Newmarket welcomes The Davis, its first new condo in decades

Thestar.com
Sept. 13, 2019
Tracy Hanes

When David and Ruth McIntosh move from their Aurora townhouse to a new condo in Newmarket, they won’t have to look far to see familiar faces.

Their neighbours, Leslie and David Amborski, who teaches at Ryerson University, have also purchased a unit at The Davis Residences at Bakerfield just a floor below the McIntoshes.

The 15-storey building by the Rose Corp. marks Newmarket’s first major condo development in more than 30 years. Slated for completion in 2022, the building will be the first phase of a 4.4-acre, master-planned community that will include three condo buildings, a landscaped courtyard and new 20,000-square-foot urban park with playground.

The site formerly housed Nor Baker Inc., a family-run plastics firm founded in 1938. The company created a social committee -- named Bakerfield -- as a successful strategy to create peace between local workers and those who commuted to the firm. The new condo incorporates that name as a nod to the area’s history.

The Amborskis, who have lived in Aurora for over 30 years, also own a summer cottage and Florida condo. “Our current home is a three-storey town manor but with the cottage and the Florida condo, the work has become overwhelming,” says Leslie.

“The McIntoshes are good friends,” says Leslie. “When we first moved into our townhouse, there was a group of us that clicked who were in the initial empty-nest stage and starting to enjoy freedom in life. Recently, I was looking to our next step and forwarded information about different condo developments to some of our neighbours. Unbeknownst to me, Ruth and David bought a unit!”

“We didn’t discuss moving together, but we had discussed moving to a place without stairs and without so much outdoor area,” says Ruth McIntosh, an accountant. “Leslie had forwarded the information about The Davis condos and we went to check it out and bought a unit. They were out of town when we purchased -- then Leslie went to have a look and they bought.”

McIntosh, a retired office administrator. “We also realized that downsizing doesn’t necessarily mean just the square footage of where you live. When we move to The Davis, we won’t have to mow the lawn, trim hedges or shovel the driveway. It will be a lock-and-walk lifestyle.”
The McIntoshs liked the location and the look of The Davis, designed by Toronto’s RAW Design -- as well as the vignettes of kitchens and bathrooms they saw at the sales centre. Toronto’s Patton Design Studio is the interior designer.

“We purchased one of the larger, three-bedroom units,” says Ruth. “Downsizing is tough and we couldn’t see going from 2,200 to an 800-square-foot, two-bedroom unit. We have kids who visit.” Their unit, as well as the suite chosen by their friends the Amborskis, will be about 1,100 square feet.

The Davis Residences is the second Rose Corp. project in Newmarket in the last few years. In the fall of 2017, it completed the first new rental building in the town since the 1980s, and had also built in the area in the early 2000s.

“We have learned a lot about Newmarket,” says David Berholz, president of the Rose Corp. “In the last 20 years, we have seen an incredible evolution and positive growth. There are a lot of exciting things happening. That attracted us to do the apartment building and we wanted to build on that success.”

Berholz discovered that many tenants in the rental building built by his firm would have purchased if they’d had the opportunity; they wanted to live in new, luxury accommodation yet stay in the community.

“For empty nesters, this has the lock-and-leave aspect. And for younger buyers who are living locally with their parents and or young families who want to enter the market, it’s an ownership opportunity,” Berholz says. “There are also a lot of people who work in the area and have been reverse commuting. There are people who moved to other areas and want to return. We’ve also seen a lot of investor buyers from the GTA.”

York Region expects to see over 600,000 new residents, a 63 per cent population increase, during the next 20 years. Newmarket Mayor John Taylor says that the next 10 years will see the area invest 80 per cent of its $6.6 billion capital growth plan in the region’s infrastructure.

In 2018, more than 2,000 jobs were created in Newmarket -- many of those jobs brought to the town, 45 km north of the GTA, by Celestica when the electronics designer and manufacturer moved operations from Toronto.

Increasing home prices have also moved into the area, making single-family-home ownership more difficult. This, combined with a demand for downsizing options, has created a market for condos as an affordable solution.

An added bonus for the Amborskis and McIntoshes is the proximity to Newmarket’s downtown from their new homes.

“Main Street has a lot of little bars and restaurants and it’s walkable from The Davis condo,” says David McIntosh.

“We love downtown Newmarket. It has fun restaurants and good walking with great parks,” adds Leslie Amborski. “We’ll be able to walk there in 20 minutes.”

The couples are also making plans for the amenities -- both suite-based and common areas -- at The Davis: “I loved the look of the building and the floor-to-ceiling windows in the suites,” says Leslie. “Ours will have 585 square feet of outdoor space. We like to sit outdoors and we can still have a full-size table out there.”

“The outdoor terrace on the fifth floor and the dining room associated with it appealed to us and I’m hoping to use the gym,” says Ruth McIntosh.