Every Hard and Soft Loft in Etobicoke and West Toronto (2026)

By Jatin Dua · Broker of Record, RE/MAX Quantum Realty — Hard vs soft lofts explained, plus 50+ west-end loft buildings with addresses, former uses, years and links to my building guides.

Hard lofts in these buildings list rarely. Tell me which ones you want and I will send them to you when they come up.

What is the difference between a hard loft and a soft loft?

A hard loft is an older industrial, commercial or institutional building — a factory, warehouse, office block or church — that has been converted into homes. The brick, the timber posts and beams, the wood or concrete ceilings and the big factory windows were already there. The conversion added kitchens, bathrooms and walls.

A soft loft is a new building designed to feel like one: tall ceilings, exposed concrete, big windows, open plans. It is built from the ground up, usually with balconies, modern mechanical systems and the amenities you expect in a new condo.

Some buildings are both. Toy Factory Lofts, Robert Watson Lofts, Chocolate Lofts, Tip Top Lofts and Massey Harris Lofts all pair an original structure with a newer addition. In those buildings the suite you buy matters more than the building name, so always ask which part of the building a unit sits in.

The word “loft” in a building name proves nothing. I wrote a whole piece on three Mimico buildings that share the word and not the history. The test is simple: was this structure here before it was housing? If yes, it is a hard loft. If no, it is a soft loft, however much brick is on the outside.

How I built this list, and why it is not “official”

There is no government register of lofts. Toronto condominium records do not have a “hard loft” box to tick. So this list comes from three places: the building guides I have already published on this site, a loft-specialist building directory that classifies each building as hard, soft or mixed, and individual building pages on a large condo listings site. Every building below appears in at least one of those sources, and the sources are linked at the end of the page.

Where sources disagree on the year, I give the range and say so. Where a building is marked “Hard (per directory)”, the directory classifies it as a hard loft but I could not find a published account of what the building used to be, so the former-use column says “Not sourced” rather than guessing. Years are the conversion or completion year as published, not necessarily the year the original structure went up.

Scope: Etobicoke, plus the west end of the old City of Toronto — Roncesvalles, High Park, Parkdale, Brockton, the Junction, the Junction Triangle, Wallace Emerson, Davenport, Liberty Village and Queen West as far east as Trinity Bellwoods. It is the area I can drive to from my office on The Queensway in under twenty minutes.

Are there any hard lofts in Etobicoke?

Very few. Of the 331 buildings in the loft-specialist directory I used (as at October 2026), only five are in Etobicoke, and only two are classed as hard lofts. That is the honest answer to a question I get often: if you want brick and beam, Etobicoke mostly sends you east.

Network Lofts is the clearest Etobicoke conversion: a former office building whose concrete frame gives most suites ceilings around ten and a half feet, and some two-storey suites far more. The Mystic Pointe buildings on Manitoba Street are where sources disagree. One directory lists 200, 250 and 300 Manitoba together as a hard loft. My own guides found the distillery story repeated widely but could not tie it to a primary record for each address. Treat the history as unconfirmed until a status certificate, a heritage record or the original declaration says otherwise.

Which lofts are in Roncesvalles and High Park?

This is the densest pocket of genuine conversions west of Dufferin, and most of them sit on or near Sorauren Avenue, Dundas West and the streets just south of Bloor. The small church and garage conversions in this table are tiny buildings, often under ten suites, so they come up for sale rarely.

If you are torn between the old and the new in this area, Sorauren Avenue lets you compare them on one block: Sorauren Lofts and Robert Watson Lofts are conversions, and 383 Sorauren next door is a new building with a warehouse-style exterior. Walk through all three on the same day and the difference stops being abstract.

Which lofts are in Parkdale and Brockton?

Parkdale has some of the city’s earliest conversions. Noble Court, registered in 1990, is among the first loft buildings in Toronto, and 243 Macdonell and Brockton Lofts are listed from 1986 and 1987. These are older corporations, which matters when you read the reserve fund study.

Which lofts are in the Junction, Junction Triangle and Davenport?

The rail corridors that made the Junction an industrial district also left the factories. Most of these buildings are small — under 40 suites — with Foundry Lofts at about 104 the exception. Wallace Station Lofts still has its original freight elevator, according to the directory’s building notes, and Victoria Lofts is one of the west end’s best-known church conversions.

Volta Lofts on Annette is in the list because buyers search for it as a loft. It is a soft loft: a 2014 new build.

Which lofts are in Liberty Village, Queen West and on the waterfront?

These are the larger, better-known conversions, and they are where the words “hard loft” and “Toronto” usually meet. Candy Factory and Chocolate Lofts sit a few blocks apart on Queen West near Trinity Bellwoods. Toy Factory and Massey Harris anchor the Liberty Village and King West edge. Tip Top Lofts, with its Art Deco tower and rooftop sign, is on Lake Shore near Bathurst.

Just east of Strachan, the King West and Niagara area has its own cluster of conversions, including Gotham Lofts at 781 King St W, 833 West Lofts at 833 King St W and Clock Tower Lofts at 700 King St W. They are outside this list’s west-end scope, but they are the natural next search if nothing here fits.

Which west-end buildings are soft lofts?

Soft lofts are far more common. The same directory lists more than twice as many soft as hard lofts for sale across the city. These are the larger west-end soft-loft buildings buyers most often ask me about. They tend to have balconies, amenities and newer mechanical systems, and they trade more often, which makes pricing easier.

Hard loft or soft loft: which should you buy?

Neither is automatically quieter. Wood floors in a converted factory carry footsteps; concrete in a new build carries different sounds. Visit at night and ask the owners.

What should you check before buying a loft?

• The original structure. Ask what the building was and when the conversion happened. The answer shapes everything from window replacement to insulation.
• The reserve fund study. Older corporations such as Noble Court, Brockton Lofts and the 1990s conversions are now three decades into their life as condos. Read the study and the recent minutes before you firm up.
• Heating and cooling. Big volumes cost more to heat and cool. Ask for the last year of utility bills if hydro is not in the fee.
• Heritage status. Some buildings carry heritage designation or easements, which can restrict exterior changes.
• The exact suite. Ceiling heights in conversions vary floor by floor. Measure the unit you are buying, not the brochure figure.
• Parking and lockers. Many small conversions have very few spaces. Confirm what is deeded with the unit.

If you already own a loft in one of these buildings and want to know what it would sell for, the estimator below is a quick start. Hard lofts are hard to price from averages, so I will follow up with a proper comparison against the few genuine comparables. I help buyers and sellers across Toronto and the GTA, and lofts are a niche I enjoy because no two are alike.

Frequently asked questions

Sources

• TorontoLOFTS.ca — Toronto Loft Buildings directory — hard and soft loft definitions; the 331-building directory with type, year, units and neighbourhood for each building listed
• TorontoLOFTS.ca — Chocolate Lofts, 955 Queen St W — 1912 Patterson Candy Co. plant; converted to hard and soft lofts by Plazacorp in 2005
• TorontoLOFTS.ca — Wallace Station Lofts, 371 Wallace Ave — circa-1928 adhesives factory with a 1949 coach house; converted 2006
• TorontoLOFTS.ca — Massey Harris Lofts, 915 King St W — former Massey Harris head office, converted 2003, penthouse addition
• TorontoLOFTS.ca — Bloorline Lofts, 284 St Helens Ave — former mattress factory converted by Plazacorp in 2004
• TorontoLOFTS.ca — Stockyard Lofts, 121 Prescott Ave — 1910 tannery converted by Plazacorp in 1996
• TorontoLOFTS.ca — Argyle Lofts, 183 Dovercourt Rd — 1873 bakery building, later the Ideal Bread Factory, converted 2007
• Condos.ca — The Candy Factory Lofts, 993 Queen St W — former Ce De Candy Company building, completed as lofts in 1999, 121 suites
• Condos.ca — Tip Top Lofts, 637 Lake Shore Blvd W — 1929 Tip Top Tailors building; hard lofts on lower floors, soft lofts on new upper floors
• Condos.ca — Victoria Lofts, 152 Annette St — church conversion with a connected brick building, 34 suites, built 2011

Related reading

• iLofts and Skylofts II: soft loft vs hard loft in Mimico
• 10 things no one tells you about the Junction
• 10 things no one tells you about Roncesvalles
• What is my condo worth in Liberty Village or King West?
• Top 5 condo buildings to rent in Queen West