Lighthouse West Tower, 15 Lower Jarvis: Big Balconies by Sugar Beach

Lighthouse West Tower is the taller of the two Daniels towers at Lower Jarvis and Lake Shore, and its selling point is outdoor space. Many suites have balconies two or three times the size you find downtown, and the amenity floors include courts and art studios rather than just a gym. The trade-off is that it sits on Lake Shore, not on the water, and you need to know which side you are buying. I’m Jatin Dua, RE/MAX Quantum Realty.

Balconies are the design

Giannone Petricone wrapped this tower in long balconies to catch views of the lake, and the glass guards carry a frit pattern of concentric circles. From a distance, it reads as a ripple across the west face. It is the most recognisable feature of the building and the reason for the lighthouse name.

The balconies are also large in practice. In the floor plans UrbanToronto reviewed at launch, a typical one-bedroom of about 545 square feet came with a balcony of about 281 square feet above the 8th floor and just under 200 square feet below it. A two-bedroom of about 964 square feet had a wraparound balcony of about 433 square feet. Outdoor space of more than 200 square feet was standard on two-bedroom plans.

For a buyer, that is real living space for five or six months of the year. It also means you should compare price per square foot on interior area only and treat the balcony as a bonus. Remember that wraparound balconies can shade the rooms behind them, so check the light inside on an overcast day.

A wide range of suites

Most suites are one- and two-bedroom plans, with very few studios at the bottom and the Gallery and Penthouse collections at the top. Sizes run from about 349 square feet to the largest penthouse at about 2,394 square feet, which came with roughly 717 square feet of outdoor space.

That range shows in the current listings, which go from a compact one-bedroom to a large two-bedroom more than double the price. The upper collections are a different market from the investor one-bedrooms below them, and they should be priced against luxury waterfront product rather than the building average.

Interiors were designed by Cecconi Simone, with a loft-inspired look meant to reflect the area’s industrial past. Finishes are now five or six years old, so inspect kitchens and floors on resale suites as you would in any building of that age.

Shared amenities with the East tower

Lighthouse West shares an amenity program of about 25,000 square feet with its 36-storey sister, Lighthouse East Tower at 20 Richardson Street. condos.ca lists a basketball court, tennis court, gym, yoga studio, art studio, media room, catering kitchen and outdoor patio.

The sports courts and art studio are what set this complex apart. They make sense in a community Daniels branded as City of the Arts, which was planned with creative office space, arts organisations and post-secondary arts space alongside the condos. Shared amenities mean more neighbours booking the same rooms, so ask how busy the courts are at peak times.

Think about how you would actually use the package. A gym and a party room get used in every building; courts and studios get used heavily by some residents and not at all by others. If you would never pick up a basketball or a paintbrush, you are still paying for those rooms through the fee, and a building with a simpler program nearby might suit you better.

Lake Shore on one side, Sugar Beach on the other

The building sits on the south side of Lake Shore Boulevard, with the Gardiner Expressway structure close by. North-facing suites look over the city and the highway; south-facing suites look toward Sugar Beach and the lake. The difference in noise and outlook is large, and it should affect what you pay.

Wind is the other waterfront reality. Exposed upper balconies on a lakefront tower can be gusty, which affects how much you use them and what furniture survives on them. Spend time on the balcony of the suite you are considering, not just in the living room, and ask current owners how often they actually sit outside.

At ground level, Daniels planned an outdoor pedestrian space it called The Yard, lined with shops and restaurants and linked to Sugar Beach. The East Bayfront around it is still filling in with new towers and offices, so expect construction nearby for some years. The automatic panel on this page covers transit, schools and walkability.

Pricing in East Bayfront

condos.ca puts Lighthouse West at about $954 per square foot, almost exactly in line with Lighthouse East at about $950 and Aqualina at Bayside at about $955. The newer, smaller Aquabella at Bayside averages about $1,076.

Fees on current listings average about $0.96 per square foot, with monthly fees from about $500 to $930. The fee covers common elements, building insurance and water, so heat, cooling and hydro are on you. With 25,000 square feet of shared amenities, fees in the high $0.90s are reasonable.

Within the building, the spread between suites is wide for reasons the average hides. A south-facing suite on a high floor with a 400-square-foot wraparound balcony is a different product from a north-facing one-bedroom over Lake Shore, even at the same interior size. When I price a suite here, I compare it with sales on the same side of the building and in the same height band first, and only then look at the building average.

At the time of writing, eight suites were for sale. One-bedroom and one-bedroom-plus-den suites asked from about $399,000 to $585,000, and two-bedroom suites from about $699,000 to about $1,096,000. Ten suites were listed for rent. For aggregate sold figures, see my building sold report.

Building specifications

Amenities at Lighthouse West Tower

This is one of the few downtown condos where you can play basketball or tennis without leaving the building, and the art studio is a genuine differentiator. The program is shared with Lighthouse East, so the space is generous but so is the number of residents using it.

Jatin’s honest take on Lighthouse West Tower

Lighthouse West Tower — frequently asked questions

Looking at St. Lawrence, the Financial District and Downtown Yonge more broadly? Start with my Toronto community guide — the neighbourhoods, what each pocket is like, and how they compare.