Brandon Donnelly — Daily insights for city builders. Published since 2013 by Toronto-based real estate developer Brandon Donnelly. — Page 1499

If you only watch one video on the internet today, then I suggest you watch this one called Paris in Motion (Part 2). It was created by Paris-based photographer Mayeul Akpovi and it’s a beautiful time-lapse rendition of the City of Light. If you can’t see the video below, click here . Make sure you fullscreen it and turn your speakers on.

//player.vimeo.com/video/50467187

The video really does a great job of capturing the energy of the city. I think cities should consider commissioning videos like this in order to market themselves. If you enjoyed it, I recommend also checking out Part 4 of Paris in Motion .

Thanks to the Urbanophile for sharing this video series. That’s how I found out about it.

I live in a condominium in the St. Lawrence Market neighborhood of Toronto. And recently, I’ve had a number of “empty nesters” ask me if they could come check out my condo and get a feel for what it’s like to live in a downtown neighborhood like the Market.

And they’re asking because they’re contemplating something that has become quite common for folks whose kids have left the roost. They’re considering, for a number of reasons, selling their suburban home and right-sizing to a downtown condominium.

Whether it’s because they want to free themselves of cutting grass and shoveling snow, they don’t like stairs anymore, they want to be able to lock the door and head to Florida for the winter, or they want an amenity rich urban lifestyle, the uptake on condos has been significant both in Toronto and other cities around the world.

Indeed, the condo market has become great at serving “both ends” of the market: first time buyers/young professionals and empty nesters. But what I wonder is if we might be at a tipping point with respect to the middle segment of the market: families.

The average new construction low-rise home in the Greater Toronto Area is roughly $650,000 right now. But this would be more for houses in the center of the city. There, you’re probably looking at anywhere from $650,000 to $1 million for a “typical” 3 bedroom Toronto house.

By comparison, a new condominium might average somewhere between $550 and $600 per square foot in the city. So for a 3 bedroom condo at, say, 1,300 square feet, you’d be looking at somewhere between $715,000 and $780,000. Add in parking and you’re somewhere between the mid $700,000’s and just over $800,000.

In all cases, we’re talking a lot of money. But the point I’m trying to make is that condominiums and houses are becoming cost competitive. There are obviously differences between both housing types, but if your goal is a 3 bedroom place to raise a family, that utility could be met in both cases.

There may still be psychological/societal barriers to raising kids in a condo, but I wonder if we might be close to a tipping point now that the economics are starting to line up. What do you all think?

I’ve been talking with my good friend Alex Feldman for a few months now about him doing a guest post on Architect This City . Alex and I went to Penn together and he’s now VP at a real estate advisory firm called U3 Advisors . The firm is based in Philadelphia, but they do work in many other cities including Detroit. I hope you enjoy his post. Happy Monday everyone.

Guest post by Alex Feldman

Two weeks ago, I had the privilege of traveling to Medellin, Colombia to attend the World Urban Forum – a non-legislative UN Habitat led gathering that is widely regarded as the premier conference on Cities. Over 10,000 people attended the bi-annual gathering, which felt like a cross between a World’s Fair, a Trade-Show, and a political summit. While the conference proved to be a melting pot of topics, ideas, and people, I came away from my 3 days in Colombia more captivated by the city itself.

For those of you familiar with Medellin, you may be aware of its infamous past as the center of Pablo Escobar’s drug cartel. The city was once considered one of the most dangerous in the world with 6,300 homicides in 1991. Escobar was killed in 1993 and the city has been dramatically transformed over the last 20 years. Today, Medellin is much safer, very clean, and incredibly friendly (as someone who speaks very little Spanish, I met complete strangers who went out of their way to help me get around the city).

Medellin’s resilience has not gone unnoticed and the city has been recognized as one of the most innovative in the world. Part of Medellin’s transformation has been its focus on inclusion and equitable development. I spent Sunday traveling on the city’s modern Metro system to visit Santo Domingo – a hillside neighborhood that was once the center of Escobar’s drug cartel. The steep topography of the neighborhood makes it difficult for cars or buses to reach the low-income residents – and requires a long walk up-hill for anyone returning from a long day of work or school in the central city. As part of Medellin’s Social Urbanism platform , a public-private partnership constructed Line K of the Medellin Metro – a 1.8km gondola or Metrocable that provides seamless connections to the city’s Metro.

I rode the Metrocable to the top of the hill - the Santo Domingo stop. I was worried that the ride up the hill would feel like a tourist attraction, with hundreds of visitors staring down at the low-income neighborhoods below. Instead, the Metrocable proved to be both a useful public transport system and a point of pride for local residents – offering some of the best views in the city from the compact, glass enclosed cars. 

At Santo Domingo, I wandered through a vibrant street fair to the Biblioteca Espana – a modern library designed by Colombian Architect Giancarlo Mazzanti that represents another aspect of urbanismo social: placing the city’s “most beautiful buildings” in the city’s poorest areas – a declaration of former Mayor Segio Fajardo. Despite the fact that the building’s exterior is temporarily covered in scaffolding due to leaks, it represents a significant investment in a neighborhood that was once the most dangerous in the city.

On the ride back down the mountain, I couldn’t help but reflect on how a city could be transformed in such a short period of time. The lessons of Medellin’s urban makeover are relevant to many cities (including my hometown of Philadelphia which despite a recent transformation still suffers from a poor global reputation ). Visionary leadership, innovative transportation models, and progressive urbanism have re-made Medellin’s reputation. In turn, this has benefited Medellin’s citizens both in quality of life and local pride. When citizens begin to love their city again, the ripple effect can be exponential. More cities should take-note of this Latin American comeback kid.