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Featuring soaring 21-foot ceilings, a mezzanine that feels like a
true second floor, floor to ceiling warehouse style windows, two
south facing terraces, two full bathrooms – this pad has James Bond
written all over it. At 1,424 square feet, Fatah definitely had room
to flex his design muscles. The first thing he decided to do was
drop a Versailles-sized, gleaming black glass chandelier from the
altitudinous ceiling. Seriously. When this man dresses to impress,
it doesn’t stop at mere shoulder pads. The drama of the stark black
glass against a towering, textured Baroque ivory and vanilla wall
treatment creates the key signatures in the decadent dining room.
In choosing a dining room set, Fatah went for a
Valentino-Meets-Gothic Cowboy kind of thing, and to great effect I
might add. Heavy black empire chairs get the royal treatment with
sumptuous fabric and silver rodeo studs. And, if conversation ever
flags around that big dining table, the two storey panoramic views
provide endless talking points. “It’s a different energy when you
wake up and you see water and the skyline,” Fatah elaborates. “It
just opens your mind.”
Fatah designed the space to be functional and purposeful without
needless embellishment. His main attraction to modern and minimalist
décor? Large, spare spaces lend themselves to entertaining – an
activity that lies at the heart of the bachelor lifestyle. Guests to
his home no doubt enjoy the HDTV, as Fatah invested in that most
ubiquitous electronic accoutrements of bachelorhood: the flat screen
plasma television. Although Fatah’s looks gigantic to me, rivaling
the size of an exit sign on the Gardiner Expressway.
Nowadays, fashionable bachelors invest in the same consumer culture
that has historically been the mainstay of women. Men cultivate
their homes and spending money on them in ways that only women used
to. From the way they customize floor plans to the way they
accessorize, their choices reveal a lot about their ideals of
masculinity.
With the Broadview Lofts, The Sorbara Group caters to the
architecturally educated consumer, those who desire just the right
balance of history and modernity. Heritage savvy buyers won over by
tongue & groove wood ceilings were equally wowed by the gorgeous
exposed brick walls. The builder retained much of the building’s
original structure and materials, an approach that appealed to
Fatah. Active in real estate development, investment and management,
The Sorbara Group has been involved in the GTA’s most successful
residential communities including The Village of Brooklin, Sherwood
Village, Britannia Meadows and Bankside in Mississauga, as well as
Tanglewood in Oakville. No stranger to Toronto’s east side, the
company’s landmark Corktown project, the Brewery Loft on Sumach
Street, is now regarded as a Toronto classic.
Collectively, The Broadview Lofts community enjoys a beautifully
landscaped central square, underground parking, a party room and
roof deck patio. The builders also engaged the contemporary palate
with their penthouses, adding two floors of brand new lofts to their
original, turn-of-the-century Rexall drug warehouse, for those like
Fatah, who yearn for a truly contemporary space.
Loft living is all about the city and its myriad sights and sounds –
endless choices and possibilities. Fatah loves that his loft is
actually part of three vibrant neighbourhoods: Queen & Broadview,
Leslieville and The Studio District. Each nurturing its own vibrant
and unique character. Hip cafés and restaurants. Funky shopping
everywhere you turn, all within walking distance. Not to mention the
close proximity to Queen Street and Toronto’s major artery, the Don
Valley Parkway.
A bachelor pad is a cultural icon. It has earned mythic status. And
it has essential ingredients. The quintessential pad is masculine,
minimalist and, in the best-case scenario, cleaned by a maid. There
is leather, hard exotic wood and fine wine. The views are befitting
of a emerging master of the universe, but one touch remote can kill
the lights, lower the shades and turn on the David Bowie before a
girl knows what hit her.
So is there a downside to living so high? When I ask the question,
Fatah stifles a simultaneous laugh and a blush. “You wouldn’t think
so, but there is,” he confides. “Girls seem to get really attached
to the idea of not necessarily leaving. I brought a girl back here
once who, as soon as she walked in the door asked, ‘So when am I
moving in?’” Indeed, this may seem like the Hollywood version of a
bachelor pad, but it’s just a little place he likes to call home.
THE BROADVIEW LOFTS: 68 Broadview Ave., on the northwest corner of
Broadview and Eastern Ave.
Builder: The Sorbara Group. A six-storey building. The first five
storeys will be a restored brick warehouse. A new five-storey
extension will have a facade of steel and glass.
Amenities: rooftop patio and large party/media room.
www.broadviewlofts.com
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