i-Zone Lofts, 326 Carlaw Ave: Leslieville’s Big Custom Live/Work Spaces

i-Zone is not a condo building in the usual sense. It is a cluster of old factory buildings at Carlaw and Dundas that Atria filled with live/work lofts one suite at a time, and the result is a building where a one-bedroom can be bigger than a two-bedroom elsewhere and where some suites come with skylights and their own roof deck. Prices here reflect space and craft, not bedroom counts. I’m Jatin Dua, RE/MAX Quantum Realty.

A factory complex finished one loft at a time

The i-Zone sits on the corner where Carlaw meets Dundas, with addresses on both streets. According to a listing agent quoted by blogTO in 2021, the buildings once housed a Coca-Cola bottling operation and the Diament knitting mill, and the area was boarded up and rough in the 1990s before Atria, a family-run developer, bought several of the empty factories around Carlaw and turned them into live/work lofts.

What makes i-Zone unusual is how long that took. The corporation registered in 2002, but blogTO reported that the last Atria-finished suite in the roughly 100-unit building came to market in 2021, after about three years of work. That suite had 18-foot ceilings, eleven skylights, floating oak stairs over three levels and a private rooftop deck. Not every suite is like that, but it shows the ceiling of what this building can hold.

The same era of rezoning shaped the whole street. A 1998 City planning report on 233 Carlaw describes the Carlaw strip as moving from industrial-only uses toward a mix of live/work and light industry, and notes other residential applications under review nearby. i-Zone is one of the projects that came out of that shift.

Suites that do not fit the usual labels

Condos.ca lists suites from about 466 to 1,819 square feet, with an average of about $965 per square foot. Bedroom counts are a poor guide here. In the five listings active when this page was prepared, a one-bedroom was asking more than two of the two-bedrooms, which tells you that size, height and outdoor space drive value far more than the room count.

A loft brokerage that tracks Carlaw notes that, like the Wrigley Lofts across the street, finishes and design at i-Zone depend heavily on the creative skill of earlier owners. Expect a mix of authentic industrial suites, multi-level units with stairs, and spaces that have been customized heavily over twenty years. Some will suit you perfectly and some will need work.

If you are considering an upper-level suite, ask specifically about roof access and any private deck. Exclusive-use rooftop areas are a major part of value in this building, so confirm in the declaration and on the status certificate exactly what outdoor space is attached to the suite and who maintains it.

Measure everything yourself. In converted buildings, listed square footage sometimes includes mezzanines or stair areas that do not feel like usable floor space, and a high ceiling can make a modest footprint feel larger than it is. Both effects are real, but you should know which one you are paying for.

Live/work at Carlaw and Dundas

This is a live/work building, and that remains part of its personality. Neighbours may include designers, photographers or people running a small business from their suite. If you want to work from home, few buildings in the east end were designed more deliberately for it; if you want a purely residential building, read the rules on business use before you fall in love with a space.

Because the complex fronts both Carlaw and Dundas, suites differ in how you reach them and what they look onto. The suite blogTO profiled had two entrances, which is the kind of detail that matters if you plan to meet clients at home or want a separate door for a studio. Ask which address and entrance a suite uses, and walk both street frontages at different times of day to judge noise and activity.

The location is on the north end of the Carlaw loft strip, close to Dundas Street East and a short walk up from the Queen East shops and restaurants. The street has filled in around it with new mid-rises like The Carlaw and Showcase Lofts, so services have caught up with the population. The data panel on this page covers transit, schools and distances.

What i-Zone suites ask, and why

At about $965 per square foot on average, i-Zone prices above most Carlaw condos and below the smallest, rarest Riverdale conversions. The average hides a wide spread, because custom multi-level suites with roof decks sit well above plain single-level spaces.

When this page was prepared, five suites were listed for sale, asking from about $1.2 million to about $1.8 million, with monthly fees across those listings running from roughly $670 to $1,290. Asking prices are not sale prices, and in a building this varied I look at each suite on its own measured size and finish rather than on the building average.

The fee includes heat, water and building insurance in addition to common elements, which is more than many newer buildings on the street cover. Parking is not listed as included, so ask whether a space comes with the suite. For recent trades rather than asking prices, request my building sold report.

Building specifications

Amenities at i-Zone Live/Work Lofts

Amenities are simple: a shared rooftop deck, a party room and a meeting room, which for a live/work building is a practical place to see clients. There is no gym or pool, so most of what you pay for here is space inside your own walls.

Jatin’s honest take on i-Zone Live/Work Lofts

i-Zone Live/Work Lofts — frequently asked questions

Looking at Leslieville, Riverdale, the Beaches, Danforth and Leaside more broadly? Start with my Toronto community guide — the neighbourhoods, what each pocket is like, and how they compare.