TORONTO STAR
Builder’s tall towns work on narrow city lots
Niche market for the luxury homes
Central infill sites close to everything
W.D. LIGHTHALL
SPECIAL TO THE STAR

Small is beautiful for Toronto-based developer and home builder Stephen Maizels.
While developing high-rise condo projects in Toronto’s prime waterfront and downtown locations may be more high profile and profitable, Maizels is happy to specialize in the niche market of building luxury townhouses.  Building upscale townhouses on infill Sites in central Toronto is a unique subsection of the city’s home building industry. Maizels explains - one that has its own challenges and rewards. “It’s a rare situation in many respects,’ says Maizels, who brings in investors on a project by project basis and builds under the name The Hallstone Group of Companies. “We really don’t get many townhome lots in the city and when they do come up, they cost a lot,’ he says. When lots do become available they are “typically small. That means building higher. The townhouses Maizels builds are tall and slim, typically 20 feet wide or less. They range from 1.500 square feet to more than 2,000 square feet, spread over three or four storeys, and most sell for more than $500,000. There seems to be a steady demand for this housing style. There arc no projects that sit around too long,” he says. Maizels is currently building two projects, both consisting of 15-foot-wide freehold town-houses.  They are the 16-unit High Park Regency Townhomes, on Bloor St W., and seven townhouses on Nancy Pocock Pl, near Clinton St south of Bloor St. W.
“To make it work you need skilled architects who maximize the width of the room with the space available. I’ve seen townhouses 12-feet wide that work” Maizels says. The townhouses on Nancy Pocock Pl. are designed so the front door opens into a large family room with a 15-foot ceiling Maizels says the high ceiling gives an immediate impression of lots of space.
“It hits you as soon as you walk into the house, it’s a huge family room with a tremendous airy and light feeling. It helps to compensate for the lot width.”
Another design technique he favours is an open-concept lay-out on the main floor, so there is visibility from one end of the house to the other.
Making the most of small spaces
Again, the point is to make the best use of the interior space to create a sense of volume and livability, Maizels says. He uses insulated concrete form construction, known as ICE, instead of wood- frame construction. While ICE construction is five to 10 percent more expensive, Maizels says concrete houses have advantages over wood- frame ones — they are more energy efficient, the concrete walls ensure quiet, draft-free interiors and, because concrete doesn’t bend or warp, the walls are straight and the angles true. “You end up with a very high-quality product. When people are spending more than half a million dollars on a house, they want something that’s well built” Maizels says. He finds it advantageous to arrange financing for his projects prior to construction. Once the building is under way, he starts selling his homes, a reversal of the more common practice of selling units before construction commences. Maizels says it could cost a bit more because of the risk of building before selling, but one of the idiosyncrasies of the inner-city townhouse market is that buyers usually want a short occupancy date, similar to that of a resale home.
“The second reason is once they see the product it makes the sale a little easier and we get a better price, because they see the quality of the homes we build,’ he says. Maizels has been a builder and developer in the Toronto area for 30 years. In that time, he’s gone from developing larger residential and commercial projects, both on his own and while working for other developers, to smaller projects.
The move to smaller, independent projects began several years ago for Maizels when he partnered with Gabor & Popper Architects Inc., to develop the 31-suite Alexandra Gate condominium.
The five-storey luxury condominium, located on Yonge St between Eglinton and Lawrence Aves., sold out in the first weekend it opened.
However, he says it’s the infill townhouse market that appeals to him now. The homes arc a nice product, it’s comfortable to work with. They turn over fairly quickly. “And even if the market slowed down, (they) would still sell. You can’t replace this land”
Maizels points out zoning for the site where the High Park Regency Town homes are now rising allows for construction of a low-rise condo building
He says he would make more money by putting up a condo on the Site which has the advantages of being across the street from High Park and around the corner from High Park subway station, but apartment buildings involve more risk, they require more financing and take longer to build.
“And from a personal point of view I get more satisfaction from this kind of product. It’s nice to deal with the purchasers. They can see construction start on their home and three or four months later, they can move in.”
The Georgian-styled High Park Regency Townhomes arc three- and four-storey units.
All have interior circular staircases and units in the front of the project (overlooking High Park) have rooftop decks while those in the back have large patios.
Prices for his High Park townhouses range from S548,900 to $649,000 for 1,500 to 2,100 square feet Though freehold, there is a common element fee of approximately $95 per month applying to the underground garage and other shared areas.
The freehold townhouses on Nancy Pocock Pl are four storeys, 2,100 square feet and start at $559,900.
A monthly common element fee of about $25 maintains the private driveway.
Interior features shared by both projects include nine-foot ceilings, cornice moldings, granite flooring in the foyers, hardwood flooring, 50-ounce broadloom in bedrooms, designer kitchens, oval soaker tubs and separate shower stalls in the master bathrooms and a high-velocity system that circulates hot and cool air through a network of small-diameter pipes instead of the traditional system of ducts arid vents. By July, Maizels plans to build and sell a third project, Jarvis Mews, located on Jarvis St. north of Carlton St. He’s also in the process of developing a site uptown, on Clairtrell Rd. in the Bayview and Sheppard area, for 17 townhouses. For preview registrations and sales appointments for High Park Regency Townhomes, Nancy Pocock Pl and Jarvis Mews, call: 416489-3875. All three projects are being handled out of a sales office at 1968 t3loor St W., located beside the High Park Regency Townhomes site. The sales office is scheduled to open by early July. Visit www.hallstone.ca.