Last week, Marie Fiorellino received a call from the port authorities in Halifax — the shipping container she was expecting from Italy had landed at last.
Now the crate is bound for Toronto, where its contents will spill out like so much treasure, destined to furnish some of the city's most sparkling new condos and boutiques.
With Toronto condo towers rising so rapidly, developers are seeking new ways to make sensory and emotional connections with buyers. Some are adding cachet through ties with European luxury design houses. Many are hiring star architects.
The contents of Ms. Fiorellino's crate include Fendi Casa sofas, side tables, bed linens, and crystal lamps. As the distributor for Fendi's home line in Canada, Ms. Fiorellino will sell the furniture and accessories to condo purchasers at the NXT tower slated to rise above Lake Shore Boulevard West.
At the NXT model suite, Tangerine orange and icy blue furnishings covered in graphic Fs are already being used to attract pushed-up noses to the showroom windows, and condo buyers will be able to buy the line at a boutique in the building. The common areas will also be furnished by Fendi Casa.
"Affordable luxury is something that people look for. You can buy a condo anywhere," says Maria Athanasoulis, vice-president of marketing and sales for Cresford Developments, which is building NXT.
"The market is very competitive," she says. "It's forcing developers to compete or perish."
Cresford is fine-tuning a strategy the company has used before: At 33 Charles St. East, the developer brought Giorgio Armani's style to Toronto condos with Armani Casa.
The prices ranging between $180,000 and $500,000 at NXT and NXT2 are aimed at young professionals and first-time buyers. The penthouses haven't been priced yet.
"When people have visitors over, they want to set a certain tone," says Ms. Athanasoulis. "The lobby is important. Their amenity rooms, the pool — everything is a reflection."
This status by association has powered brands such as Fendi, Louis Vuitton, Chanel, Prada and Tiffany for years.
At the intersection of Bay St. and Davenport, Paolo Palamera admits to being obsessed with design: The Italy-trained architect is drawing the moneyed empty-nesters of Rosedale and Forest Hill to his Florian tower with terraces stretching 35 feet, gleaming expanses of white marble, and everyday conveniences such as shower systems prewired for uploading MP3 files.
Mr. Palamera, co-president of Diamante Development Corp., brought in David Pontarini of Hariri Pontarini Architects to design the building and interior designer Brian Gluckstein to kit out the model suite and common areas.
Mr. Palamera says potential buyers are demanding good design — "from the quality of glass you use all the way down to the stools in the common area".
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"The customers are very, very educated these days", says Mr. Palamera. "They are very precise with their questioning, from the technical point of view to services."
The condominiums at the Florian have sold out in the $600,000 to $700,000 range. The remaining units will sell for $1-million to $8-million, depending on the final configuration of the penthouses.
Construction is scheduled to begin in May, 2008, with owners moving in about 18 months later.
Many of the buyers are downsizing but that doesn't mean they want to trade down in quality.
"Most of these people have come from homes. They want it to feel like a home."
So customers want to know, for example, if the kitchen cabinets are made from three-quarter-inch plywood or particleboard.
They ask about the amenities and the sound-proofing.
Mr. Palamera is so hands-on that he mixed the stain for the espresso-coloured herringbone floors in the model suite himself.
"You will never see these floors again anywhere in the world. I developed this myself so I'm the only one who knows the colour," he says.
