Hullmark Centre II, 5 Sheppard Ave E: Tridel Above Sheppard-Yonge

Hullmark Centre is about as close as you can live to a subway interchange in this city. The complex sits on top of Sheppard-Yonge station, has a Whole Foods at street level and was built by Tridel with Hullmark in 2015. The fee is the number to study here, because it is high for a building this young, and I will explain what I think it is paying for. I’m Jatin Dua, RE/MAX Quantum Realty.

Which tower is this?

Hullmark Centre is a two-tower complex at the corner of Yonge and Sheppard, with a shared podium, office floors and retail. UrbanToronto’s 2013 coverage described a 35-storey south tower fronting Yonge and a 49-storey north tower with ten floors of office space, and the forum thread now lists the tall tower at 45 storeys and about 168 metres.

Condos.ca lists this corporation, TSCC-2442 at 5 Sheppard East, as 34 storeys with 335 suites, which matches the shorter tower. But a December 2012 UrbanToronto article put the 5 Sheppard East address on the tall north tower. The sources do not agree, so confirm the tower, the corporation number and the floor count on the status certificate for the suite you are looking at.

This matters more than it sounds. The two towers are separate corporations sharing a podium and amenities alongside office and retail space, and the cost-sharing between them flows straight into your monthly fee.

Living on top of the interchange

The defining feature is the station. UrbanToronto describes two separate indoor entrances to Sheppard-Yonge, at opposite ends of the complex, one for the Yonge line and one for the Sheppard line. The transit panel on this page has the details; the practical point is that you can reach either line without going outside.

Whole Foods occupies the ground floor, which is a bigger daily convenience than any amenity room. Highway 401 is a short drive south. For a commuter who works downtown or along the Sheppard line, very few buildings in Toronto beat this setup.

The trade-off is that this is one of the busiest corners in North York. There is a public plaza out front, office workers during the day and new towers going up around the intersection. If you want quiet, look at a suite facing east, away from Yonge, and visit at rush hour before you decide.

Design, layouts and the amenity floors

Kirkor clad the towers in charcoal panels with white horizontal bands, and the first nine floors of balconies use aluminium cladding, with smoked glass above. It is a restrained, dark building that still reads clearly on the skyline.

Suites range from about 462 to 2,272 sq ft on condos.ca. Most of what is listed is one-bedrooms and two-plus-dens between roughly 500 and 1,000 sq ft, with a small number of large suites near the top of the range that rarely come up.

The large suites are worth knowing about if you are downsizing from a house. A two-thousand-square-foot suite above a subway interchange, with a supermarket downstairs, is a very different way to live than a bungalow in Willowdale, and the fee per square foot matters more the larger the suite. Run the monthly number for the exact suite before you fall for the floor plan.

UrbanToronto described podium amenities that include a media room, bar, fireplace lounge, steam room, sauna, whirlpool, fitness centre, theatre, billiards room and boardroom, plus a rooftop garden and a sundeck with a pool, hot tub and dining area. Ask which of these this corporation can use and how the costs are shared.

Why the fee is high, and what to ask

Condos.ca lists common elements, heat, air conditioning, building insurance, parking and water in the fee. Across current listings the fee works out to about $1.03 per square foot, with monthly fees ranging from $565 to $993. That is well above most 2015 towers in North York.

Part of it is the inclusions: heat, cooling and parking are real costs you would otherwise pay separately. Part of it is likely the complexity of a mixed-use site with shared amenities, a rooftop pool and a station connection. I have not seen the budget, so I will not guess at the split. Ask for the last two years of budgets and the shared facilities agreement before you make an offer.

A high fee is not a reason to walk away on its own. It is a reason to compare total monthly cost, not price alone, against Emerald Park or Gibson Square, where the fee covers a similar set of utilities.

What Hullmark Centre II costs

Condos.ca puts the building average at about $884 per square foot. That is a slight discount to some newer towers around Yonge and Sheppard, and I think the higher fee is part of the reason: buyers price in the monthly cost.

When I checked there were three suites for sale and three for lease. Asking prices ran from $519,999 to $928,000. Work out the fee per square foot for any suite you like and add it to your mortgage payment before comparing it with another building.

Rent is the other side of the equation for investors. A station-top building leases easily, but the higher fee eats into the return, so look at the rental figures in the data panel and do the arithmetic with the actual fee rather than an area average.

For recorded sales, use the market data on this page or ask me for the building sold report. Sale history is the only reliable check on whether the fee is being priced in.

Building specifications

Amenities at Hullmark Centre II

The rooftop sundeck with a pool and hot tub is the standout, and the podium adds a full spa-and-gym package with theatre and billiards. In a complex shared with a second tower and offices, confirm access rules and hours before you count on any of it.

Jatin’s honest take on Hullmark Centre II

Hullmark Centre II — frequently asked questions

Looking at Willowdale, Yonge & Sheppard, Bayview Village and North York Centre more broadly? Start with my Toronto community guide — the neighbourhoods, what each pocket is like, and how they compare.