Cypress at Pinnacle Etobicoke, 50 Thomas Riley Rd: Phase One Near Kipling

Cypress is the first finished building in what Pinnacle International planned as a full new neighbourhood on Dundas Street West, just west of Kipling Station. That gives you a 2023 suite at one of the lower prices per square foot for new construction in Etobicoke. It also means you are buying at the start of a long build-out, and I want you to go in with your eyes open. I’m Jatin Dua, RE/MAX Quantum Realty.

Phase one of a master-planned community

Pinnacle Etobicoke is a 5.14-hectare site on the south side of Dundas Street West, west of Kipling Station. When UrbanToronto covered the 2017 plan, it showed nine towers from 25 to 56 storeys, just over 4,000 homes, street-level retail, office space and a new public park of a little over 4,000 square metres fronting Dundas.

Cypress is the 25-storey tower at the east end, and it was the first phase to start construction. Concert Properties’ Kip District sits immediately to the east, so this building marks the meeting point of two large master plans around the Kipling transit hub.

The plan has been revised since 2017, and the later phases are still moving through the City. Before you buy, look up the current applications for the rest of the site on the City of Toronto’s development map. You want to know what is planned on each side of the suite you are considering and roughly when.

A Turner Fleischer point tower on an eight-storey podium

Turner Fleischer Architects designed Cypress as a slim rectangular tower with colour accents, sitting on a boxy eight-storey podium. NAK Design Strategies handled the landscape design for the wider community, including the planned park.

The podium matters more than people think. Suites on the lower eight floors sit in the wider base and tend to have deeper floor plates and less view. Tower suites above are smaller per floor but get the open outlook. If view is part of why you are buying, stay above the podium and check which neighbouring phases could block it later.

Inside, judge each suite on its own layout, finishes and condition rather than on the brand. In a first-phase building, ask the seller what deficiencies were reported at the pre-delivery inspection and whether they were fixed, and look closely at window seals, balcony doors and flooring transitions.

Layouts: mostly one-plus-dens and compact two-bedrooms

Condos.ca lists suites from about 621 to 1,145 square feet. Most of the resale supply I see is one-bedroom-plus-den plans between 500 and 800 square feet, with two-bedrooms around 800 to 900 square feet.

That mix suits singles, couples and investors more than families. A one-plus-den at the larger end of the range can work for someone who works from home, but check whether the den is enclosed and has a window before you treat it as a bedroom.

Because the building is new, some of the listings you see may be first buyers who bought as an investment and are selling soon after closing. With seven suites for sale and seven for rent when I checked, you have choice, and that can give you room to negotiate on the more common one-plus-den plans.

Living near Kipling while the area is being built

The location is about transit and roads. The building sits on Dundas Street West between Kipling Avenue and Highway 427, west of Kipling Station, which is the transit hub this whole master plan was designed around. For commuters who drive one way and take transit the other, that combination is hard to beat in the west end. The data panel on this page shows the exact transit options.

What the area does not have yet is a finished neighbourhood. The retail, park and office space in the master plan come with later phases. Until they arrive, walk the blocks around the building on a weekday and decide whether the errands you do every week are on foot or by car. Expect construction noise and traffic on Dundas for years as the remaining phases go up.

If you are buying to live here for five to ten years, you are betting that the finished community will be worth the wait. If you need a walkable street today, look at buildings closer to Islington Village or the Kingsway instead.

Pricing and fees: lower entry price, higher monthly cost

Condos.ca puts the building average at about $687 per square foot. That is on the lower side for a 2023 tower in Etobicoke, and it reflects both the unfinished surroundings and the number of investor resales on the market. When the later phases add retail and the park, I would expect that discount to the rest of Etobicoke to narrow, but no one can promise you the timing.

Fees are the other side of that coin. On the active listings I reviewed, fees worked out to about $0.96 per square foot, which is high for a new building with a modest amenity list. Condos.ca lists common elements, building insurance and water as included, so heat, hydro and parking would be extra unless the status certificate says otherwise. Ask for the budget and the first reserve fund study to understand why the fee is where it is.

When I checked, seven suites were for sale and seven were for rent. One-bedroom-plus-den suites were asking from about $399,000 to $699,000, a wide spread that tracks size, floor and parking. Two-bedrooms in the 800 to 899 square foot band were asking about $635,000 to $638,000. Factor the fee into any comparison: a cheaper suite with a higher fee can cost more over five years.

Building specifications

Amenities at Cypress at Pinnacle Etobicoke

The amenity list is basic: a concierge, a gym and a party room. That is fine if you already have a gym membership, but it makes the fee level harder to explain, so ask what else the budget is paying for. Some of the community amenities in the master plan, such as the park and the elevated outdoor space on the commercial building, are tied to later phases.

Jatin’s honest take on Cypress at Pinnacle Etobicoke

Cypress at Pinnacle Etobicoke — 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.