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Podium has recently promoted two long-standing colleagues as Managing Directors to better clarify our focus on key parts of the business. All four Executive members have been working together for over 10 years, and see this as an important milestone in Podium’s growth to the future.
Christian Huggett will become Managing Director, Head of Development.
James Wilkinson will become Managing Director, Head of Construction.
Unity Point and Unity Place, Kingston ON
We are happy to announce that Unity Point and Unity Place have won the Award of Merit in the 2023 Livable City Design Awards in the City of Kingston. https://kingstonherald.com/release/livable-city-design-winners
The development of Unity Point and Unity Place at 333 University Avenue and 495 Princess Street stemmed from a visionary idea of reimagining the connection between Queen's University and Downtown Kingston. The project aimed to redefine the entrance to the University on two facing underdeveloped and assembled infill sites while addressing the chronic shortage of quality student housing options in the area. Notably, the individual partners of Unity Point and Unity Place collaboratively merged both land ownership and capital partners, an initiative that sought to coalesce the two prominent Princess Street sites into a cohesive vision, coordinating overall built form, height, massing, architecture, land uses, amenities, street relationships, as well as a comprehensive leasing strategy and management team. The outcome is that the whole is better than the sum of its parts: two striking complementary 11-storey buildings now standing as a pivotal landmark at a crucial gateway intersection, showcasing the fruition of a vision that has been in development since 2013.
Congratulations to the Podium team and all involved in the project!
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Design Team: Teeple Architects, Fotenn Planning + Design, Forefront, Sharma & Partners, IBI Group/Arcadis, RJC Engineers, LardenCODE, Jain, National Elevator, XCG, Exp, Tusch, RWDI
On September 27, 2023, Podium welcomed City of Kingston Mayor Bryan Paterson and Councillor Vincent Cinanni, along with project partners Secure Capital Partners Inc., Blue Vista Capital Management, Vestcor, and OPTrust, to the cornerstone laying ceremony for our new rental building at 485 Albert Street, Kingston.
This Fitwel Certification System 2-star certified, CAGBC | Canada Green Building Council Zero Carbon Designed multi-family building features 176 fully furnished residential units and 1,615 square feet of at-grade retail.
485 Albert is the 2nd phase of our GEO community, and when delivered, GEO will add 520 units to the Kingston rental housing market.
Architecture: ENFORM Architects Inc in association with Lemay, Interior Design: Lemay, Building Science & Sustainability: ENFORM Architects Inc, Mechanical, Electrical, Building Energy Modelling: Introba, Civil: Forefront Engineering Ltd, Planning: Fotenn Planning + Design, Environmental + Geotechnical: Paterson Group Inc., Structure: RJC Engineers, Heritage: Stevens Burgess Architects Ltd.
#development #realestate #fitwel #zerocarbon #sustainability #kingston #construction
Podium continues its commitment to high-performance and net-zero rental mixed-use housing across Southern Ontario.
We’re happy to announce that 15,000sf of ground floor retail spaces are fully leased at Unity Point and Unity Place, including nine tenants: SpinCo, Kinton Ramen, Insomnia Cookies, Starbucks, Marble Slab, Guac Mexi Grill, Chatime and Meltwich.
GEO is arriving in 2024; reach out to Salthill Capital for information on the six at-grade retail spaces ranging from 1,100sf to 2,200sf available for lease, located immediately beside 550 new residential units.
Podium Developments, along with 11 other significant City builders, was recently asked to suggest bold ways to address Mayor Chow’s urgent plan to deliver 25,000 new rental homes. See our thinking here.
Mayor Chow: 12 visionary voices offer tips to fulfill your quest for 25,000 rental homes in Toronto.
Smart Density recently shared the Vienna housing model; an aspirational housing structure that produces quality, affordability and desirable rental housing. Podium’s Vice President, Development Christian Huggett provided some context on how quality rental housing in Toronto helps provide stability, lifestyle and community building.
TORONTO, ONTARIO – Podium Developments is honoured to announce that it has been recognized as one of Canada’s Top 100 Employers for 2023 in the Category of Small and Medium Sized Employers. The award is a testament to the company’s commitment to creating a positive work environment and great culture while offering an exceptional workplace.
The Top Employer award is based on a comprehensive assessment of the company's workplace, including Work Atmosphere and Social, Health, Financial and Family Benefits, Paid Time Off, Employee Communications, Performance Management, Training and Skills Development, and Community Involvement. The assessment is conducted by a third-party organization that evaluates many small and medium enterprises (SMEs) country-wide, and rewards those that offer the nation's best workplaces and forward-thinking human resources policies.
"We are thrilled to be recognized as a Top Employer," said Christian Huggett, Vice-President, Development. "Podium employees are our greatest asset, and Podium is committed to providing them with a supportive and engaging workplace that fosters their growth, development, and well-being. This award is a testament to our commitment to our employees and culture, recognizing it as a challenging, fun and enriching place to work."
About Podium Developments:
Podium’s Purpose is to create outstanding rental communities in Ontario focused on resident well-being. Founded in 2004, Podium has a successful track record of developing, constructing, and asset managing award-winning multifamily buildings in Ontario. As a vertically integrated company, we benefit from the collaboration of industry professionals working together to find the sweet spots for quality, efficiency, and improvement. Our team is composed of diverse individuals who each have excelled in their disciplines and have banded together to chase one objective, developing, building and managing exceptional buildings and communities. Like a true integrated team, we share our successes, as well as our lessons learned through the process. We know from experience that the best solution often comes from collaboration and creativity. This method has allowed us to bring complex new residential communities to fruition, and maximizes value for our stakeholders.
Scarborough ON - In the Morningside community of Scarborough, an ongoing Podium Developments project has recently been granted approval on a new building application that will permit the construction of a 26-storey rental apartment tower located near the U of T Scarborough campus. With plans for a project on this site dating as far back as 2014, finding the right developer to move construction forward here has been a long time coming.
Rendering of complete 6-storey design for 600 Princess, courtesy of Lemay
Kingston ON - While cutting edge design and building strategies are often perceived as practices that emerge and proliferate in the GTA — the central hub of development in Ontario — before spreading to the municipalities beyond, a unique proposal has just surfaced in Kingston, that hopes to become the first of its kind in the city.
The project, known for its address on Kingston's main street at 600 Princess, proposes the construction of a 6-storey, mixed-use development containing 176 new dwelling units, as well as retail at grade. Importantly, the building would become the first net-zero emissions residential development in Kingston, embracing sustainable design practices to deliver a building that would represent a viable model for future green development.
Oshawa, ON - The 2022 City of Oshawa Urban Design Awards were recently awarded and we are pleased to share that Podium Developments has received an “Award of Excellence” for the University Towns project at 1800 Simcoe St North in Oshawa. University Towns joins the Taylorwood as Podium’s second City of Oshawa Urban Design Award.
University Towns is a mixed-use development, encompassing multiple buildings, 170 units, 6,000sf of commercial and amenities over a 3.0 acre site. Formerly a parking lot serving Ontario Tech University and Durham College, University Towns combined stacked condominium townhouse units as well as a four-storey apartment building to augment the redevelopment of the Simcoe Street North corridor near the post-secondary schools, providing complimentary urban life and housing nearby. Itis an honour to contribute to the City of Oshawa and provide innovative, much needed housing for their students and young professionals.
Whitby, ON - The winners of the Durham Environmental Advisory Committee’s (DEAC) 2021 Environmental Achievement Awards were recognized last night, during a special virtual ceremony.
Podium Developments and Building Capital (Ironwood Community) were presented the
Eric Krause Innovation Award for the sustainable restoration of an 11-acre site and the incorporation of natural features into a low-density residential development. This award celebrates forward-thinking and innovative efforts to encourage positive change through plans, policies, or initiatives related to enhancing the natural environment.
KINGSTON - A cornerstone laying ceremony was held this week for Kingston’s first large scale geothermal residential building, the Geo. The stone was laid by City of Kingston Mayor, Bryan Paterson. The residential building is also the first in Kingston designed to Fitwel Certification status, promoting best-in-class occupant health and wellness.
TORONTO - Congratulations to Christian Petersen, Podium Developments, NAIOP Greater Toronto chapter, a recipient of the NAIOP and Prologis Inclusion in CRE Scholarship! The program is designed to prepare a pipeline of women and minorities for development and operations positions in commercial real estate by connecting them with mentors and advancing their industry knowledge.
KINGSTON - Podium Developments has just announced the completion of geothermal drilling on its newest Kingston development at 575 Princess Street. The development will be the first large multifamily residential building in Kingston to utilize a geothermal energy source, lowering the building’s carbon footprint, increasing energy efficiency, and further advancing the City’s commitment to sustainability.
““We had a theory that the best sites had the best natural features built into them,” said Huggett. “Here, the existing circumstance was so great we thought we would just try and enhance it.””
KINGSTON - Residents in Kingston will soon have access to over 200 new high-quality rental apartments. With the official launch of its residential leasing program this past Monday, Unity Point’s first phase of leasing has already sold out in a matter of days.
OSHAWA - An Oshawa development has had a significant positive impact on the environment before construction even begins on the project itself.
The due diligence for the site involved temporarily diverting Oshawa Creek and removing concrete fragments, asphalt, large segments of interlocking steel sheet piles, and aluminum culverts from the creek and the surrounding land this past summer.
“We had to do it in a very careful and limited window because of salmon spawning and some other sensitivities around the diversion of the creek,” Podium vice-president Christian Huggett told Sustainable Biz.
OSHAWA - Ironwood in North Oshawa, Durham Region’s 2020 Community of the Year, is surrounded by hundreds of acres of protected conservation land, forests and parks, and is bisected by a section of Oshawa Creek.
This intimate connection with nature required Podium Developments and Building Capital to interact with the Central Lake Ontario Conservation Authority (CLOCA) to ensure that the new community of freehold townhomes would be developed with respect for the environment. The due diligence process included the developers cleaning up the remnants of the past uses of the property. In accordance with the approved site plan, the developers have also conveyed 3.5 acres of ravine land to the City of Oshawa.
KINGSTON – Podium Development Corp., Secure Capital Partners Inc., and Blue Vista Capital Management LLC recently held a virtual cornerstone ceremony for Unity Place, their newest project and second of three highly anticipated purpose-built rental buildings which will deliver almost 200 residential apartments to Ontario’s lowest rate vacancy municipality – Kingston. Podium Developments Managing Director, Bernard Luttmer, and City of Kingston Mayor, Bryan Paterson, were the only ones in attendance for the ceremony due to circumstances surrounding COVID-19.
