Lindenwood, 70 Mill St: 95 Suites, Parking and Hydro in the Fee

Lindenwood is the building that started housing on the old Gooderham and Worts lands. It was registered in 1998, years before the Distillery District opened to the public, and it still has the most direct relationship to the lanes across Mill Street of anything residential here. The trade-off is a high monthly fee, and you need to understand what that fee buys before you judge it. I’m Jatin Dua, RE/MAX Quantum Realty.

The first condo on the Gooderham and Worts lands

A 1994 City of Toronto planning framework set out districts for the old distillery lands, and three condominiums were completed under it between the late 1990s and early 2000s: 70 Mill, 80 Mill and 39 Parliament, all by Davies Smith. Lindenwood, registered in August 1998, is the earliest of the three.

That timing matters. The distillery stopped production in 1990, and it was 2001 before the current owners bought the site and began turning it into the pedestrian district of galleries, shops and restaurants it is today. Lindenwood’s first owners bought into an industrial area on a bet, and that bet has paid off in the street life now on their doorstep.

The name has a local echo. The City notes that the original Worts family residence on these lands, from about 1851, was called Lindenwold. Its site is now occupied by Rack House D, a few doors west of this building.

A rack house wall at the base

Lindenwood is new construction, but the City of Toronto describes it as incorporating the south and east facades of a one-storey distillery building, Rack House I. In practice, the base of the building carries original Victorian industrial brick, and the tower rises behind it. Its neighbour at 80 Mill does the same with Rack House H.

That makes Lindenwood more than a building that happens to sit near heritage. It is physically tied to it. If you value the character of the district, this is about as close as a modern condo gets.

There is a 5.5-metre pedestrian walkway on the west side of the building, shared with the Rack House D property under easements, according to the City. Ask how the walkway is maintained and who pays for what, since shared arrangements like this show up in the condominium’s documents.

Small building, larger suites

With 95 suites over 11 or 12 storeys, Lindenwood is a small corporation. Hallways are quiet, you get to know your neighbours, and elevator waits are short. The other side of that is cost sharing: every major repair is divided among fewer owners than in a 300-suite tower.

Suites start at about 588 square feet and reach about 1,530, and the current listings are all two-bedroom or two-bedroom-plus-den plans. This is a building for people who want space, not investors hunting for the smallest entry price.

I have not been able to confirm the architect, ceiling heights or a full set of floor plans, so I will not guess at them. Ask for the condominium plan and measure the suite yourself, especially in a building of this age where renovations vary a great deal from unit to unit.

Condition is where two suites with the same floor plan can be worth very different amounts. After more than 25 years, some owners will have redone kitchens, bathrooms and flooring and some will not. I price an original-condition suite here against a renovated one by the cost and disruption of doing the work, not by the asking price on the listing.

Living across from the Distillery

The Distillery’s car-free lanes start across the street. That is wonderful on a quiet Tuesday evening and busier on summer weekends and during the winter market season, when Mill Street fills with visitors. Lower floors facing south will hear more of it than upper floors facing north.

To the north and east, the West Don Lands and the Canary District have replaced the vacant industrial land that surrounded this building for its first decade. Corktown’s older streets are a short walk north. Next door to the west, the Rack House D site at Trinity and Mill has seen several high-rise proposals over the years, most recently a 31-storey hotel submitted at the end of 2019. If you are looking at a west-facing suite, check where that application stands. The panel on this page covers transit, schools and walkability.

A low price per foot and a high fee: read them together

Lindenwood averages about $734 per square foot on condos.ca. That is the cheapest per-foot entry among the Distillery buildings I track except Parliament Square at about $703, and well below the newer towers: Pure Spirit and Clear Spirit sit at about $891, and The Gooderham at about $906. 80 Mill next door is about $799.

The fee is the other half of the story. Current listings show monthly fees from about $1,100 to about $1,260 for two-bedroom suites. That looks steep until you add up what it includes: heat, hydro, air conditioning, water, building insurance and parking. In most newer buildings, hydro, cooling and often parking are on top of the fee.

Even so, at these levels the fee will weigh on what buyers can afford to pay and on any investor’s return. It is the main reason the price per foot sits where it does. Ask the status certificate how fees have moved over the last few years and what the budget assumes for utilities.

At the time of writing, three suites were listed for sale, asking from about $600,000 to about $700,000 for two-bedroom and two-bedroom-plus-den plans, with one suite listed for rent. For aggregate sold figures, see my building sold report.

Building specifications

Amenities at Lindenwood

Amenities are basic: a rooftop deck, party and meeting rooms, bike storage and a secured garage. There is no pool or concierge listed, which keeps operating costs in a 95-suite building under some control; the Distillery, the Canary District parks and the waterfront do the rest.

Jatin’s honest take on Lindenwood

Lindenwood — 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.