Harbourpoint II, 260 Queens Quay W: Waterfront Space at 1980s Prices

Harbourpoint II is where I start when a buyer wants a lake view and real square footage on a budget that rules out the newer waterfront towers. It is a 1987 building, it is not pretty, and an architecture critic once said the complex should be torn down. It also trades at one of the lowest prices per square foot on Queens Quay, and for the right buyer that matters more. I’m Jatin Dua, RE/MAX Quantum Realty.

One of three towers from the early waterfront

Harbourpoint is a three-tower complex at 250, 260 and 270 Queens Quay West: a 20-storey first phase and two 30-storey towers, of which this is the middle one. The towers sit on a shared four-storey parking podium, and they went up in the mid-1980s, in the first wave of condo building on the central waterfront.

The sources do not agree on who designed it. Condos.ca and other listing sites name Huang and Danczkay as the builder. The Architectural Conservancy Ontario building record lists Northgrave Architect as the architect, Harbourfront Corporation as the developer and Huang and Danczkay as the general contractor, with completion around 1986. I have not been able to reconcile those fully, so treat the credits with some caution.

Nobody buys here for the architecture. A widely read Skyrise Cities critique of the complex described the upper floors as an unbroken wall of beige masonry and graded it a D, with many readers saying that was generous. That is a fair description of the outside. What matters to an owner is what the building gives you inside, and where it puts you.

Bigger suites than the price suggests

Buildings from this era were generally designed with larger rooms than today’s towers, and a Globe and Mail piece on a suite here made the same point: the lake-facing suites at Harbourpoint tend to be bigger than what the same money buys in a newer building.

The trade-off is everything else that comes with a 1987 suite. Unrenovated kitchens and bathrooms, older windows and heating and cooling systems that may be original. Some suites have been fully redone and some have not, and the price gap between the two can be large. Judge each suite on its condition, not on the building average.

Exposure matters a lot here. A south-facing suite with an open view over the harbour and a north-facing suite looking back over the city are not the same product, even on the same floor.

What the fee leaves out

Condos.ca lists the fee here as covering common elements, building insurance, water and cable TV. Heat and parking are not in that list, which is different from many buildings of the same age, where heat is bundled in. If that is correct, you need to budget for heating and cooling through your own bill and for parking if it is charged separately.

Interestingly, condos.ca lists a different set of inclusions for Harbourpoint III next door, with parking in and cable out. Inclusion lists on listing sites are not always current, so confirm the real answer in the status certificate and the most recent budget. Ask how suites are heated and what a typical winter hydro bill runs.

The Globe and Mail piece noted exterior lockers, a gym and a recreation room. Ask whether the suite has a locker and parking space attached, and which amenities are shared across the three towers.

Living at Queens Quay and Rees

The location does the heavy lifting. You are across the road from the water’s edge, on the rebuilt Queens Quay with its tree-lined promenade and bike path, and a short walk from the CN Tower, Rogers Centre, the financial district and the Harbourfront parks. The transit and walkability details are in the data panel on this page.

Expect summer crowds on the waterfront and event-night traffic around the stadium. If you want quiet, higher floors help, and so does picking your exposure carefully.

Directly across Queens Quay, on the lake side, is Admiralty Point, a 61-suite boutique building with much larger suites that condos.ca puts at about $877 per square foot. It is a useful reference point: the gap between the two is roughly what the market charges for the water side of the street, a small building and bigger floor plans.

What Harbourpoint II costs

Condos.ca puts the building average at about $652 per square foot. That is low for the central waterfront, and well below what newer Queens Quay and CityPlace towers trade at. You are paying less for an older building with dated suites, a plain exterior and a heavier future maintenance bill.

When I wrote this there was only one suite for sale and one for lease, so I cannot give you a meaningful range of asking prices. With 217 suites, listings come up regularly over a year, and the sold data panel on this page is the best guide to where the building actually trades. A building this size also tends to have a steady supply of comparables, which makes pricing an offer easier than in a small boutique building.

When you compare it with a newer tower, add back what this fee does not cover, heat and possibly parking, and the cost of updating an original suite. If you want a value check on a specific suite, I can pull comparables through my building sold report.

Building specifications

Amenities at Harbourpoint II

The amenities are modest and dated: a gym, a sauna, a recreation room and, unusually for downtown, a tennis court listed by condos.ca. Ask which facilities are shared across the three towers and what condition they are in.

Jatin’s honest take on Harbourpoint II

Harbourpoint II — 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.