Platinum, 23 Hollywood Ave: Hydro-Included Fees Near Yonge and Sheppard

Platinum at 23 Hollywood Avenue is a building people misjudge from the fee alone. The monthly number looks high next to newer towers on Yonge, but here it covers hydro, heat, air conditioning and water, and the suites are bigger than most new North York stock. Whether that adds up for you depends on how you use energy and how long you plan to stay. I’m Jatin Dua, RE/MAX Quantum Realty.

The fee covers your hydro, and that changes the comparison

Most buyers compare fees by the monthly total, and on that basis Platinum looks expensive. Current listings show fees from about $1,032 to $1,398 a month, which works out to roughly $1.23 per square foot on average. Most newer towers near Yonge and Sheppard sit well below that.

The difference is what the fee pays for. Here it includes hydro, heat, air conditioning and water, as well as common elements and insurance. In most newer buildings, each suite has its own hydro meter, and often its own heating and cooling bill as well. Add those back onto a newer building’s fee and the gap shrinks a lot.

There is a catch. All-inclusive buildings spread energy costs across every owner, so heavy users are subsidised by light ones, and every increase in utility rates flows straight into the budget. Ask for the last three years of budgets to see how quickly fees have risen.

Bigger two-bedrooms than new North York stock

Condos.ca lists suites from about 586 to 1,570 square feet, and the current listings are mostly two-bedrooms in the 800 to 899 square foot range, plus a two-bedroom-plus-den. That is a generous two-bedroom by today’s standards, when new two-bedrooms near Yonge are often noticeably smaller and give up a separate dining area.

The tower is tall at 36 storeys, so the upper floors and penthouse levels get the long views. Suite numbers here run higher than 36, which usually means some floor numbers are skipped, so confirm the actual floor before you pay a premium for height.

Corner suites with two exposures are the ones I would look at first for natural light. As with any 20-year-old building, condition varies, and some suites have been renovated while others are close to original.

A Conservatory block just off Yonge and Sheppard

Condos.ca names The Conservatory Group as Platinum’s developer. Conservatory has been one of the steady builders around Yonge and Sheppard, and its towers form a cluster on and around Hollywood Avenue, including Pearl at 35 Hollywood.

That cluster has shaped the street. Discussion on UrbanToronto about Conservatory’s later Pearl Place proposal on Hollywood described it as finishing the street wall along Yonge, with the company’s existing towers directly to the east. In other words, Platinum sits inside a block of related buildings rather than next to a single big new tower.

For an owner, that means a familiar style of building, but also more neighbours and more construction as the last sites are filled in. Hollywood Avenue runs east off Yonge Street, a short walk north of Sheppard. You are close to the Yonge strip’s restaurants, cafes and grocery stores, and to the shops at Yonge and Sheppard, without having your bedroom window face Yonge.

The data panel on this page has the transit, school and walkability details. Day to day, most residents here can run errands and commute without a car, which matters when you weigh whether to buy a suite with or without parking.

What a 20-year-old all-inclusive tower needs

Buildings that include hydro and heat in the fee usually run on shared central systems, and that makes the reserve fund more important than usual. When the boilers, chillers, cooling tower or suite heat pumps come due, the corporation pays for them, not the individual owner. Read the reserve fund study for the planned dates and costs of those items.

Ask the manager whether the corporation has looked at sub-metering hydro. Some older all-inclusive buildings in Toronto have moved to individual suite meters to control costs, which changes what the fee covers and how your monthly bill looks. Whether that is planned here is something the board minutes will tell you.

None of this is a red flag on its own. A building of this size, with five listings at once and a steady stream of resales, gives you plenty of evidence to judge it. Just make sure you read that evidence before you firm up an offer.

What Platinum costs

Condos.ca puts the building average at about $742 per square foot, which is lower than the newer towers along Yonge between Sheppard and Finch. Part of that discount is age, and part is the all-inclusive fee, which buyers price in.

When I checked there were five suites listed, all two-bedroom or two-bedroom-plus-den, asking from $599,000 to $799,000. Fees on those listings ran from about $1,032 to $1,398 a month. Five listings at once in a 342-suite building is a reasonable sample, so comparables are not hard to find here. Expect older suites with original kitchens to sit at the lower end of that range, and renovated corner suites at the top.

When you compare Platinum with a newer building, add an estimate for hydro, heating and cooling to the newer building’s fee, and then compare monthly carrying costs, not fees alone. For the latest closed results here, use the sold data on this page or ask me for a building sold report.

Building specifications

Amenities at Platinum

The amenity list on condos.ca is practical rather than resort-style: concierge, party and meeting rooms, guest suites and visitor parking. Ask the manager for the full list and booking rules, and check whether a gym or pool is included before you assume one.

Jatin’s honest take on Platinum

Platinum — frequently asked questions

Looking at Yonge & Eglinton, Davisville and North Toronto more broadly? Start with my Toronto community guide — the neighbourhoods, what each pocket is like, and how they compare.