423 Avenue Road: One Suite Per Floor, and a Fee to Understand

423 Avenue Road is one of the few buildings in midtown where every suite has the whole floor to itself. It is a slim 1976 concrete tower with about one suite per level, elevators that open into your foyer and windows on every side. The format is rare and the views can be remarkable, but the monthly fee is the number you need to understand before you fall for the floor plan. I’m Jatin Dua, RE/MAX Quantum Realty.

A floor to yourself, in a 1970s tower

The defining feature here is the floor plate. With roughly one suite per storey, the elevator opens straight into your own foyer, there is no shared corridor, and you have windows on all four sides. One recent listing described views of the downtown skyline and the midtown tree canopy in every direction, which is what you would expect from a tower this slim.

Sources differ slightly on the count. Condos.ca records 13 suites over 14 floors, while a recent listing calls it a fourteen-suite building with one suite per floor. Either way, it is a building where you will know your neighbours by sight and where each suite is effectively a detached home stacked on top of another.

That format is genuinely uncommon in Toronto. Most full-floor suites are in newer luxury buildings at several times the price per square foot. Here you get the privacy and the light in a 1976 concrete building, with the trade-offs that age brings.

Layouts and what renovated suites look like

Suites run from about 1,377 sq ft to about 1,810 sq ft, and plans tend to run the full depth of the building, with living and dining spaces stretching end to end. Listings describe solariums, enclosed glazed rooms along one side, that work as a sunroom or an extension of the bedroom or living area.

Condition varies a great deal. One recent listing had been fully redesigned by an interior design firm, with integrated appliances, heated floors, a fireplace and wide-plank hardwood. Others will be closer to original. In a building like this, the gap between a renovated suite and an original one can be a large share of the price, so compare like with like.

If you are buying an original suite to renovate, find out early what the corporation allows. Plumbing stacks, heating and cooling runs and the solarium enclosure may all be shared or restricted elements, and a full-floor plan does not always mean a free hand.

The fee: what it covers and why it is high

The maintenance fee includes heat, hydro, air conditioning, water, building insurance and common elements. Hydro in the fee is unusual, and on a full-floor suite with windows on every side, heating and cooling are not small costs, so the inclusion is worth real money.

Even so, the fee is high. The two suites listed for sale when I checked carried fees of roughly $2,950 to $3,420 a month. On suites of this size that is roughly $1.60 to $2.50 per square foot, well above what most midtown buildings charge, even ones with hydro included.

The reason is arithmetic. A 14-storey concrete tower has a roof, a facade, elevators, a garage and mechanical systems that cost much the same whether they serve 13 suites or 130. Here those costs are shared among very few owners. That is the price of the format, and it will not go away, so build it into your budget from the start.

It also means each owner carries a bigger share of any major repair. In a building of 13 or 14 suites, a new roof or elevator modernization is split very few ways, so a reserve fund that falls behind can turn into a special assessment quickly. A healthy reserve fund matters more here than in almost any other building type.

Living on Avenue Road

The building sits on Avenue Road, which is a busy arterial, so ask about window condition and listen for traffic in the suite you are seeing, especially on the lower floors. Higher up, the views and the light are the reward for being on a main road.

Day to day, you are a short walk from the shops and restaurants around St. Clair, and close to the residential streets of the Yonge-St. Clair and Casa Loma pockets. Listings mention underground parking and storage lockers. The building also lists visitor parking, an enter-phone system and a security system, and notes a pet restriction, which I could not confirm in detail. Transit, schools and Walk Score are shown in the data panel on this page.

Pricing and fees at 423 Avenue Road

Condos.ca puts the building average at about $994 per square foot. Nearby, 616 Avenue Road, a 1979 building of 27 suites, averages about $1,129, and the much newer 609 Avenue Road averages about $1,168. The low-rise at 300 Avenue Road sits around $913. For a 1976 building with a full-floor format, $994 is a reasonable place to be.

When I checked, two two-bedroom suites were listed for sale, asking between about $1,095,000 and $1,249,000, and one suite was listed for lease. With so few suites, a single sale moves the average, so look at the recorded history rather than the headline number.

The real value calculation includes the fee. Over ten years, a fee near $3,000 a month adds up to more than $350,000 in carrying cost, which partly offsets the lower price per square foot. Ask me for the building sold report before you make an offer.

Building specifications

Amenities at 423 Avenue Road Condos

There is no gym, pool or concierge listed. What you are paying for is privacy and light: your own floor, your own foyer and windows all round, with the services of a small tower rather than a full-service building.

Jatin’s honest take on 423 Avenue Road Condos

423 Avenue Road Condos — frequently asked questions

Looking at Yorkville, the Annex and Midtown more broadly? Start with my Toronto community guide — the neighbourhoods, what each pocket is like, and how they compare.