By Pepper Parr
September 22, 2015
BURLINGTON, ON
While photographing the sample suites of the Bridgewater development I asked Jeff Paikin to stretch out on one of the couches, put his feet up on the table and act as if he owned the place. “Actually, I do own the place” he responded. And indeed during the construction stages he own all three structures.
The hope is that at some point in the future the hotel building will be sold. Marriott will be the tenant. Eventually all the units in the two condominiums will be sold and Paikin will move on to something else; quite where one goes after building the landmark structure in a city he cares about is anyone’s guess. Paikin is smart enough to stay out of politics
An architectural rendering of the Bridgewater site lit up at night. will they be able to see this from Niagara Falls.
President and co-founder of New Horizon, Jeff Paikin, was born and raised in Hamilton. He attended Mount Allison University, and joined the family firm: Ennis Paikin Steel when he left university.
A couple of successful bids for reinforcing steel to be used in high-rise condo construction, office towers, and the SkyDome got Paikin to thinking about the idea of complete design and construction. In 1993 that dream became a reality and New Horizon Development Group was born but only after the right partner was found.
Joe Giacomodonato was working with Paikin on a townhome development on Headon Road in Burlington. They soon realized they shared a vision – “build it right and they will come”. They united their complementary skills for the long term.
Paikin handles land acquisition, product development, marketing and financing of new projects – as well as the coordination of the company’s community involvement. Giacomodonato, vice President and co-founder, builds the projects, bringing his inexhaustible energy and uncompromising eye for detail to every aspect of his role at New Horizon.
Bridgewater is going to use every skill the team has – it will probably be the premiere condominium residence in the area.
Let’s take a look inside:
We don’t know what the lobby of the 22 storey building is going to look like – at this point what is known is the layout of the various units and what the sight lines are going to be.
Jeff Paikin stretches out in the living room of the model Bridgewater suite. He is in the final stages of selling the units – past the 65% point.
The living room is spacious – made for entertaining. One has to wonder what impact this project is going to have on the furniture and fixtures retailers in the city.
When Jeff Paikin was taking us through the Master bedroom we commented that strong black coffee, fresh bagels with cream cheese and smoked salmon were made for this room he commented that we now knew what the Bridgewater was all about.
The model suite that is laid out has two bedrooms; a master bedroom and a guest bedroom. The spaciousness and the views are what strikes a viewer. There is nothing pinched about the units.
The living room can accommodate 18 to 20 people comfortably.
Balconies that wrap around the building and are wide enough to set a table out on.
Paikin, who never stop selling the units, explained in his most earnest manner that the design of the balconies was very deliberate – they wrap around the corner of the unit and they are quite wide. Once could have breakfast on those balconies.
The model suite is set out to show the space at its best but changes can be made to the design and at those prices buyers can ask for changes. The model we looked at didn’t have what I would have chosen for a kitchen and I think I would have upgraded the bathroom considerably.
The kitchen area in this model has all kinds of little nooks and crannies – and loads of natural light.
What the model suite does is give the interior decorators an idea of what can be done – and you can bet close to your bottom dollar that some of the best decorators in the GTA will be doing work on many of the units – there are 24 in the small tower and 126 in the larger tower.
We can only begin to imagine the impact this project is going to have on the city over all and the downtown core specifically.
IBI Page and Steele were the architect’s on the project.
