Bloor Promenade, 5 Mabelle Ave: Tridel’s Final Islington Terrace Tower

Bloor Promenade is the building I point to when a buyer wants a new Tridel suite near the Bloor line without paying a downtown price per square foot. It is the last of three towers in the Islington Terrace complex, so you are not just buying a suite; you are buying a share of a large, finished amenity podium and a block that is already built out. I’m Jatin Dua, RE/MAX Quantum Realty.

The final piece of a three-tower Tridel block

Islington Terrace replaced a surface parking lot on Mabelle and Cordova avenues, just north of Islington Station. Tridel built it in three phases: a 45-storey tower in the middle of the block, the 35-storey Bloorvista to the west, and Bloor Promenade as the most easterly tower. All three rise from one C-shaped podium.

That phasing matters to a buyer. The construction is done, the landscaping and retail at the base were the last things to go in, and you are not living beside an active crane for the next five years. Kirkor Architects designed all three towers and the townhouses, so the block reads as one complex rather than three buildings competing with each other.

UrbanToronto described the tower as 45 storeys at launch in 2017 and 44 storeys when it topped out in 2021. Condos.ca also lists 44. The difference is probably how the mechanical levels are counted, but it is worth knowing if you see both figures in listings.

Suites from compact one-bedrooms to grade-level townhomes

At launch, Tridel offered 391 tower suites in one-bedroom, one-bedroom-plus-den, two-bedroom and two-bedroom-plus-den plans, from about 510 to 1,278 square feet. There were also four townhomes from roughly 1,366 to 1,570 square feet, which brings the total to the 395 suites condos.ca reports.

In practice, most resale supply here is one-plus-dens and smaller two-bedrooms in the 500 to 800 square foot range. If you need a true family-size suite, the choice is thin. The four townhomes rarely come up, and when they do they are the only way to get a front door at street level with Tridel amenities behind it.

Before you buy a den plan, look at whether the den has a door and a window. In this size range, many dens are an alcove off the living area. It works as a home office. It doesn’t work as a second bedroom for a tenant or a teenager.

The Grand Staircase and the Bloor and Islington location

Tridel planned a landscaped public stair, which it called the Grand Staircase, linking the complex down to Islington Avenue and toward Islington Station. Bloor Promenade sits closest to it, with retail placed near the upper landing to bring foot traffic past the base of the building.

Day to day, that means this is the tower in the complex with the easiest walk to the subway and the Bloor Street shops. It also means more people passing by at grade than at the two western towers. I see that as a plus for convenience, but light sleepers should look at suites higher up or facing away from the stair.

The wider area around Islington and Kipling stations is one of the busiest redevelopment zones in Etobicoke. Expect more towers around you over the next decade. That growth helps retail and services, but it also means some of today’s views will not last. Ask which way a suite faces and what could be built on that side.

Sharing 50,000 square feet of amenities with two other towers

The three towers share roughly 50,000 square feet of indoor and outdoor amenity space in the podium. II BY IV Design did the indoor amenity interiors and Janet Rosenberg & Studio landscaped the large outdoor terrace. Condos.ca lists a concierge, a gym, an indoor pool and a party room.

A shared podium cuts both ways. You get a pool and a level of finish that a single 395-suite building would struggle to fund on its own. You also share it with the households in two other towers, so the gym and pool will be busier at peak times than in a stand-alone building.

The other point to understand is governance. Bloor Promenade has its own corporation, TSCC-2946, but the shared podium and garage are normally run under a shared facilities agreement between the corporations. Ask for that agreement with the status certificate, because it decides how the cost of the pool and podium is split.

Pricing, fees and what active listings ask

Condos.ca puts the building average at about $758 per square foot. For a 2022 Tridel tower beside a subway station, that is reasonable. It is well below new downtown product and in line with other recent towers around the Islington and Kipling stations.

Fees on the active listings I reviewed worked out to roughly $0.71 per square foot. That is moderate for a building with a pool and a full concierge. The data I have does not say what the fee covers, so check whether heat, cooling and water are in the fee or metered by suite. That difference can be worth more than a few cents per square foot.

When I checked, four suites were for sale and six were for rent. One-plus-den suites in the 500 to 599 square foot range were asking between just under $300,000 and just under $400,000. Two-bedrooms of 700 to 799 square feet were asking about $550,000 to $560,000. A gap that wide on similar sizes usually comes down to floor, view and whether parking is included, so compare like with like. Also compare against resales in the two sister towers, which share the same amenities and often list similar plans.

Building specifications

Amenities at Bloor Promenade

This is a full resort-style podium shared across three towers, with a pool most single buildings on Bloor cannot match. Plan on the gym and pool being busier at peak hours, and read the shared facilities agreement so you know what you are paying for.

Jatin’s honest take on Bloor Promenade

Bloor Promenade — frequently asked questions

Looking at Humber Bay Shores, Mimico, the Queensway and central Etobicoke more broadly? Start with my Toronto community guide — the neighbourhoods, what each pocket is like, and how they compare.