Toronto Condo Builder Targets Local South Asian Community

Original Publication Date: Friday, February 28, 2004 - Toronto Star

RAHEEL RAZA
SPECIAL TO THE STAR

Canderel Stoneridge, a builder with offices across Canada, has been in Toronto for five years and recognizes the value of marketing to ethnic communities. It has targeted the Chinese and Portuguese communities with great success.

So it's no surprise that marketing director Riz Dhanji is looking for ways to secure a niche in the South Asian market. "With over 1 million South Asians in Canada, the demographics are in our favour," explains Dhanji, a young South Asian himself.

He knows that many in the community prefer to invest in real estate instead of renting.

"They are young, upwardly mobile South Asians who have a relatively high disposable income, so it makes sense for them to buy."

Most of the condos Canderel is marketing are downtown, and this is where young professionals and newly married South Asian couples are looking to buy, Dhanji says. Canderel hopes they will invest in DNA (Downtown's Next Address) at King St. W. and Shaw St.

To get word out to the community, Canderel decided to work with http://www.mybindi.com, a youth-oriented Web site that focuses on South Asian community events, lifestyle, arts and entertainment. Maneesha Bawa, one of the site's founders, says 20,000 people in the Toronto area have registered in the past four years, and that the target market is South Asian professionals aged 20 to 40. That, as it happens, is the average age group for first-time homebuyers, Dhanji says.

Canderel and Mybindi are joining resources to create the My Bindi Home Show on Sunday, March 7 at DNA, 1005 King St. W., from noon to 7 p.m.

The event will feature South Asian art, design and décor workshops, interactive cooking demos and home and food-related vendors (cash only).

There will also be seminars on condo buying. Admission is $5, or free if you sign up at http://www.mybindi.com/homeshow.

Original Publication Date: Friday, February 28, 2004