Mondo Condo

“SUCH PLACES DO EXIST” is the sub-heading for “LIVING SHANGRI-LA” soon to be Vancouver’s tallest sky-scraper hotel / condo (or rather estates as they prefer calling them now). Full page advertisements in the newspaper: “Residences starting from 1.5 million to 12 million.” Like as if anyone who is reading the local paper while having their morning coffee will all of sudden think "Hey, that sounds like a bargain. I think I’ll give that Rennie Marketing Systems a call."

It has been a few years now, coinciding with the on-going boom in condo development here in Vancouver as well as in Toronto and Asia, that I have noticed and taken photographs of many large billboards, at various construction sites. They all announce the limitless possibilities of luxury living. Most of them have glossy photos of beautiful, modern women. They all have similar slogans revolving around key words such as exclusive, urban oasis, luxurious, lifestyle, green, vistas.

One of the more interesting ones was the famous Woodwards building on Hastings Street, in the heart of the skid-row that is Vancouver’s downtown east-side. The former department store had been boarded up for years and it stood as an icon of a neighbourhood gone seriously downhill. Developers eventually purchased it with a percentage required by the city for low cost housing as well as part university campus. A larger percentage however will be for a condo tower next to a small corner of the original building that is being kept and restored. The gentrification of Hastings Street has begun. The entire complex is called W, like the famous neon sign that was on top of the Woodwards building. The slogan was “BE BOLD OR MOVE TO THE SUBURBS”. Indeed, I can just imagine the boldness of the urban professional, sipping his latte as he sidesteps a passed out junkie on the sidewalk in front of his building.

This is one of the craziest billboards I have ever seen. It was for an enormous development in the hyper construction city of Beijing that stretched over three long city blocks. Another historic ‘hutong’ quarter was simply bulldozed down, its citizens re-located to the periphery, to make way for the nouveau riche and their dreams of modern living. The profound happiness of living in such luxury enables one to jump up high in the air and scream out in joy.

“The beautiful eye-catching scenery to be found in this area is intimately linked to local history and provides a hearty welcome to the visitor. The true face of our town and community is easily visible and is the shining beacon to a brilliant future.” Leave it to the Japanese to have cool advertising accompanied with their weird, dreamy English. This from a condo complex in Umeda, downtown Osaka.

Toronto's Queen Street West is another gentrifying part of town that is rapidly moving from second hand furniture shops and shawarma joints to upscale art galleries, Starbucks and re-vamped boutique hotels. The arrival of the pretentiously named "Bohemian Embassy" is yet another reason burgeoning artists and locals are lamenting the rapid death of an original and hip neighbourhood.