Admiralty Point, 251 Queens Quay W: 61 Big Suites on the Water

Admiralty Point is the building I bring up when a downsizer tells me there is nothing on the waterfront big enough to replace a house. It has only 61 suites, the smallest of them around 900 sq ft, on the lake side of Queens Quay West. It is also a 1989 building with hotel-linked amenities, and both of those facts need checking before you fall for the view. I’m Jatin Dua, RE/MAX Quantum Realty.

A small building on the lake side of Queens Quay

Most of the waterfront between Spadina and Yonge is lined with large towers holding hundreds of suites each. Admiralty Point is the exception: a low, boutique building of 61 suites built in 1989 by The Whaler’s Group. Condos.ca lists it as 8 storeys and one marketing site calls it 9, so expect to see both figures.

Its position is the main reason people buy here. It sits on the south side of Queens Quay, the water side, so many suites look straight out over the harbour and the islands rather than across the street at another tower. The building is a short walk from HTO Park, Harbourfront Centre and the CN Tower and Rogers Centre area.

With so few suites, very few come up for sale in any year. When I wrote this, condos.ca showed nothing for sale, which is normal here. If you want in, you need to be watching before the right suite lists.

House-sized suites

Suite sizes are what set Admiralty Point apart. Condos.ca gives a range of roughly 905 to 3,343 sq ft, and one marketing site describes plans from one-bedrooms of about 1,100 sq ft up to three-bedroom-plus-den penthouses of more than 3,000 sq ft. There is nothing micro about this building.

Suites have large windows, some wrapping a corner, and private balconies facing the lake or the city. One marketing site describes the ceilings as tall, but a listing in the building recorded 8-foot ceilings, which is what I would expect from a 1989 concrete building. If ceiling height matters to you, measure it.

One listing also described the heating as forced-air electric, which is common for the era and worth understanding, because condos.ca lists heat as included in the fee. Ask how heating and cooling are metered for the specific suite, and whether the system has been replaced since the building was new.

Amenities shared with the hotel next door

Admiralty Point is linked to the neighbouring Radisson hotel. A recent listing and a marketing site both describe residents sharing facilities with the hotel, including an outdoor pool and sundeck, a sauna, a whirlpool, a fitness area and squash or racquetball courts, and the listing also mentions hotel cleaning and room service being available to residents.

That arrangement is a real perk if it works, and a real risk if it changes. Hotels get sold, renovated and rebranded, and a shared-facilities agreement written in the late 1980s may not match how the facilities are run today. Get a copy of the agreement, find out what residents pay toward the shared spaces, and confirm that access continues if the hotel changes hands.

The building itself has a 24-hour concierge, security and an underground garage, and guest suites are listed by one source. Pet restrictions are noted on condos.ca, so read the rules before you bring a dog.

Daily life on this stretch of Queens Quay

Queens Quay West was rebuilt about a decade ago with a $110 million project that added a tree-lined waterfront promenade and a separated bike path. For anyone living on the south side of the street, that changed daily life: you step out of the lobby onto the water’s edge path rather than onto a busy arterial road.

The flip side is that this is a public waterfront. In summer the promenade, the boardwalk and the parks fill with visitors, events at Harbourfront Centre draw crowds, and the area around the Rogers Centre and the CN Tower gets busy on game and concert nights. If you want quiet, look at higher floors and at which side of the building a suite faces.

Across the street are the three Harbourpoint towers from the same era, which are larger and trade at a lower price per square foot. They are a useful comparison if you like the location but not the price, though you give up the lake-side position and the small-building feel.

What Admiralty Point costs

Condos.ca puts the building average at about $877 per square foot. That is above many of the larger 1980s waterfront towers nearby, and the premium is for the lake-side location, the low suite count and the size of the suites. In a building where the average suite is well over 1,000 sq ft, the total price of a home here is closer to a house than to a typical condo.

Condos.ca lists the fee as covering common elements, heat, air conditioning, building insurance, parking and water, which is a strong inclusion list. With only 61 suites to share the cost of every repair, though, fees in a small older building can move more than in a big tower when major work comes due.

There were no active listings when I wrote this, so I cannot give you a current asking-price range. With resales this rare, the sold data panel on this page is the best guide, and I can pull a full set of comparables for a specific suite through my building sold report.

Building specifications

Amenities at Admiralty Point

On paper this is a resort-level package for a 61-suite building, because most of it comes through the neighbouring hotel. How good it is day to day depends on the state of the hotel facilities and the agreement that governs them.

Jatin’s honest take on Admiralty Point

Admiralty Point — frequently asked questions

Looking at King West, Liberty Village and CityPlace more broadly? Start with my Toronto community guide — the neighbourhoods, what each pocket is like, and how they compare.