Sugar Wharf Condos, 95 Lake Shore Blvd E: Twin Towers on the LCBO Lands

Sugar Wharf is the easiest waterfront building to recognise from the Gardiner: two very thin towers, 64 and 70 storeys, wrapped in a pattern of clouds printed on their balcony guards. It is also one of the largest condo corporations downtown, with close to 1,500 suites, and that scale is the single most important thing to understand before you buy here. I’m Jatin Dua, RE/MAX Quantum Realty.

The cloud towers

The defining feature here is the facade. architects-Alliance applied an abstract cloud pattern to the perforated metal balcony guards on every side of both towers, so the buildings read as one image from a distance rather than as two glass boxes. UrbanToronto followed the pattern climbing the towers as they were clad through 2022.

The towers are also unusually slender for their height. The west tower tops out at 70 storeys and about 231 metres, and the east tower at 64 storeys and about 219 metres, according to blogTO, which put them among the tallest buildings in the city when they were rising. Construction began in 2018, and both towers topped off in December 2022.

Slim towers mean smaller floor plates, which usually means fewer suites per floor and less time waiting in a crowded corridor. The trade-off is elevator capacity across so many floors, so ride the elevators at 8 a.m. on a weekday before you decide.

A neighbourhood being built around you

Sugar Wharf is a master plan, not just a condo. Menkes built a new LCBO head office tower to the south, and the plan includes a public park, more condominium towers and a public school to the west, tied together by an extension of the PATH system. The 25-storey office tower at 100 Queens Quay East was finished first, so the community already has a weekday working population, which is what keeps cafés and lunch spots at the base of a new neighbourhood open. The name nods to the waterfront’s sugar history; the Redpath refinery and Sugar Beach are just to the east.

The second phase is under way on the former LCBO flagship and warehouse site. UrbanToronto reported in late 2022 that the old LCBO warehouse facade is being kept and built into the podium of three more towers, with a park on the southern part of the site. blogTO reported the phase two plans at 90, 87 and 79 storeys with more than 3,000 additional suites, which would make it the tallest cluster in the city if built as proposed.

That is good news in the long run, because the park, school and connections will make this a more complete neighbourhood. In the short run it means cranes, noise and changing views. Suites facing west or south over the phase two site will feel that most.

Small suites, a lot of them

Almost everything that comes up for sale here is compact. The active listings I reviewed were one-bedroom, one-bedroom-plus-den and small two-bedroom plans, mostly between 500 and 700 sq ft, with a few under 500. The building was sold heavily to investors, and that shows in what is offered today.

With close to 1,500 suites, supply is the other constant. When I checked, there were 18 suites for sale and 23 for rent. As a buyer, that gives you choice and negotiating room. As a seller, it means your suite is competing with near-identical ones in the same tower, and floor, view and layout decide who sells first.

Because so many plans are similar, the view is where value separates. A high floor facing the lake is a very different asset from a low floor looking at the Gardiner or the phase two site, even at the same square footage.

Phase two matters here too. If it is built at the heights proposed, some of today’s open views to the west and southwest will close, and that risk belongs in the price of a west-facing suite. East- and north-facing suites over Sugar Beach and the city are less exposed to that change.

What Sugar Wharf costs

Condos.ca does not yet publish a building average per square foot here. The seven active listings I reviewed asked from about $465,000 to about $570,000, which works out to roughly $750 to $1,100 per square foot depending on size. Smaller suites carry the higher per-foot figure, as they do everywhere, and the small two-bedrooms were the best value per foot on the list.

For context, the Tower at Pier 27 a few blocks west averages about $1,046 per square foot on Condos.ca, and Monde at Bonnycastle Street, a 2019 building to the east, averages about $879. Sugar Wharf’s resale asks overlap with both, which is reasonable for a new tower where views vary so much from suite to suite.

Fees on the active listings averaged about $0.93 per square foot, and Condos.ca lists only common elements, building insurance and water as included. That means heat, cooling and hydro are likely separate bills, which is typical of newer towers but makes the true monthly cost higher than the fee alone suggests. Confirm the metering arrangement in the status certificate.

Building specifications

Amenities at Sugar Wharf Condos

Condos.ca lists only a concierge, a gym and a party room, which undersells what a Menkes tower of this size usually provides. Ask the property manager for the full amenity list and booking rules, because in a building of nearly 1,500 suites, how easy it is to book the gym or party room matters more than how many rooms exist. Visit the gym at peak hours and read the rules on guest suites and move-in bookings.

Jatin’s honest take on Sugar Wharf Condos

Sugar Wharf Condos — frequently asked questions

Looking at St. Lawrence, the Financial District and Downtown Yonge more broadly? Start with my Toronto community guide — the neighbourhoods, what each pocket is like, and how they compare.