1717 Avenue Road: Tribute’s Brick Mid-Rise With Heat and A/C in the Fee

1717 Avenue Road is one of the buildings I show buyers who want to downsize into a mid-rise that looks like it belongs on the street. Tribute Communities and RioCan built it in 2011, in brick with precast cornices, with 80 suites above retail and some suites topping 3,000 square feet. It is also priced well above the older buildings nearby, and I will explain whether that is justified. I’m Jatin Dua, RE/MAX Quantum Realty.

Designed to fit Avenue Road, not to stand out

Turner Fleischer designed 1717 Avenue Road in brick with precast cornices, a deliberate nod to the traditional houses on the side streets behind it. The building is set back on both the Avenue Road side and the neighbourhood side, so it does not loom over the houses next door.

This is the kind of building the City wants along its designated avenues: mid-rise housing over shops, with the retail at street level renewed as part of the project. RioCan, a retail landlord, partnering with Tribute reflects that mix of shops below and condominium suites above.

The height depends on who you ask. UrbanToronto lists 6 storeys and condos.ca lists 7, which may come down to how a rooftop or mechanical level is counted. Either way, it is a true mid-rise, not a tower.

Eighty suites is a boutique count. You share the elevators with a small number of neighbours, and the board is close enough to the owners that turnout at meetings actually matters. The other side is that the budget is shared by fewer owners, so major projects cost more per suite than in a large tower.

Suites sized for downsizers

Suites run from about 769 to 3,019 square feet across 80 units. At the top end that is more space than many houses in the area, and the whole range suits owners leaving a house more than investors looking for a small suite to rent out.

Tribute is a long-established GTA builder, and UrbanToronto’s developer profile notes it twice received a J.D. Power award for new-home buyer satisfaction. That is a reasonable signal. At 15 years old, though, what matters more now is how the condominium corporation has looked after the building since handover.

UrbanToronto credits Patton Design Studio with the interiors and Quest Window Systems with the building envelope. Windows are worth asking about at this age, since seals and caulking often come up for work somewhere between year 15 and year 20.

The fee covers more than most

Condos.ca lists common elements, heat, air conditioning, building insurance, parking and water in the fee. That is close to a full package. In most newer buildings heating and cooling run through your own meter, and in a large suite, summer air conditioning alone can be a real monthly cost.

So when you compare fees, compare total monthly cost. A fee that includes heat, cooling and parking will look high next to one that does not, and the gap usually narrows, sometimes sharply, once you add those bills back to the other building.

Only one suite was listed for sale in October 2026, so I will not quote its price or fee here. Ask for the current budget and work out the fee per square foot yourself, so you can compare like with like.

Avenue Road north of Lawrence

This stretch of Avenue Road sits in Bedford Park-Nortown, the City’s planning neighbourhood that runs from the zigzag of Yonge and Avenue Road west to Bathurst Street and north to Highway 401. The side streets around the building are mostly houses on mature lots, which is why the brick-and-cornice design was chosen to blend in.

Day to day, Avenue Road gives you shops and services at street level, and Highway 401 is close by car. The data panel on this page shows the transit options, walkability and schools.

Expect more mid-rise buildings like this one along Avenue Road over time, since that is how the City has planned its avenues. That brings more neighbours, more retail and better services, and also more construction while it happens.

Living above retail has trade-offs. Deliveries, garbage pickup and restaurant ventilation can affect suites on the lower floors and at the back. Ask which tenants are in the retail units now, and visit early in the morning and in the evening before you commit to a lower-floor suite.

Pricing: why $1,163 a square foot

Condos.ca puts the building average at about $1,163 a square foot. That is well above the 1997 buildings nearby: about $800 at The Lawrence Park Condominiums on Yonge and about $635 at Crystal Towers near Bathurst and Lawrence. You are paying for a 2011 building, a boutique scale and a fee that already covers heat and cooling.

On large suites, the dollar figures move fast. At the building average, a 1,500-square-foot suite works out to roughly $1.74 million. Floor, exposure, any terrace and the finishes will move that in both directions.

With only one active listing in October 2026 and none for rent, there is no asking range to quote. The sales panel on this page shows what has actually traded, and I would want several recent comparable sales before agreeing a price on a large suite here.

If you are weighing this against a pre-construction mid-rise on Avenue Road, remember what a 15-year-old building gives you that a new one cannot: real budgets, reserve fund studies and board minutes you can read before you buy, and a finished street rather than a construction site.

Building specifications

Amenities at 1717 Avenue Road

The amenity list is short and practical: concierge, a gym, a party room, guest suites and visitor parking, and BBQs are permitted. Guest suites are the quiet win for downsizers, because they let family stay over without you keeping a spare bedroom.

Jatin’s honest take on 1717 Avenue Road

1717 Avenue Road — frequently asked questions

Looking at York Mills, Don Mills, Lawrence Park, Bathurst Manor and midtown-north Toronto more broadly? Start with my Toronto community guide — the neighbourhoods, what each pocket is like, and how they compare.