The Birches, 101 Prudential Dr: A 1975 Tower Where Hydro Is in the Fee

The Birches is one of the oldest condominium towers on Prudential Drive, and one of the cheapest ways I know to own a roomy one-bedroom in Scarborough with almost every utility rolled into a single cheque. It went up in 1975, it is 16 storeys and 224 suites, and the fee covers hydro as well as heat and water. That bundle is the story here, along with the age that comes with it. I’m Jatin Dua, RE/MAX Quantum Realty.

The first of the Prudential Drive towers

Prudential Drive is a short street off Midland Avenue, just north of Lawrence Avenue East, and it holds a small cluster of 1970s condominium towers. The Birches at 101 came first, in 1975. The two 191-suite towers across the street, at 100 and 301 Prudential, followed in 1978 from the same builder, Arsandco Investments.

That matters when you shop here, because the three buildings share a location and a builder but not a corporation. Each has its own board, its own reserve fund and its own manager. A suite at The Birches should be compared with its neighbours on fees, amenities and condition, not assumed to be the same product.

The Birches is also the largest of the three, with 224 suites against 191 in each of the 1978 towers. More suites over the same kind of building usually means more owners sharing the fixed costs of the lobby, garage and roof, which is part of why its fees sit lower than its neighbours’.

What a 1975 floor plan gets you

Condos.ca lists suites here at roughly 603 to 1,035 sq ft. The two suites listed for sale when I checked both fell in the 700 to 799 sq ft band, which tells you where much of the building’s stock sits: one-bedrooms that are noticeably larger than a new-build one-bedroom in the same price range.

Buildings of this era were designed with separate kitchens, real dining areas and generous closets rather than open-plan galley layouts. Some buyers love that, and some will want to open a kitchen wall. If you are planning that kind of renovation, ask the management office what the corporation allows and what approvals it needs before you firm up.

You will see suite numbers in listings that run into the 1700s, which does not line up neatly with a 16-storey count. Floor labels in older towers sometimes skip numbers. It is a small thing, but ask which actual floor a suite is on if height or view matters to you.

Hydro in the fee is rare, and it cuts both ways

The fee here covers common elements, heat, hydro, building insurance, parking and water. Most condos built since the 2000s meter hydro and often heat by suite, so an owner pays the fee plus two utility bills. At The Birches, the fee is close to the whole monthly cost of living there, apart from internet and property tax.

The two current listings showed fees in the mid-$500s a month for suites in the 700 to 799 sq ft band, which works out to about $0.76 per square foot. For a fee that includes hydro and a parking space, that is low for Toronto.

The trade-off is that bulk utilities are a shared risk. When energy prices or consumption rise, every owner pays through the fee, whether or not they run their air conditioner all summer. Look at how the fee has moved over the last few budgets and what the corporation is doing on energy, such as lighting, boilers or suite submetering, before you treat the current number as permanent.

Daily life off Midland and Lawrence

This is an established, practical pocket of Scarborough rather than a destination. The Midland Lawrence Plaza at the northeast corner of the intersection holds a FreshCo and a TD branch, so daily errands are close. First Capital has applied to redevelop part of that plaza with two towers of 25 and 35 storeys and about 773 homes, keeping the grocery store on site.

Transit is in transition. Line 3 Scarborough, which used to run through this part of the city, closed permanently in July 2023 and has been replaced by buses. The Line 2 subway extension now under construction will add stations at Lawrence and McCowan, Scarborough Centre and Sheppard and McCowan, reachable by bus from Prudential Drive. The data panel on this page shows the routes from the door.

If that plaza project goes ahead, the corner will change over the next decade, with more residents, more construction and eventually more shops. For an owner at The Birches, that is mostly a long-term positive, but it is worth knowing about before you buy.

Pricing, and what the numbers say

The two suites listed for sale when I checked were asking roughly $330,000 to $335,000. That is entry-level pricing for a Toronto condo of 700-plus square feet, and it puts The Birches among the more affordable towers in Scarborough.

Condos.ca did not show a building average per square foot for The Birches at the time I checked. Its twin-era neighbour at 301 Prudential showed about $410 per square foot, which is a reasonable reference point, but fee structures differ between the towers, so compare total monthly cost, not just price.

At these prices, the fee and the reserve fund matter more to your real cost than a few thousand dollars on the purchase price. A low fee with a thin reserve can turn into a special assessment, and a slightly higher fee with a well-funded reserve can be the better deal.

For what has actually traded here, my building sold report gives the recent picture without the guesswork.

Building specifications

Amenities at The Birches

An outdoor pool, gym and sauna, with a security guard and a parking garage, is a solid package for a building at this price. The pool is a summer amenity only, and it is one of the more expensive things a corporation maintains, so look for it in the reserve fund study.

Jatin’s honest take on The Birches

The Birches — 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.