Game Plan

BUILDING BUZZ: NEWS AND MOVES FROM THE INDUSTRY

DeSantis' Players’ Lounge caters to the modern buyer

BY TED McINTYRE

CoMo in Stoney Creek, ON offers a multi-dimensional community space, but there's special focus on gamers.

Is your child—or you, for that matter—continually glued to the handset that manipulates characters in Minecraft, Call of Duty, Grand Theft Auto, Fortnite, World of Warcraft or a myriad of other video games filling TV and computer screens the world over?

Homes By DeSantis caters to the increasingly popular trend at its new CoMo condominiums overlooking Lake Ontario in Stoney Creek. An amalgam of project’s theme of “coastal modern” living, CoMo features a unique Players’ Lounge. Designed to be an open community space with desk areas around the perimeter and additional seating on a couch, this tech-forward lounge includes a built-in media centre on the left or right of the primary oversized TV screen, where open HDMI ports are ohba.ca @onhomebuilder connected to the TV and resident gamers can bring down their consoles and simply plug in and play.

While perimeter desks are not furnished with computers, they are set up so that players can bring their laptops and games side by side. The space, which additionally serves as a theatre room and a casual party space, is surrounded by a glass wall connecting to the gallery hallway, enabling people entering and leaving the building to see other residents, thereby encouraging community interaction.

“We’re seeing the buyer for our condos squarely in the millennial age group. This particular group consumes media differently and games differently as well—it’s becoming more interactive than what you might imagine a typical gamer experience would be,” explains Homes By DeSantis’ Director of Sales and Marketing, Serina Carbone. “Further, we see small fitness spaces are underutilized, as people gravitate towards either boutique facilities for yoga and spin or larger gyms with a variety of equipment. The tiny condo gym just can’t compete and we saw an opportunity to encourage resident interaction and create a unique space for our buyers.”

And the game plan is for more than games, Carbone explains. “We are currently developing a project where we intend to create an art studio in the building. People crave (the opportunity for) creative expression and we’ve been watching as the Hamilton art scene gets national acclaim. It’s all about creating an environment that caters to our audience.”