Brandon Donnelly
@brandondonnelly.bsky.social
City builder @globizen 🇨🇦
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I'm a real estate developer with @globizen.bsky.social. I also write a daily blog about city building that I've been doing since 2013: brandondonnelly.com
Ground floor overhangs like this are one of my least favorite urban conditions. They bear no resemblance to the colonnades of Europe.
June 3, 2025 at 1:21 AM
Ground floor overhangs like this are one of my least favorite urban conditions. They bear no resemblance to the colonnades of Europe.
Talking to a friend from Korea right now. He’s telling me about a suburb of Seoul that used to be a 1.5 hour commute from the city center. This was deemed too long so a new express train was created. It now takes 20 minutes. Boom. The magic of rail.
May 7, 2025 at 3:31 AM
Talking to a friend from Korea right now. He’s telling me about a suburb of Seoul that used to be a 1.5 hour commute from the city center. This was deemed too long so a new express train was created. It now takes 20 minutes. Boom. The magic of rail.
Reposted by Brandon Donnelly
Thanks for the share @brandondonnelly.bsky.social
This would be a pretty cool project @jamaps.bsky.social @uoftcities.bsky.social to replicate for #BikeShareTO
All sorts of wow @agordon.me
This would be a pretty cool project @jamaps.bsky.social @uoftcities.bsky.social to replicate for #BikeShareTO
All sorts of wow @agordon.me
April 28, 2025 at 2:12 PM
Thanks for the share @brandondonnelly.bsky.social
This would be a pretty cool project @jamaps.bsky.social @uoftcities.bsky.social to replicate for #BikeShareTO
All sorts of wow @agordon.me
This would be a pretty cool project @jamaps.bsky.social @uoftcities.bsky.social to replicate for #BikeShareTO
All sorts of wow @agordon.me
Looking back at the Toronto real estate market in the 90s
brandondonnelly.com/looking-back...
brandondonnelly.com/looking-back...
Looking back at the Toronto real estate market in the 90s
Longtime readers of this blog might remember a post that I published back in 2016 where I talked about the genesis story of Toronto-based developer David Wex and his company Urban Capital Property Gro...
brandondonnelly.com
April 27, 2025 at 3:27 PM
Looking back at the Toronto real estate market in the 90s
brandondonnelly.com/looking-back...
brandondonnelly.com/looking-back...
Reposted by Brandon Donnelly
It's painful watching Toronto saddle new homebuyers and those struggling to afford to live in Toronto with the cost of renaming Dundas Square, which definitely was not *critical infrastructure.*
April 22, 2025 at 6:56 PM
It's painful watching Toronto saddle new homebuyers and those struggling to afford to live in Toronto with the cost of renaming Dundas Square, which definitely was not *critical infrastructure.*
Today's blog post: In 2005, 21 of 26 single-family house markets in Southern Ontario could have been classified as either affordable or deeply affordable. Today, none of these markets can be considered affordable or deeply affordable, and 11 are now unattainable.
brandondonnelly.com/housing-is-e...
brandondonnelly.com/housing-is-e...
Housing is expensive in Ontario
The Missing Middle Initiative, which is a research group housed at the University of Ottawa's Institute for the Environment, just published this detailed report on Southern Ontario's housing affordabi...
brandondonnelly.com
April 3, 2025 at 7:00 PM
Today's blog post: In 2005, 21 of 26 single-family house markets in Southern Ontario could have been classified as either affordable or deeply affordable. Today, none of these markets can be considered affordable or deeply affordable, and 11 are now unattainable.
brandondonnelly.com/housing-is-e...
brandondonnelly.com/housing-is-e...
The Liberals just announced that, if elected, they will form a new entity called Building Canada Homes (BCH) which will, "get the federal government back in the business of building homes." Do governments make good developers?
brandondonnelly.com/do-governmen...
brandondonnelly.com/do-governmen...
Do governments make good developers?
The Liberals just announced that, if elected, they will form a new entity called Building Canada Homes (BCH) which will, "get the federal government back in the business of building homes." Broadly sp...
brandondonnelly.com
April 1, 2025 at 12:28 PM
The Liberals just announced that, if elected, they will form a new entity called Building Canada Homes (BCH) which will, "get the federal government back in the business of building homes." Do governments make good developers?
brandondonnelly.com/do-governmen...
brandondonnelly.com/do-governmen...
What housing type (single-family, townhouse, apartment, etc) have you lived in the most throughout your life? (Working on a new blog post.)
April 1, 2025 at 1:49 AM
What housing type (single-family, townhouse, apartment, etc) have you lived in the most throughout your life? (Working on a new blog post.)
The silver lining to the US starting a trade war with Canada and regularly threatening annexation is that it has forced this country out of complacency.
brandondonnelly.com/canada-must-...
brandondonnelly.com/canada-must-...
Canada must become a global superpower
The silver lining to the US starting a trade war with Canada and regularly threatening annexation is that it has forced this country out of complacency. Indeed, I'm hard pressed to remember a time, at...
brandondonnelly.com
March 31, 2025 at 5:48 PM
The silver lining to the US starting a trade war with Canada and regularly threatening annexation is that it has forced this country out of complacency.
brandondonnelly.com/canada-must-...
brandondonnelly.com/canada-must-...
The other night, I went down a Parisian real estate rabbit hole on Twitter. And one of the things that kept coming up was this half joke: The biggest developer in Paris today is the mayor.
brandondonnelly.com/the-biggest-...
brandondonnelly.com/the-biggest-...
The biggest developer in Paris today is the mayor
The other night, I went down a Parisian real estate rabbit hole on Twitter. And one of the things that kept coming up was this half joke: The biggest developer in Paris today is the mayor. The reason ...
brandondonnelly.com
March 9, 2025 at 3:15 PM
The other night, I went down a Parisian real estate rabbit hole on Twitter. And one of the things that kept coming up was this half joke: The biggest developer in Paris today is the mayor.
brandondonnelly.com/the-biggest-...
brandondonnelly.com/the-biggest-...
It's also important to keep in mind that the risks you worry about the most will invariably change throughout the course of each real estate cycle.
brandondonnelly.com/the-developm...
brandondonnelly.com/the-developm...
The development risks you're not even thinking about
Real estate development is a risky endeavor and so a big part of this business is managing it. There's planning risk, market risk, construction risk, bad-drawing risk, and the list goes on. But it's a...
brandondonnelly.com
March 5, 2025 at 1:33 PM
It's also important to keep in mind that the risks you worry about the most will invariably change throughout the course of each real estate cycle.
brandondonnelly.com/the-developm...
brandondonnelly.com/the-developm...
But it's still not clear that he understands how these tariffs will work. Either that, or he's lying and trying to trick people.
brandondonnelly.com/tariffs-%E2%...
brandondonnelly.com/tariffs-%E2%...
Tariffs — and then what?
Trumps' tariffs are supposed to take effect today. Here's a quote from the Globe and Mail, published yesterday:“Very importantly, tomorrow, tariffs, 25 per cent on Canada and 25 per cent on Mexico, an...
brandondonnelly.com
March 4, 2025 at 1:59 PM
But it's still not clear that he understands how these tariffs will work. Either that, or he's lying and trying to trick people.
brandondonnelly.com/tariffs-%E2%...
brandondonnelly.com/tariffs-%E2%...
Happy Monday from One Delisle
March 3, 2025 at 2:45 PM
Happy Monday from One Delisle
I'm a real estate developer with @globizen.bsky.social. I also write a daily blog about city building that I've been doing since 2013: brandondonnelly.com
March 3, 2025 at 1:42 PM
I'm a real estate developer with @globizen.bsky.social. I also write a daily blog about city building that I've been doing since 2013: brandondonnelly.com
Warren Buffett on how tariffs work:
March 3, 2025 at 1:40 PM
Warren Buffett on how tariffs work:
Last year I was going around telling everyone that we would have glass up on the building in the first quarter of this year, and so I'm really glad that I was not made out to be a liar. Thanks team. This is a milestone date.
brandondonnelly.com/first-curtai...
brandondonnelly.com/first-curtai...
First curtain wall installed at One Delisle
Yesterday, February 28, 2025, the team installed the first piece of unitized curtain wall on One Delisle (on level two facing the outdoor amenity terrace and beside the indoor pool). Last year I was g...
brandondonnelly.com
March 3, 2025 at 12:58 PM
Last year I was going around telling everyone that we would have glass up on the building in the first quarter of this year, and so I'm really glad that I was not made out to be a liar. Thanks team. This is a milestone date.
brandondonnelly.com/first-curtai...
brandondonnelly.com/first-curtai...
Reposted by Brandon Donnelly
When Mike Myers wore his "Canada Is Not For Sale" t-shirt on SNL, he mouthed a secret code: "elbows up."
It's a reference to the great Gordie "Mr. Elbows" Howe who punished those that messed with his team.
You heard him Canada: elbows up.
If anyone asks why, tell them that Mike Myers sent you.
It's a reference to the great Gordie "Mr. Elbows" Howe who punished those that messed with his team.
You heard him Canada: elbows up.
If anyone asks why, tell them that Mike Myers sent you.
March 3, 2025 at 1:54 AM
When Mike Myers wore his "Canada Is Not For Sale" t-shirt on SNL, he mouthed a secret code: "elbows up."
It's a reference to the great Gordie "Mr. Elbows" Howe who punished those that messed with his team.
You heard him Canada: elbows up.
If anyone asks why, tell them that Mike Myers sent you.
It's a reference to the great Gordie "Mr. Elbows" Howe who punished those that messed with his team.
You heard him Canada: elbows up.
If anyone asks why, tell them that Mike Myers sent you.
Lucy, thank you for your bravery.
brandondonnelly.com/snow-report-...
brandondonnelly.com/snow-report-...
Snow report from Sugarbush, Vermont
Ski and snowboard resorts have people known as snow reporters. Their job is to get up at an ungodly hour, check out the snow, and then report on the conditions, so that would-be patrons can decide if ...
brandondonnelly.com
March 3, 2025 at 12:55 PM
Lucy, thank you for your bravery.
brandondonnelly.com/snow-report-...
brandondonnelly.com/snow-report-...
Nowhere in the US are apartment rents declining as fast as they have in Austin. Average rents are down 22% from their August 2023 peak.
brandondonnelly.com/apartment-re...
brandondonnelly.com/apartment-re...
Apartment rents in Austin are down 22%
Nowhere in the US are apartment rents declining as fast as they have in Austin. Average rents are down 22% from their August 2023 peak. This is according to Bloomberg. What seems to have happened is t...
brandondonnelly.com
March 1, 2025 at 5:47 AM
Nowhere in the US are apartment rents declining as fast as they have in Austin. Average rents are down 22% from their August 2023 peak.
brandondonnelly.com/apartment-re...
brandondonnelly.com/apartment-re...
Reposted by Brandon Donnelly
Great article by @brandondonnelly.bsky.social Where are the Data Centres in METRO Vancouver? Where will the next ones go? And how do we manage all that energy and heat waste? brandondonnelly.com/data-center-...
Data center energy usage as a share of the US total
Last month, the Berkeley National Laboratory, under contract with the US Department of Energy, published this report estimating total data center energy usage across the country. It also forecasted fu...
brandondonnelly.com
January 9, 2025 at 1:55 PM
Great article by @brandondonnelly.bsky.social Where are the Data Centres in METRO Vancouver? Where will the next ones go? And how do we manage all that energy and heat waste? brandondonnelly.com/data-center-...
Reposted by Brandon Donnelly
Exciting news: Toronto has hired Jason Thorne as its new chief planner. He’s here: @jasonthorne.bsky.social
December 6, 2024 at 3:09 PM
Exciting news: Toronto has hired Jason Thorne as its new chief planner. He’s here: @jasonthorne.bsky.social
Reposted by Brandon Donnelly
Stop with suburban setbacks -
where @brandondonnelly.bsky.social sums up some thoughts on how to make suburban arterials more humane.
brandondonnelly.com/stop-with-th...
where @brandondonnelly.bsky.social sums up some thoughts on how to make suburban arterials more humane.
brandondonnelly.com/stop-with-th...
Stop with the suburban setbacks
I'll be the first to admit that I have an urban bias. I like walkable narrow streets. I like being able to cycle around. And I like not having to drive when I want to do things. But this can create a ...
brandondonnelly.com
December 2, 2024 at 1:17 PM
Stop with suburban setbacks -
where @brandondonnelly.bsky.social sums up some thoughts on how to make suburban arterials more humane.
brandondonnelly.com/stop-with-th...
where @brandondonnelly.bsky.social sums up some thoughts on how to make suburban arterials more humane.
brandondonnelly.com/stop-with-th...
I’ve been writing about cities every day for over 11 years. This week I moved on chain and switched from Wordpress to @paragraph. Check it out: brandondonnelly.com
Brandon Donnelly
The daily blog for city builders
brandondonnelly.com
November 20, 2024 at 9:29 PM
I’ve been writing about cities every day for over 11 years. This week I moved on chain and switched from Wordpress to @paragraph. Check it out: brandondonnelly.com