The Mondrian condo tower in downtown Ottawa is just fully occupied. The parking garage below the tower is also busy. Looking up at the black ledge above the garage but below the tower …
The black ledge is cracked and efflorescencing. If it looks tacky when brand new what will it look like when its a few years older?
Today, “condo” is frequently used as a synonym for apartment. In fact, condominium is a form of legal shared ownership of a property. The property can be a high rise residence, a townhouse project, or a single family detached home project, or industrial or commercial bays.
Sometimes condos are even more complex: 151 Bay is another condo with residences above that has another party owning the (middle layers of the ) parking garage below. This form of split ownership between a residence and a business makes for a complicated board and complicated decision making. What if the condo board feels the garage needs major repairs but the commercial property owner doesn’t agree? Call in the lawyers! A number of Claridge condos also come to mind as buildings with condo residences above commercial space that remains owned by others.
The Mondrian isn’t the only condo with premature unsightliness. The new Export Development building downtown also has black concrete panels, in which pour joints or cracks ( I don’t know which, I am not an engineer) are already visible. You may have to double click to enlarge the picture below; look esp. at the panel above the right garage door entrance.
That is an interesting shot of the damage at the Mondrian. I have had a few clients looking to buy in that building. As you say, if it shows this already what does 10 years down the road show? However, the problem is known as efflorescence, not effervescence. Cheers.