Oaktree Estates, 1250 Bridletowne Cir: 1,000 sq ft Suites, All-In Fees

Oaktree Estates is a building for people who need a house’s worth of bedrooms and are willing to pay a house-sized fee for the convenience of a tower. Every suite here is roughly 940 to 1,100 square feet, three-bedroom plans are common, and the fee covers hydro, heat, air conditioning, water, cable and parking. You are buying space and simplicity at a very low price per foot, and you need to be comfortable with what the fee says about a 1977 building. I’m Jatin Dua, RE/MAX Quantum Realty.

Every suite is a large suite

Condos.ca lists suites at Oaktree from about 940 to 1,100 sq ft. That narrow range is unusual. There are no studios or small one-bedrooms. Both suites on the market when I checked were three-bedroom plans, one of them with an extra room, which tells you the kind of home this building was designed to provide.

That shapes who the building suits. Suites this size make sense for families, multi-generational households and downsizers who want to keep a guest room, and much less sense for an investor looking for a small rentable suite. With no small suites to buy, the investor case here is weaker than in most towers of its age.

The layouts are 1970s plans: separate kitchens, defined dining rooms and bedrooms big enough for a queen bed and a desk. Many suites will have been renovated over the decades and some will not, so judge each suite on what has actually been done.

When you tour, look past the paint. Ask about the age of the windows and balcony door in the suite, whether the electrical panel and plumbing shut-offs have been updated, and what the corporation is responsible for versus the owner. In a building this age, those answers can be worth more than a new kitchen.

The all-in fee, and what it costs

The fee here covers common elements, heat, hydro, air conditioning, cable TV, building insurance, parking and water. Apart from internet and property tax, that is close to everything. Very few Toronto condos include hydro and cooling as well as heat.

On the two suites listed when I checked, fees were a little over $1,000 a month, roughly a dollar a square foot. That is high on paper, and it is the main reason prices here are low. Add back hydro, cooling, cable and a parking space to a newer building’s fee and the gap narrows a lot.

Bundled utilities spread the cost of consumption across all owners, so the fee moves with energy prices and with how the building’s central systems perform. Ask for the last three to five budgets to see the trend, and how much of each year’s fee goes to the reserve fund.

A tower next to a mid-rise neighbour

Oaktree sits beside 1200 Bridletowne Circle, a six-storey, 55-suite building from the same year by a different builder. The two make a useful comparison. Oaktree has more amenities, larger suites and air conditioning in the fee; 1200 is smaller and quieter, with mid-size suites and no cooling in its inclusion list.

At 16 storeys, upper suites here have long views over the low-rise streets of L’Amoreaux, which is one advantage a tower has over the mid-rise next door. With 184 suites, there is also more turnover, which makes it easier to find comparable sales when you price a purchase.

Both buildings share the same everyday surroundings, and both are separate corporations with their own boards, managers and reserve funds. Read each one’s status certificate on its own merits rather than assuming they are run alike.

Bridlewood Mall and daily life

Bridlewood Mall at Warden and Finch handles most errands, with a Metro, a Yours Food Mart, a Shoppers Drug Mart and a Dollarama. The Toronto Public Library’s Bridlewood branch moved to a larger, roughly 20,000 sq ft space in the mall in 2024, which matters for families.

The mall’s future is an open question. The City approved a redevelopment with condominiums on the property in 2010, but nothing was built, and a 12-storey proposal on the mall lands appeared in 2016. If new towers do arrive, expect construction disruption, followed by more shops and more neighbours.

This is a bus-served, car-friendly part of Scarborough. The panel on this page shows the routes and nearest stations from the door, so check them against your own commute.

Pricing: about $381 a foot, with the fee doing the work

Condos.ca puts the building average at about $381 per square foot. That is among the lowest figures you will see for a Toronto condo, and it reflects both the 1977 build and the fee of roughly a dollar a foot.

The two suites listed for sale when I checked were asking roughly $453,000 to $485,000. For a suite of 940 square feet or more with parking and nearly every utility included, that is a lot of space for the money.

The honest comparison is monthly carrying cost. Work out mortgage, fee and property tax here against a smaller, newer suite with a lower fee plus separate hydro, cooling and parking. For a family that needs the bedrooms, Oaktree often comes out ahead; for a single buyer who doesn’t, it may not. My building sold report shows what has actually traded.

Your lender will want to see the status certificate too, so get your mortgage pre-approval with this specific building in mind and leave time in your conditions for the review. A clean status certificate and a healthy reserve fund make that conversation much easier.

Building specifications

Amenities at Oaktree Estates

A tennis court is the unusual item here, and it is a genuine draw for the families and active retirees who buy in this building. A gym, sauna, party room and meeting room fill out a practical package, without a pool’s operating cost.

Jatin’s honest take on Oaktree Estates

Oaktree Estates — frequently asked questions

Looking at Agincourt, L’Amoreaux, Milliken, Dorset Park and Wexford in Scarborough more broadly? Start with my Toronto community guide — the neighbourhoods, what each pocket is like, and how they compare.