Dragon Condos, 10 Willison Square: 95 Suites on Chinatown’s Spadina

Dragon Condos is the building I show buyers who want to live in Chinatown itself, not near it. It is a 10-storey, 95-suite mid-rise on the west side of Spadina, a block south of Dundas, finished in 2017 by Ideal Developments. It is a quiet, practical building on one of the busiest streets in the city, and the suite you pick inside it matters more than usual. I’m Jatin Dua, RE/MAX Quantum Realty.

A background building, on purpose

Dragon Condos replaced a former cinema on Spadina; UrbanToronto covered the demolition in 2014 and a groundbreaking in early 2015, by which point the building was already rising. Ideal Developments, the firm behind the Ideal Lofts conversion, was the developer.

The design is credited in different places to Young + Wright / IBI Group and to Arcadis, which later absorbed IBI Group. They are the same practice at different points in time, so do not let the two names confuse you on a listing.

Critic Christopher Hume gave it a B in his Storeys column and called it a classic background building. The massing is broken into several sections clad in dark precast that reads like brick, with white panels, glass and red bands across the south and east faces. It is taller than most of its neighbours on this block but does not loom over them, which is about the best compliment a mid-rise on Spadina can get.

Small suites, and why exposure matters here

At launch, UrbanToronto reported 95 suites from roughly 412 to 901 square feet. Condos.ca now shows about 410 to 1,005 square feet, so a few larger plans exist. What actually trades is mostly studios under 500 square feet and two-bedroom-plus-den plans in the 800s, with one-bedrooms between.

The studios are genuine starter suites. They suit a student, a first job downtown or an investor who wants a low entry price, but they are tight for two people. The two-plus-den plans in the 800s are the more interesting product: few buildings this close to Spadina and Dundas offer that much space at mid-rise scale.

Spadina is a wide, loud street with streetcars, delivery trucks and late-night traffic. A suite facing Spadina gets the light and the city view; one facing the rear sits closer to Willison Square and is usually quieter. Visit in the evening as well as the day, and look at the window and balcony door specifications for the suite you are considering.

Ground-floor retail and the Chinatown context

The plans included more than 5,000 square feet of ground-floor retail. When Hume reviewed the building he noted those spaces were sitting empty, and suggested that large units are a hard fit on a street where most shops are deep and narrow. Ask what is leased today, because an active ground floor makes a real difference to how the entrance feels at night.

The building sits in the heart of Chinatown, with Kensington Market just to the west and the Art Gallery of Ontario and OCAD University a short walk east. Grocery shopping here is the produce stalls and supermarkets along Spadina and Dundas, which is either the reason you buy here or a reason you will not.

The Spadina streetcar runs past the door. The automatic panel on this page shows the transit and walkability details; what I would add is that a car here is optional for most owners, and the 905 commuter should do a test run before committing.

A 95-suite building, run as one

At 95 suites, Dragon is small enough that the concierge recognises residents and you rarely queue for an elevator. The trade-off is that fixed costs such as insurance, the concierge contract and elevator maintenance are shared among fewer owners, which shows up in the fee.

Kung Property Management is listed as manager. The corporation was registered in 2017, so it is past the developer warranty years and into its own operating history. That is a good time to buy, because there are now several years of budgets, reserve fund contributions and board minutes to read.

For a building of this age, the items I look for in those documents are the first full reserve fund study update, how the corporation has handled any warranty claims from the early years, and whether the fee has risen steadily or jumped. Steady increases are normal. Sudden jumps, or a fee held flat for years, deserve a question to the manager before you firm up an offer.

What Dragon Condos costs to own

Condos.ca puts the building average at about $747 per square foot. That is below the newest towers in the core and roughly in line with mid-rises of this age around Spadina and Queen, and it reflects the small suite mix as much as the location.

Four suites were listed for sale when I checked. The two studios under 500 square feet were asking between $299,000 and $319,000, and two two-bedroom-plus-den plans in the 800 to 899 square foot band were asking between $649,000 and $749,000. Monthly fees across those listings ran from about $545 to $1,155.

On the larger suites that works out to roughly $1.25 to $1.40 per square foot by my calculation from the size bands, which is high for a 2017 building. Heat, air conditioning, water and insurance are in the fee, which softens it, but parking is not listed as included, so confirm whether a suite has a space and what it costs. If you want a precise read on what has actually sold here, my building sold report covers it.

Building specifications

Amenities at Dragon Condos

The rooftop deck is the amenity that earns its keep, with views over Chinatown toward the downtown skyline. The rest is a compact package for a 95-suite building: concierge, party and media rooms and a meeting room, so plan on a gym membership elsewhere unless the status certificate shows otherwise.

Jatin’s honest take on Dragon Condos

Dragon Condos — frequently asked questions

Looking at Queen West, Trinity-Bellwoods, Kensington and Little Italy more broadly? Start with my Toronto community guide — the neighbourhoods, what each pocket is like, and how they compare.