The Globe and Mail

For a long time now, Little Italy has been an excellent reason for living in Toronto. This colourful neighbourhood of homes and shops along College Street west of Bathurst Street has almost everything going for it: terrific restaurants and intimate hangouts -- Bar Diplomatico is a local legend --interesting book and record stores, the famous Sicilian Ice-Cream Co., and a scooter outlet that's delightful enough to make the most sober Torontonian want to be Italian -- and 16 again. What Little Italy hasn't had, so far anyway, is new architecture as vibrant as life on its streets. But this situation is due to change, when the striking six-storey condominium development known as N-Blox goes up at 799 College St. Designed by Roland Rom Colthoff and Richard Witt of the Toronto firm Quadrangle Architects, the project contains just eight suites, each between 1,100 and 2,000 square feet in area. That's house-sized, with prices to match ($700,000 to $1.5-million). But size is part of the message developer Jim Neilas wants to get across. A unit at N-Blox is intended to be as roomy as a detached house in many a downtown neighbourhood, with ample space for life's long haul from coupledom, through child-rearing years, back to being couples again.