The Kings Lofts, 800 King St W: 76 Suites With Hydro in the Fee

The Kings Lofts is the building I point to when someone tells me they want King West but not a 40-storey tower and not a lobby full of strangers. It is five storeys and 76 suites at King and Niagara, built in 2000, and its fee covers hydro as well as heat and parking, which almost nothing downtown does anymore. The suites are mid-sized, the amenities are modest, and the value case lives or dies on that all-in fee. I’m Jatin Dua, RE/MAX Quantum Realty.

A small building on a street of towers

King West has filled up with tall buildings over the last 15 years, and that makes a five-storey, 76-suite building more unusual than it was when it was finished in 2000. Here you share an elevator with a few dozen households, not several hundred, and you get to know the people on your floor.

That scale has a cost side too. Every repair, from the roof to the garage membrane, is shared across 76 owners rather than 400. A well-run small building can be wonderful; a small building with a thin reserve fund can hit owners with large bills. This is the single most important thing to understand before you buy here.

Despite the name, I found nothing to suggest this is a conversion of an older warehouse. Condos.ca describes it as a five-storey building of boutique modern lofts, and the year built matches its registration in 2000. Treat it as a purpose-built building in a loft style, and ask the listing agent for ceiling heights and finishes in the specific suite, since they vary.

The fee that covers almost everything

This is what sets the building apart. Condos.ca lists the fee as covering common elements, heat, hydro, air conditioning, building insurance, water and parking. Bundled hydro is rare in buildings of any age downtown, and most newer towers nearby meter heat, cooling and electricity to each suite.

In practice, that means your fee looks high next to a new tower, but your monthly total may not be. Before you compare, add back to the other building a realistic hydro bill, the heating and cooling costs, and the parking charge. Then compare the totals. Buyers who skip this step routinely cross the Kings Lofts off their list for the wrong reason.

The other side of bundled hydro is that the corporation carries the risk of rising utility rates, and those increases show up in the fee for everyone. Ask how the fee has moved over the past few years and whether the corporation has looked at sub-metering, because a change like that would affect what you pay.

Suites, parking and the practical details

Recorded suite sizes run from about 700 to 1,076 sq ft, which is a comfortable range for this part of town: one-bedroom-plus-den and two-bedroom layouts rather than 450 sq ft studios. Parking is on a single underground level, which keeps getting in and out simpler than in the deep multi-level garages of the newer towers nearby.

Amenities are limited and sensible: a gym with a sauna, a party room, a meeting room, visitor parking and barbecues permitted. There is no concierge listed and no pool. For a building this size, that is the right call, because a large amenity package spread over 76 owners would push fees far higher.

Ask whether a suite comes with a locker as well as parking, and confirm both in the status certificate rather than the listing. In a building this small, parking and locker allocations matter a lot to resale.

Living at King and Niagara

This is the quieter, western end of King West. You are a short walk from the restaurants and bars around King and Bathurst, close to the side streets of the Niagara pocket, and within reach of Queen West to the north. Gotham Lofts sits just across King, and Clock Tower Lofts marks the Bathurst corner to the east.

The King Street Transit Priority Corridor, which gives streetcars priority over cars, runs from Bathurst to Jarvis, so it begins just east of here. Drivers heading downtown will notice the change at Bathurst. The details on transit, schools and walkability are in the data panel on this page.

What I like about this stretch is that it still has a mix of low buildings, older brick and newer towers, so the street feels lived in rather than built all at once. The flip side is that low sites on King West attract developers. Before you buy, look up nearby development applications on the City’s map, because a new tower next door can change the light and the view in a five-storey building more than in a tall one.

What the Kings Lofts costs

Condos.ca puts the building average at about $878 per square foot. In a small building, that figure moves with every sale, so treat it as a rough guide rather than a fixed number. With only 76 suites, there are not many sales each year, and a single unusual suite can swing the average.

When I checked, one suite was listed for sale and none for lease. I do not quote a single listing’s price or fee, but if you want a clear picture of what similar suites here have actually traded for, I can pull it through my building sold report.

The right way to judge value here is total monthly cost: purchase price plus fee, against a newer building’s price plus fee, hydro, heating, cooling and parking. On that basis, I think the per-square-foot number here holds up well against newer King West towers, especially for buyers who want a larger suite with parking.

Building specifications

Amenities at The Kings Lofts

The amenity package is modest: a gym with a sauna, a party room and a meeting room, with barbecues permitted. In a 76-suite building, that is what keeps the all-inclusive fee manageable, and it means you are not paying for a pool or a large staff you may never use.

Jatin’s honest take on The Kings Lofts

The Kings Lofts — 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.