Icon II, 250 Wellington St W: Tridel Value With Hydro in the Fee

Icon II is the building I point to when a buyer tells me downtown fees are a rip-off. On paper its fee per square foot looks high, but the list of what that fee covers is long enough that the comparison with a newer tower often flips. It is a 2003 Tridel building, so the real question is not the finishes but the reserve fund. I’m Jatin Dua, RE/MAX Quantum Realty.

A two-phase Tridel project from the early 2000s

Icon was built in two phases. Icon I, at 270 Wellington West, came first in 2002 with 12 storeys and 247 suites. Icon II, this building, followed in 2003 and is the taller of the pair at 18 storeys and 304 suites. Both were built by Tridel, which is one of the longest-running condo builders in the GTA and a name buyers tend to trust for construction quality.

The exterior mixes soft brick, steel and glass, and many suites have covered balconies set into the facade rather than hung off it. That gives the building a heavier, more solid look than the all-glass towers that came after it. I have not been able to confirm the architect from the sources I could check, so I have left that out rather than guess.

One listing site describes retail at grade, including a grocery store. Ask what is there now, because ground-floor tenants change, and a grocer downstairs is a real daily convenience if it is still operating.

Layouts: from studios to two-plus-dens

The suite range is wide. Condos.ca gives roughly 460 to 1,896 sq ft, while one marketing site quotes 450 to 1,450 sq ft for the original plans; the larger figure likely reflects combined or upper-floor suites. Most of what comes up for sale or lease is one-bedroom, one-plus-den and two-bedroom, with the occasional studio and two-plus-den.

Ceilings are quoted at 8 to 9 feet, which is standard for the era. The original finish package included hardwood floors, marble window sills, granite counters and Whirlpool appliances, but after 20-plus years many suites have been renovated and some have not, so judge each one on its own.

Balconies vary. Some suites have Juliet balconies only, while others have full walk-out terraces. If outdoor space matters to you, filter for it early, because it narrows the list quickly in a building this size.

The fee covers more than almost anyone else’s

Condos.ca lists the fee as covering common elements, heat, hydro, air conditioning, building insurance, parking and water. Hydro inclusion is the unusual part. Most towers built after about 2005 put each suite on its own electricity meter, so the owner pays a separate bill every month on top of the fee.

That is why the per-square-foot fee here looks heavy. Current listings work out to about $1.12 per sq ft, which is well above the fee you will see quoted at many newer downtown towers. Add back a hydro bill, heating and cooling, and a parking charge on the newer building and the gap narrows a lot. For a smaller suite it can disappear.

Two cautions. First, parking appears in the inclusion list, but not every suite comes with a space, so confirm it for the suite you are looking at. Second, bulk hydro means you share the building’s energy costs with your neighbours, and when utility rates rise the fee rises with them. Look at the last three budgets to see how fast the fee has been climbing.

Living on Wellington West

This stretch of Wellington is the quieter street between King West’s restaurants and Front Street. You can walk to the financial district, the Rogers Centre and the King West dining strip, and you come home to a street that is calmer after dark than King itself.

The trade-off is that this part of downtown has filled in fast, and towers built in the last decade have taken some of the views older buildings used to have. Before you buy a suite for its view, check the City of Toronto development applications map for anything proposed on the surrounding blocks. The transit, schools and parks details are in the data panel on this page.

What Icon II costs

Condos.ca puts the building average at about $748 per square foot. For a Tridel building in this location, that is noticeably below what newer King West and Entertainment District towers trade at, and it is the discount you get for a 2003 building with original mechanical systems.

When I wrote this there were six suites for sale and six for lease. Across five listings with published details, asking prices ran from about $399,000 to about $675,000. Fees on those listings ran from roughly $560 to $1,040 a month.

That spread of unit types is useful, because it means real comparables exist for most suite sizes. If you want to know what a specific suite should sell for, I can pull the recent sold comparables through my building sold report.

Building specifications

Amenities at Icon II

The package is a full one for its age: a gym with a pool and saunas, a rooftop terrace with barbecues and a 24-hour concierge. Sources disagree on whether the pool is indoor or outdoor, so see it for yourself, and remember that a pool in a 20-year-old building is a line item in the reserve fund.

Jatin’s honest take on Icon II

Icon 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.