A group of adults with enough cash to purchase condos at one of Toronto's most coveted locations were reduced to acting like behaviorally-challenged school children on Tuesday, accusing each other of 'budding' in line and offering tattle tales to snickering police officers.
You couldn't blame them for being a bit testy, however. For the past week nearly a hundred people have been lining up at the busy Bloor and Yonge intersection, braving rain, cold, fog and most of all, each other, in hopes of snagging one of the units at 1 Bloor, which won't be ready until 2011.
It's a one day sale reserved for realtors, most of whom hired stand-ins to reserve their spot in line. But when accusations of line jumping started to fly, all the niceties quickly dissolved. "It's crazy," complained Winston Mak, one of those who'd been holding a place in line since last week. "We just got butted after nine days and nights of sleeping out here in the cold. We've been through the elements: snow, rain, wind. Anything that nature's thrown at us, we've been through it."
People shouted "Go by the list! Go by the list!" in reference to an apparent list of prospective homebuyers drawn up last week based on who arrived in line and when.
"Basically, everyone is here representing a real estate agent as a private deal for 1 Bloor East. They've showed solidarity among each other to ensure our interests are at heart," noted Adam Szalai, another of those who'd been waiting for several days. "The building has told us that our list that we've created to try and create harmony so that every agent benefits and every person in line benefits is no longer valid.
"Now I've just been stopped by police from wedging people in line where they really should be, and people who've come here half an hour ago are ahead where they don't deserve to be," he said.
But one of the realtors accused of jumping the line claimed she wasn't doing anything wrong. "When I got here at 6am there were no agents here. We were told 'Agents only,'" she said. "We came up here and the cops said to us, 'You're agents? You're first.' We're just doing what we were told. It's an unofficial list."
Most believe all the hassle will be worth it in the end.
Real estate agents are treating the complex as a potential cash-cow, and the prices are already starting to skyrocket. The sign that initially advertised units ranging from $300,000 - $2 million, was changed to $500,000 - $8 million by the time the sales doors officially opened.
"This is really something," noted Remax agent Hersh Litvack. "It's going to be like an iconic building in the
Toronto
skyline. Everybody will recognize it. It's now going to be
Toronto
's tallest residential complex."
Which means it will not only carry a lot of weight, but also a lot of "wait", as well.