Experiences with Battistella developments?

[XylathaneGTR]

Howdy Y'all,

So...the time has come for me to leave the nest. I've been looking around the north side of downtown and surrounding areas with the intent to purchase, rather than rent.

Battistella has a development in Kensington that I've been looking at, and I'm just curious about peoples experiences with their other buildings and them as a whole.

I found a few other threads dating from a couple of years ago and it was mentioned that not everyone cared for the concrete floors or the exterior designs. Does anyone else have any other, long term experience living in one of their buildings and how has it been? Have your cabinets fallen apart? Do the floor to ceiling windows mean you're in a deep-freeze all winter? Would you purchase with them again, or can you not wait to get the hell out of there?

Thanks, I'd really apprecaite any feedback.

-D

[eblend]

I rented at the Chocolate building for 2 years, and overall it wasn't so bad. The floors became cracked and the building always felt like it had so much freaking dust (in the suite and walking down the stairs for example) but overall, the whole time we were there we didn't experience anything odd. One thing to note was that due to the big windows (floor to sealing), during extreme cold the ice would build up on the aluminum framing of the window, and when it melted it would all melt onto the wooden/drywall area right below the window, causing all the paint to bubble up ect. Overall my renting experience wasn't bad, but owning may be a whole other beast.

If your appartment has these weird particle board stained countertops...don't use any harsh chemicals on it....learned that the hard way...took all the stain right off.

[HyperZell]

Originally posted by XylathaneGTR
Howdy Y'all,

So...the time has come for me to leave the nest. I've been looking around the north side of downtown and surrounding areas with the intent to purchase, rather than rent.

Battistella has a development in Kensington that I've been looking at, and I'm just curious about peoples experiences with their other buildings and them as a whole.

I found a few other threads dating from a couple of years ago and it was mentioned that not everyone cared for the concrete floors or the exterior designs. Does anyone else have any other, long term experience living in one of their buildings and how has it been? Have your cabinets fallen apart? Do the floor to ceiling windows mean you're in a deep-freeze all winter? Would you purchase with them again, or can you not wait to get the hell out of there?

Thanks, I'd really apprecaite any feedback.

-D

You're looking at Pixel, right? I dunno, the place seems a bit overpriced, but I looked at it late last year, so things might've changed.

[EK 2.0]

Chocolate had it drawbacks....a few were mentioned already by eblend. That being said...the floor issues were hit or miss...some apartments had it worse than others...but the polished floors were definitely a selling point for me.

In the Colours building though things were quite improved from what i saw first hand from friends who had rented and purchased there....I cannot comment on anything newer than that....

Dealing with Batistella as a company though was great. I never had any major delays in getting anything addressed....outside of factors that were beyond anyone's control...

[XylathaneGTR]

Originally posted by HyperZell


You're looking at Pixel, right? I dunno, the place seems a bit overpriced, but I looked at it late last year, so things might've changed.

Yup.
I like the area and it will allow me to walk to work, or at least easily walk to a train station rather than drive.

I agree, it's fucking expensive...but it seems like everything is right now. i.e. 900 sqft 2 bedroom in the east village in a yet to be constructed building? 460k + tax.
Shit...even University City is going for 340k loaded...at 600sqft.

Thanks for the comments so far, everyone.

[Eleanor]

^ there are a lot of more reasonably priced inner city places than pixel. Plus Pixel's damn near sold out, isn't it?

Are you set on Kensington? The Guardian in the east village is really good bang for the buck, 6th & Tenth and Mark on 10th are other options as well.

And of course there are still some units in Calla by the Lougheed House IIRC.

Alura's another option, but I haven't heard the greatest things about Cove Properties

[XylathaneGTR]

Originally posted by Eleanor
^ there are a lot of more reasonably priced inner city places than pixel. Plus Pixel's damn near sold out, isn't it?

Are you set on Kensington? The Guardian in the east village is really good bang for the buck, 6th & Tenth and Mark on 10th are other options as well.

And of course there are still some units in Calla by the Lougheed House IIRC.

Alura's another option, but I haven't heard the greatest things about Cove Properties

Pixel isn't quite sold out yet, there's still a few units left with what I'm interested in.

I'm not Completely set on Kensington...but I really do like it. I've looked at a few newer East Village developments (Evolution, FIRST) and I really do like Evolution, but i'm looking at a hair under 500k after taxes and two years out for what I'm interested in. I will look into the Guardian and the other 10th street developments.

I dropped by Calla last weekend and they're pretty close to sellout. They did have a unit that would work for me, but I'm not thrilled on the location. I'm a bit further from a transit line and I don't care as much for the neighboorhood. Cost wise, it came in about 30 or 40k above Pixel (before taxes), but that did include a larger space and I did prefer some of the finishings to Pixel. I think at that price point, I'd just prefer to wait a year and live in Evolution in the EV and be like, three blocks from work and right next to transit and hobos.

I appreciate the info about the other properties, Mike...I'll definitely look into them.

[borN]

I've been looking at the market for quite a while now, and Pixel is definitely on the higher end of pricing. If you value being in Kensington and the train station that much, then maybe you'd be able to justify it. But on a $/square ft basis, I couldn't.

6th and 10th is actually very pricey. If I recall correctly, they don't price parking into their unit price.

My opinion - East Village is such a gong show. Sure, it'll be nice in a decade, but the amount of construction in that time frame will be huge. Tons of noise, dust, cleaning, etc. While the units in Evo were nice, they seemed overprice to me especially considering the short term downside of developing a whole community.

I was personally looking at the Park in Victoria Park, Uno in Mount Royal, Next in Bridgeland, and Union Square (depending on availability). The Park/Union Square is pretty up there in terms of pricing, but the location can't be beat (vic park to me is the best area to live).

Honestly though, if you want to get a good unit with a great view, you're going to have to look at what's coming into development in the next 5 years. Things that are just coming into the marketing stage that people haven't really heard about yet. Developments sell pretty quick nowadays (ex. The Guardian), so I'd spend a lot of time googling and talking with your realtor to see what's being planned around the inner-city.

[mr2mike]

Probably expensive because to my unaided eye, they ran into issues after they excavated. River water was pouring into the hole and they had to modify their original plans. The amount of work they did on that floor was crazy.
I watched this go on for about a month, every day as I walked by. I should have snapped some pics of the amount of rebar they were throwing down there and the concrete testing they were doing.


Price list for everyone to see:
http://www.pixelcondos.ca/uploads/Pr...PriceSheet.pdf

[Boat]

Originally posted by Eleanor


Alura's another option, but I haven't heard the greatest things about Cove Properties

What have you heard on Cove properties?

I've been eyeing Alura.

[HyperZell]

Originally posted by Boat


What have you heard on Cove properties?

I've been eyeing Alura.

They got screwed by the market on Nuera.

[852VR6]

I have a friend that works for Battistella developments, PM me if you are interested if you want me to refer you to her