (La Scomparsa di Patò) and Ivan Cotroneo (Kryptonite!) will also add their own spark to the festival with their contemporary takes on Italian film. 

Let us know which films you want to see at ICFF this year, and leave a comment telling us your favourite Italian film of all time. 

The ICFF is proudly supported by the Italian Cultural Institute, Cinecittà Luce and the Consulate General of Italy in collaboration with Toronto Film Critics Association.  

ION décor packages right around the corner

 

Maria Crignano, director of décor at Cityzen, is working hard with her team to create the perfect colour and décor finishes for ION condo purchasers. Purchasers will have opportunity to choose between a number of beautiful and chic standard and upgraded finishes soon.

The scheduling of colour selection appointments is underway and the décor team is excited to start turning these condos into homes starting June 25, 2012.

 

Did you know that we still have great suites available at ION? For more information visit www.ioncondo.ca or call us at 416-633-2737.

Crignano family rides to conquer cancer tomorrow

The cycling never ends with the Crignano family who will begin their 200 kilometre ride tomorrow for the Enbridge Ride to Conquer Cancer.  

Sam Crignano, president of Cityzen, and his son Domenic Crignano, project coordinator at Dominus, will ride 100 kilometres on June 9 and another 100 kilometres on  June 10. Sam's daughter Bianca will also be joining Team Cityzen-Dominus with her Specialized bike. 

You can track and follow the team on endomondo, a real-time free GPS mobile app, or you can follow us on Twitter @CityzenGroup for live updates.

All funds donated will benefit the Campbell Family Cancer Research Institute at the Princess Margaret Hospital, one of the top five cancer research centres in the world and a leader in the discovery and delivery of personalized cancer medicine. 

Find out what Domenic says about his passion for cycling and why he's supporting the ride.