The Beach Condominiums IV, 1733 Queen St E: Five Storeys, Hydro Included

The Beach Condominiums IV is a low, wide building on Queen Street East that most people walk past without noticing, and in the Beaches that is a compliment. It is five storeys, 104 suites, part of a five-building series, and its maintenance fee covers hydro as well as heat, which very few buildings of its age do. That one line on the status certificate is where I start. I’m Jatin Dua, RE/MAX Quantum Realty.

One of five on this stretch of Queen

The building is the fourth of five in a series that share the name The Beach Condominiums. The third, at 1765 Queen Street East, dates from 2000 and is its own corporation, MTCC-1342; its manager describes it as the third construct of a five-tower complex. The second is at 1797 Queen Street East, and listing databases place the fifth further east at 1863.

Each building is a separate condominium corporation with its own board, budget and reserve fund. Buyers sometimes assume the series shares finances because the names match. It does not, so a healthy reserve fund next door tells you nothing about this one, and the reverse is also true.

I could not confirm the developer from a reliable source; condos.ca leaves the field blank. If the builder matters to you, the original declaration on title will name the declarant.

Low-rise, and why that suits the Beaches

At five storeys the building sits close to the height of the main street around it, which is the scale the Beaches has fought to keep. You get an elevator and an underground parking garage without living in a tower, and the building does not loom over the houses behind it.

The trade-off is views. In a five-storey building on Queen, most suites look at the street, the courtyard or the neighbours rather than the lake. The manager of the sister building at 1765 markets terraces with lake and city views, but that is a different building; at 1733, ask exactly what a given suite sees and from which floor.

Condos.ca lists suites from about 400 to 1,385 square feet. That is a wide spread for 104 suites: small one-bedrooms at one end and large two-bedroom-plus-den plans at the other, which makes it work for both first-time buyers and people leaving a Beaches house.

With that range, the building behaves like two markets under one roof. The small suites compete with other entry-level condos along Queen and Kingston Road, and they tend to attract first-time buyers and investors. The large plans compete with Beaches semis and townhouses for downsizers. When you sell, your buyer pool depends on which end you own, so think about that before you pick a floor plan.

The fee line that matters: hydro is included

Condos.ca lists the fee as covering air conditioning, common elements, heat, hydro, building insurance, parking and water. Including hydro is rare in buildings from the 2000s, when developers increasingly installed individual meters. Here, your monthly fee is close to your whole housing bill apart from tax, internet and insurance on your own contents.

That makes fee comparisons misleading. A newer Beaches building with a lower fee per square foot may leave you paying hydro, heat and a parking charge on top. Add those back before you decide which is cheaper.

The flip side is that bulk utilities are a shared cost. When energy prices rise, everyone’s fee absorbs it, and owners who use little subsidise those who use a lot. Ask the manager whether the board has studied sub-metering, because that kind of change affects every owner’s budget.

What surrounds you

This part of Queen Street East changed completely after the Greenwood Raceway closed at the end of 1993. The racing moved to Woodbine in Etobicoke, the track lands were redeveloped for housing and shops, and the southern half became Woodbine Park, with its pond. Streets such as Northern Dancer Boulevard and Winners Circle still carry the racing history.

Day to day, you have the Queen streetcar strip of cafés, shops and restaurants, with Woodbine Beach and the boardwalk beyond Lake Shore Boulevard. The data panel on this page covers transit, schools, parks and food nearby. On summer weekends this stretch fills up with visitors, so expect crowds and harder street parking than the calm weekday picture suggests.

Paying for the Beaches address

Condos.ca puts the building average at about $888 per square foot. That is high for a 2003 low-rise, and it is the address doing the work: Queen Street East in the Beaches has limited condo supply and steady demand from people who want the neighbourhood without a house.

There were no suites listed for sale or lease when I prepared this page, so I cannot quote a current asking range or a fee per square foot from live listings. Remember that the fee covers hydro and heat when you compare it. A fee that looks high against a 2020s building can be similar once utilities and parking are added to the other side.

Small suites at the 400-square-foot end will price differently per square foot than the large plans, so look at sales of the same size and exposure. Ask me for the building sold report for recent trades as aggregates.

Building specifications

Amenities at The Beach Condominiums IV

The amenity list is short: a party room, a meeting room, barbecues and an underground garage. In the Beaches that is fine, because the lake, the boardwalk and Woodbine Park do the job a pool deck would do elsewhere, and a short list keeps that money out of the fee. If you want a gym, budget for a membership on Queen.

Jatin’s honest take on The Beach Condominiums IV

The Beach Condominiums IV — frequently asked questions

Looking at Leslieville, Riverdale, the Beaches, Danforth and Leaside more broadly? Start with my Toronto community guide — the neighbourhoods, what each pocket is like, and how they compare.