UNFORGETTABLE SAGAS, SCOOPS AND SCANDALS
 from Toronto Life’slong-form archives

Dear Reader,

Can anything stop Toronto’s condo boom? This year, despite cooling markets and rising mortgage rates, a record 32,000 new units will hit the city. Love them or loathe them, condos are an inescapable part of urban life. They’re where a growing number of first-time buyers, young families and empty nesters live, work, find love, start families and form communities. As Maryam Sanati wrote in her feature “Neighbour vs. Neighbour,” they’ve also become a breeding ground for lawsuits, bullies and brawlers. This week, we revisit the best of our long-form condo coverage, including a fascinating look at how they’re becoming neighbourhoods of the future and an exploration of what it means to raise a family in 700 square feet.

Neighbour vs. Neighbour

Cranky empty nesters, party-loving hipsters and screaming babies are living cheek by jowl in downtown condo towers. How the vertical city became a generational combat zone

BY MARYAM SANATI |  SEPTEMBER 22, 2016

There’s no such thing as an archetypal condo dweller. In Toronto’s residential towers, retired empty nesters live below boisterous hipsters. People who work night shifts try to sleep while parents take their toddlers to daycare. Families with rowdy kids take up residence across the hall from quiet professional couples. What happens when all of these people are packed into such cramped quarters? As Maryam Sanati chronicles in this 2016 feature, neighbours are keeping each other up at night, squabbling in hallways and sparring in elevators.

Stuck in Condoland

In a city where space is at a premium, tiny condos are the new family home. Learning to survive in 700 square feet

BY PHILIP PREVILLE |  JULY 11, 2014

In the aughts and early 2010s, a wave of young adults flocked to CityPlace and Liberty Village, drawn by the promise of downtown luxury living, trendy restaurants and short commutes. But, when those 20- and 30-somethings started coupling up, having kids and looking for bigger places, many found themselves stuck in their starter homes. They couldn’t afford a house, and two- or three-bedroom condos were nowhere to be found. In this 2014 feature, Philip Preville details how this generational phenomenon rewrote Toronto’s myth of the good life.

Inside the city’s vertical neighbourhoods

Toronto’s towers are bustling high-rise communities with tennis clubs, elevator romances, kids’ playgroups, rooftop yoga studios and dog squads

BY ALI AMAD, STEVE KUPFERMAN AND LAUREN MCKEON | OCTOBER 2, 2019

As condo living becomes more common, buildings are becoming neighbourhoods unto themselves, complete with party rooms, spas, clubhouses, pubs and parkettes. They’re home to regular trivia nights, tennis and gardening clubs, toddler playgroups, and even small businesses. These places allow residents to indulge in their offbeat hobbies, meet like-minded neighbours and even find romance. This collection of stories from 2019 proves that, as condo units get smaller, these common spaces help high-rises feel like home.

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