Living Close With People and Restaurants

I’ve often mentioned that condominium living is communal living, and part of buying into a condominium is realizing that you’ll be living in close quarters with people of all types. With that in mind, you’ll have to learn to live with the idiosyncrasies of others to some extent.

There’s another level of communal living with many condominiums though – and that’s the location of the building. Often condominiums are used to infill downtown cores and beltlines, substantially increasing the core population density, shortening work commutes, and breathing new life into a city. In one aspect then, the building is part of a local municipal community/zoning area which may include non-residential businesses including, but not limited to, restaurants.

Well built condominiums will over pressurize hallways to keep individual unit cooking smells in the units and not propagating to others in the building. But keeping out the smells from neighbouring buildings is much more difficult.

Cities are not blind to the issue of a neighbourhood pub with an extensive menu of deep fried food, and the venting issues of the fryer. Modern technology can do a pretty good job a scrubbing out the smells from the exhaust.

But it is something to keep in mind when buying a condominium in the city – your neighbours are not only your actual within-the-building owners, but the shops, residences, and businesses around. Building a condominium does not generate a sudden onus on existing businesses to move or upgrade their site, and you may be living with a smell for some time.

When Lonnie and I were looking for our current condominium, there was a nicely located unit 10 floors above a commercial floor that was the ground for the building. While I was happy with the unit, when we left she noticed one of the establishments was a pub, and the back outside wall was dark with fat staining around the kitchen exhaust. If we had been there in the evening, we would have likely been made very hungry by the smell, and very put off living in that building. It was a nice spot.

In that case the restaurant was in the building, but it could have easily been next door or a street over. And it doesn’t have to be smells (for instance, dry-cleaners) but sounds – manufacturing, vehicle repair shops, or even a very busy intersection that runs at all nights.

When taking the condominium route, remember that you may be living with two different neighbours – the owners in your building, and the buildings and infrastructure near by.

Seniors Frustrated By Resturant Smoke