![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.livabl.com\/articles\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/Canada\u2019s-first-all-women-development-team-on-designing-an-inclusive-condo-3-compressed.jpg\")
<\/a>Photo:\u00a0Riley Stewart Photography<\/em><\/a> (From left to right: Jane Almey (Bluescape Construction); Heather Rolleston (Quadrangle); Nataliya Tkach (EXP); Emily Reisman (Urban Strategies); Sherry Larjani (Spotlight Development); Taya Cook (Urban Capital); Stacy Meek (EXP); Fatima Shakil (Adjeleian Allen Rubeli); Tara Chisholm (WSP Group); Fung Lee (PMA Landscape Architects); Lisa Spensieri (Quadrangle); and, ManLing Lau (MarketVision Research).\u00a0<\/i><\/p>\nReina will be an eight-storey condominium with around 200 units, ranging from one to three bedrooms. Ironically, the condo will be built upon Etobicoke\u2019s now-demolished House of Lancaster \u2014 a former strip club. \u201cIt\u2019s a funny coincidence,\u201d says Larjani. \u201cWe picked the site because of the area and it happens to be on the old House of Lancaster.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cEtobicoke has a lot of young families looking for good homes,\u201d says Cook. \u201cThere are beautiful tree lined streets, a great residential feel, there\u2019s a school right across from the site, lots of mom- and pop-type shops. And it\u2019s close to the highway, airport and downtown Toronto.\u201d<\/p>\n
The team behind Reina will be doing things a little differently: They\u2019re actively seeking feedback to inform the development and design.<\/p>\n \u201cWe need to hear from people who actually live in the condos \u2014 whether they\u2019re men or women,\u201d says Larjani. \u201cIt\u2019s a different way of doing design and development by listening to people\u2019s concerns and trying to address as many of them as we possibly can.\u201d<\/p>\n In Cook\u2019s experience, she\u2019s found women to be naturally collaborative and they’re using that strength to their advantage. \u201cWe like to talk to each other and we like to hear each other’s opinions. It seemed like a very natural way to run this project to really take time for feedback before we go to market.\u201d<\/p>\n Along with having a consultation questionnaire<\/a> on their website, Cook and Larjani hosted an event on July 10th bringing together residents and industry experts to brainstorm what they want to see incorporated into the future development.<\/p>\n \u201cOne of the things that stood out to me was that it was so collaborative,\u201d says Despina Zanganas, a Toronto-based realtor, who attended the event. \u201cThey were actually looking for feedback. You really don\u2019t get that from any other developer. It was a gigantic brainstorming session.\u201d<\/p>\n While the project will be executed by women, the project will be for everyone. By taking an inclusive approach, the condominium will better serve single owners, parents, extended family, children and our communities at large.<\/p>\n The brainstorming session generated 650 ideas and the top concerns will set the precedent for how they approach the architectural drawings, floorplans, amenities spaces, security features, storage and more.<\/p>\n Making condos more safe and secure for all residents<\/p>\n As a realtor who specializes in working with women, Zanganas can attest that security features are top-of-mind for her clients. \u201cOne of the ideas I shared at the event was to avoid zig-zagging corridors in condos,\u201d she says. \u201cYou don\u2019t know what\u2019s around the corner. When it\u2019s a straight line, you feel more comfortable.\u201d<\/p>\n Many women are so used to that unpleasant gut feeling turning a blind corner, it often doesn\u2019t get vocalized. \u201cIt\u2019s something I wouldn\u2019t have necessarily thought of before when I was looking at plans and designing a building with architects.\u201d Thanks to this feedback, it\u2019s now top of mind. \u201cIt\u2019s those nuances that we lose when we don\u2019t have these conversations,\u201d says Cook.<\/p>\n Big and small advancements can bring an added level of security to a building \u2014 like using a keycard to get into your unit instead of keys, staffing the concierge desk with two people instead of one, and ensuring back staircases and underground garages are well-lit.<\/p>\n The group brainstormed creative ways to make smaller spaces more functional for families through creative layout solutions and maximizing amenity spaces to serve as an extension of personal living spaces.<\/p>\n Take storage, for instance: Why is there never a place to put a stroller? \u201cWe think it\u2019s a must and should be accommodated on every floor,\u201d says Larjani<\/p>\n \u201cAdding stroller parking seems to be common sense, but it\u2019s not being done,\u201d says Cook. \u201cWe\u2019re trying to look for other opportunities like that \u2014 taking the time to ask those questions and fix those obvious pain points.\u201d<\/p>\n Zanganas explains that for one of her clients, it was really important to have a separate playroom when they were house hunting. \u201cWhen you\u2019re a single woman, you don\u2019t want to have to pick everything up every time the child goes to bed. You want to have a separate space that\u2019s just for the kids. And that space can be converted into a place for a parent or friend who is babysitting to sleep.\u201d<\/p>\n Extra rooms aren\u2019t always easy to come by in condos, so the group came up with the idea of installing movable walls inside the units and prioritizing children\u2019s play areas in the amenity spaces \u2014 like a soundproofed amenity room for kids to practice music, or a secure play area in the exercise room.<\/p>\n They also looked at adding extra soundproofing within the units, so parents can watch TV without waking their kids up.<\/p>\n The condo will feature around 5,000 square feet of indoor amenities and around 6,000 square feet of communal outdoor courtyard space with the goal of fostering community. They also want the building to feel welcoming for residents and their guests \u2014 like having a communal kitchen so families can host large gatherings.<\/p>\n \u201cNot everybody, but most people want to feel a sense of community where they live,\u201d says Cook. \u201cYou want to meet your neighbors, for the most part. You don’t want to feel like it\u2019s you by yourself in this building,\u201d says Cook.<\/p>\n They also want to make it easier for condo dwellers to show off their place and host events, recreating the feeling of showing up to a friends brick-and-mortar house, without compromising security.<\/p>\n \u201cSome buildings can feel like you\u2019re entering a prison with a thousand different ways to fob in and hallways that aren\u2019t properly marked,\u201d says Cook.<\/p>\n The team plans to go to market early next year. In the meantime, they\u2019ll continue to gather input as they transform the site of a former strip club into an inclusive living space that serves not just women, but everyone.<\/p>\n Meet the ‘queens’ behind Toronto’s first all-women real estate development team. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":38,"featured_media":194672,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"content-type":"","apple_news_api_created_at":"","apple_news_api_id":"","apple_news_api_modified_at":"","apple_news_api_revision":"","apple_news_api_share_url":"","apple_news_coverimage":0,"apple_news_coverimage_caption":"","apple_news_is_hidden":false,"apple_news_is_paid":false,"apple_news_is_preview":false,"apple_news_is_sponsored":false,"apple_news_maturity_rating":"","apple_news_metadata":"\"\"","apple_news_pullquote":"","apple_news_pullquote_position":"middle","apple_news_slug":"","apple_news_sections":["https:\/\/u48r14.digitalhub.com\/sections\/09b86915-7d2b-3acd-915b-b215002d01b7"],"apple_news_suppress_video_url":false,"apple_news_use_image_component":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[11108],"tags":[11163,11139,11070],"coauthors":[10245],"apple_news_notices":[],"yoast_head":"\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.livabl.com\/articles\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/Canada\u2019s-first-all-women-development-team-on-designing-an-inclusive-condo-5.jpg\")
<\/a>Photo: Eventgraphers<\/a><\/em><\/p>\nCollaboration is key<\/h2>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.livabl.com\/articles\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/Canada\u2019s-first-all-women-development-team-on-designing-an-inclusive-condo-4.jpg\")
<\/a>Photo: Eventgraphers<\/a><\/em><\/p>\nWhat women (and men) want<\/h2>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.livabl.com\/articles\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/Canada\u2019s-first-all-women-development-team-on-designing-an-inclusive-condo.jpg\")
<\/a>Photo:\u00a0The Honest Company<\/a>\u00a0on\u00a0Unsplash<\/a><\/em><\/p>\nMaximizing functionality in smaller spaces for families<\/h2>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.livabl.com\/articles\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/Canada\u2019s-first-all-women-development-team-on-designing-an-inclusive-condo-2.png\")
<\/a>Taya Cook and Sherry Larjani. Photo:\u00a0Riley Stewart Photography<\/a><\/em><\/p>\nMaking the condo experience feel more communal<\/h2>\n