Every once and a while we all have to get some R & R however, in this line of work and with over 100 active clients, walking away just isn’t an option.

My father has not been well recently and he has been pushing for me to visit him in small town Ontario just a few hours drive. He has retired and wanted to spend some value time with his son who left home early and then only reappeared late in life. I had managed a brief one day run in the spring when his car gave out on him. I drove down bought a full sized car for him (actually his wife and I visited all the lots and then ran the best choice over to him for his final seal of approval and then I drove back early the next morning.

The solution was to have them come to the big city (as they called it). Neither of them had ever been downtown Toronto. Nor had either ever seen or visited the CN Tower or any of the many unique venues that this great city has to offer. We arranged first class train accommodation and a Fairmont Royal York Gold Floor three days.

I recently, while responding to my international client’s requests regarding hotel accommodation here in Toronto, had conducted a rather close survey of hotel options offering the kind of services that my clients need (internet access, casual meeting environment, etc.). On the surface many hotels have similar products, however I found this 12th floor service at the Royal York to hit the nail right on the head as the saying goes.

My father arrived at Union Station and we walked (indoors) under Front Street into what I had felt to be an historic site in the landscape of the city. The hotel was integrated into the Fairmont Hotels chain around five years ago and I hadn’t visited it in over a decade.

Needless to say the updating to this grand cathedral-like hotel is absolutely stunning. I immediately had the feeling of the fine hotels of Asia. Grandiose but not opulent, the main lobby requires some time to appreciate the fine detail.

I used to frequent the hotel fifteen years ago and recall it having become old and stodgy. This visit reinstated my confidence in the buildings majesty. Getting off of the elevator on the 12th floor I was again impressed with the granite foyer so tastefully restored leading to the Club area, a spacious private space with dining setting (including a private dining room).

A complementary breakfast with all the newspapers and fast Internet link on two difference workstations and a staff of thoroughly delightful professionals making each guest fell welcome and insuring that they enjoy their stay. Needless to say I was impressed.

So, for this weekly walk I am limited to taking you where many of you have or should have already seen with your family. Toronto has a great zoo, art gallery, IMAX, ROM, CN Tower, Hockey Hall of Fame, Casa Loma, and a host of museums, galleries and boutiques sufficient to keep even the most active tourist running for a week.

Toronto really is a city with something for everyone. Respecting that so many of my clients (75%) are coming here from abroad, we have committed to building in a greater amount of meaningful information regarding attractions, restaurants, hotels, shopping venues, specialty shops, etc., and feel quite confident that shortly, simplycondos.com will quickly evolve into a full featured tourism site as well. We own the domain simplytoronto.com and will be launching what we feel confident will be as dynamic a tourism marketing site as simplycondos.com has become to condominium purchasing.

It is our hope to bring the condo community of Toronto together at simplycondos.com (all restaurant, nightlife, shopping, etc., content on simplytoronto.com will appear on simplycondos.com) on a frequent basis to serve as this "niche" market’s electronic dining, shopping, entertainment guide.

Please understand that this all takes time and development which requires considerable resources that, at present, are somewhat stretched keeping up with the hundreds of thousands of "Hits" per month that we receive solely as a real estate practitioner.

Simplycondos.com delivers a substantial viewership within a highly targeted viewing audience (those purchasing, selling or living in a condo, loft or townhome). We know that it is somewhat broader than that but the substantive majority of our viewers fall within a narrowly defined field: "Buyers" and "Renters" of condominiums, lofts and townhomes.

I did find four very nice two-level penthouses in an upscale residential condo in the Eglinton and Bayview area. I have been working with a client to try to find a quality condo residence in the three thousand square feet range. She has looked absolutely everywhere: 33 Delisle, 33 Jackes, The Carlyle, Park Avenue (where I personally purchased) 70 Rosehill, and simply could not find what she was looking for. She is quite specific with respect to location and quality of finishes.

She had given serious consideration to a penthouse in the $1.3 Million range at 33 Delisle but I had purchased it out from under her for another client of mine from Rhiad. Now, having seen the delivered product she is glad that I did buy it out from under her as she is disappointed with the finished product. So much so, in fact that she will not consider Park Avenue where they actually could have the space she is looking for.

33 Jackes, undisputedly one of the best addresses in the city has not seen a unit come up for sale in over three years (my client’s relative lives there and she keeps my client informed regarding any possible sales). The only unit available is 70 Rosehill is only 2,200 square feet.

The challenge presented to me by my client was based on a single level residence due to a hip problem and recent heart surgery and having expired all possible contenders (she even new about Shane Baghai’s proposed development on Jackes) to have these four penthouses present themselves in such a good location was inspiring. The only downside was that they were two levels. The Developer has agreed to install an elevator and once again, lateral thinking prevails!

Realizing the great location and flexibility to build two residences into one 3,400 square foot residence while still coming in at under $1,200,000 (including 2 parking spots and 2 lockers) this project held some serious potential. For anyone looking for a $500,000 two level luxury penthouse contact me right away by email or phone at 416-783-5000. There are two remaining after we complete this and four if we don’t.

Here are the floorplans (FAXED PLANS RECEIVED) that we received from the developers sales agent. We reconstructed these plans (OUR DRAFT) as a preliminary draft to show my client to see if the whole concept of a two level penthouse with an elevator would even be considered. I then met with the developer’s design team who were refreshingly co-operative and attentive. I met with my client and showed her my draft of the plans and we discussed her areas of concern and agreed to proceed to the next step of meeting with the developer’s design team to see if the plan is workable. I’ll update you during next week’s Weekly Walk.