Mississauga Condos at Square One

Mississauga Condos Square One

Mississauga condos at Square One comprise one of the largest suburban condominium housing stocks of any city in North America. The City of Mississauga is Toronto's western suburb, and on its own is Canada's 6th largest city, with a current population of about 730,000. In recent years the city centre area of Mississauga has seen an explosion in growth of high rise condominiums. This growth, which is focused around the Square One Shopping Mall, came in two waves - the first, during the late 1980's and early 1990's, produced about a dozen buildings which were typically about 15-20 storeys in height. The second wave, which began about 10 years ago, has produced an enormous array of tall buildings, many of which are 30, 40, and even more than 50 storeys in height.

Square One condo

The current tallest properties in Mississauga are the Absolute World Towers, consisting of 2 towers, one at 50 storeys, and one at 56 storeys. These two buildings were designed by Beijing architect Yansong Ma, from the firm MAD Architects, and their sinuous, organic shapes have won numerous international design awards in the past year. The developers of the project, Fernbrook Homes and Cityzen Developments, have clearly upped the design ante with these two amazing towers. Local residents have dubbed these the "Marilyn Monroe" towers, due to their curvy, sinuous shapes.

Marilyn Monroe Towers

It seems evident that the people of Mississauga have embraced condominium living with enthusiasm. Currently the available land for future development in the city is pretty much exhausted, making growing upwards with highrise condos the only option. The demographics of Mississauga, where a high percentage of the population have only recently moved to Canada from other countries, support continued condo construction. Mississauga condos seem to be here to stay.

But is condominium living a good fit for everyone? The following survey attempts to answer that question.
There is much to appreciate in condominium living - it's a wonderful lifestyle, but if does come with a few restrictions.

The Good

Lifestyle without Worries: owning a freehold property, especially an older freehold property, comes with many responsibilities for maintenance and upgrading. If you are the type of person who is uncomfortable with  doing home maintenance, with budgeting for major repairs such as window replacement, redoing the roof, and so forth, then condos can be a great alternative. In a condo, most of the major repairs - the furnace, the air conditioner, windows, doors, hot water heater, garage, etc, are all taken care of for you by the condo corporation.

Enhanced Safety & Security: most condo developments today have a 24 hour security guard or concierge who manages entrance into the building. In addition, many buildings today have elaborate video surveillance cameras located in areas such as the entrance, common areas, swimming pools, gyms, elevators, hallways, garage, and so on. This provides an added layer of security and safety that most freehold homeowners would find difficult to equal. One of the best benefits of condo living is when you travel; simply close your front door and  lock it, and no one will know that you are away.

Building Amenities: nowadays most condo developments provide elaborate and over-the-top amenities for their residents. It is not uncommon to see full gyms, workout rooms, pilates rooms, billiard rooms, basketball courts, squash and racquetball courts, indoor and outdoor pools, hot tubs, home theater rooms, even bowling alleys and rock climbing walls! These would be almost impossible to recreate at a single, freehold home.

Forever Views: living in a highrise condominium often provides you with views that no single family home can come close to. A typical view today from a Mississauga City Centre condo would be that of the rest of the city, with Toronto's downtown and the CN tower in the distance, Lake Ontario to the south, with Niagara Falls in the far distance. Some of the views are truly spectacular, although every buyer should know that, with the amount of construction taking place, no view is guaranteed forever.

Lifestyles that Robin Leach would appreciate: developers in today's condo market often sell a lifestyle that is truly of the 'rich and famous', and it has to be said, most of the time they actually deliver.

Affordability: condos represent a housing option that is affordable for most first time buyers. You can get into the housing market with a condo as your first home, whereas a detached home may be out of reach.

The Not so Good

Live Small: living in a condo means accepting a lifestyle where the actual square footage of your home is much smaller than the average house. If you have a lot of possessions, or a few big pieces of furniture, you may not be able to fit everything in. That's the trade off.

Lockers Provide Limited Relief: most condos come with a storage locker, and that's great, but most of these lockers are only big enough to store things like bicycles and sporting equipment, and are not big enough to store large pieces of furniture.

Condo Maintenance Fees: every condo assesses its unit owners a monthly maintenance fee, which is allocated to paying for things like building insurance, grounds maintenance, snow removal, salaries for staff, ongoing repairs, .etc. In addition, a portion of each fee is set aside for the "reserve fund", which is used for future planned long term repairs and building upgrades. In some condos the maintenance fees cover the basic utilities such as heat, electricity, and water, although in many of the newest ones, these utilities are metered separately.

Ability to Renovate: most condos come with restrictions on what can be, and what cannot be renovated. Although most will allow you to make whatever cosmetic changes you would like to towards the interior of your unit, most will restrict you in any changes made to exterior areas, and almost all will forbid you to make any changes which could affect the structural soundness of the building (i.e. moving or removing walls). There are often restrictions on the hours that workmen can do renovations, with no noise allowed outside of 9:00am to 5:00pm.

Pets may not be Allowed: many condos allow pets, but some restrict the size - in other words, your pet must be under a certain size or weight to be allowed. And many condos simply do not allow pets, and enforce these rules strictly. If you have a household pet, you need to be absolutely certain whether or not they are allowed, before you purchase or rent a condo.

For Those who Love Gardening: condos provide a great lifestyle, but if working in the garden is your passion, then they may not be the best choice for you. In addition, if you love to barbecue in summer, most condos will not allow you to do so on your balcony. Some have barbecue facilities located in the common areas of the property, but this may not be the same as having a barbecue in your own private backyard.

In Conclusion: In the Square One area of the city, there are lots of possibilities with condos, as you evaluate all the various aspects and opportunities of Mississauga real estate. Once you have determined if the condo lifestyle is for you, then you can begin the search for that perfect home.

To give you an idea of the number of high rise condo locations that there are in the Mississauga Square One area, check out my comprehensive list here:

https://www.randyselzer.com/condos/square-one-condos/

This master list also includes links with detailed information on many of the Square One condos. Once again, feel free to check out my main site here: Mississauga Condos Square One