Trinity Lofts, 90 Trinity St: A Curved Brick Boutique by the Distillery

Trinity Lofts is the building I suggest when someone wants to live a block from the Distillery District but would rather not be in one of its towers. It is an 8-storey, 82-suite Streetcar Developments building with a curved brick-and-glass face on Eastern Avenue, and it sits right where Corktown is about to change the most. Buy it for the scale and the design, and understand the construction around you. I’m Jatin Dua, RE/MAX Quantum Realty.

A curve on Eastern Avenue, and a rare piece of design

The thing to notice about this building is its shape. Giannone Petricone Associates gave the Eastern Avenue face a gentle curve that follows the bend of the street east of Parliament, and banded each floor in brick so the glass does not dominate. UrbanToronto described it at the time as a deliberate move away from the glass-box towers going up around it, with a nod to mid-century design.

A white, cube-like volume with balconies sits on the southeast corner, and the palette is red brick, glass and wood. At eight storeys it is sized for Corktown, one of the city’s oldest neighbourhoods, rather than for the towers of the Distillery and the West Don Lands next door.

Streetcar Developments built it in partnership with Dundee Realty, now Dream. Streetcar is the same developer behind several of the brick lofts and boutique mid-rises in this part of the east end, including Corktown District and the Vinegar Lofts, and it has a reputation for smaller buildings with more architectural attention than the typical tower.

Soft lofts, not hard lofts

Despite the name, these are new-build suites, not a warehouse conversion. Dash Property Management’s resident page describes nine-foot exposed concrete ceilings, engineered hardwood floors, stainless steel appliances, gas ranges in most suites and gas hookups and outlets on many balconies. That is a good finish package for a 2012 mid-rise, but it is a soft loft.

Sizes run from about 494 to 1,696 square feet. Almost everything currently listed is a one-bedroom or one-plus-den between 500 and 700 square feet, so the larger two-bedroom and corner suites come up far less often. If you need a true second bedroom, expect to wait for one.

The curved facade means some suites have angled or bowed window walls. They can be lovely, but they also make furniture planning harder, so measure the window wall and ask for the floor plan, not just the listing photos.

Gas is the detail most buyers miss. A gas range and a balcony hookup for a barbecue are rare in Toronto condos of this era, and cooks notice the difference. Ask whether the gas line is metered separately or covered under the common expenses, since that affects your monthly budget.

Living at Trinity and Eastern

You are a short walk from the Distillery District’s restaurants and the Canadian Stage theatre on Berkeley Street, and Corktown Common and the West Don Lands are just to the east. The immediate streets are a mix of old Corktown houses, car dealerships and commercial buildings, so the block itself is not pretty yet, but it is convenient.

The bigger change is transit. Metrolinx is building Corktown Station on the Ontario Line at King and Berkeley, with plans that take in the First Parliament site, a few blocks north-west of here. That is good news for long-term value and for anyone who commutes, but it also means years of heavy construction a few blocks away. Visit on a weekday and listen.

Eastern Avenue itself carries traffic heading to and from the Don Valley Parkway and the Gardiner, so suites facing the curve will hear more than those on the Trinity Street side. North-facing suites look back over Corktown’s low rooftops, while suites facing south and east increasingly look at the Distillery’s towers.

The automatic panel on this page covers transit, schools and walkability in detail, so I will leave those numbers to it.

Rooftop cabanas and a small-building amenity package

The amenity list is modest and well judged for 82 suites: a gym, a lounge and party room, a meeting room and a rooftop patio with private rooftop cabanas. Beanfield fibre is available, which is a real plus if you work from home.

The rooftop is the space owners talk about. In a building this size you are sharing it with relatively few neighbours, which is very different from the rooftop of a 400-suite tower on a Saturday in July.

What it costs, and what the fee covers

condos.ca puts the building average at about $856 per square foot. That sits between the older brick conversions nearby and the newest towers in the Distillery and Canary districts, which is roughly where a well-built 2012 mid-rise should land.

Across the suites currently listed, fees average about $1.06 per square foot a month. That includes common elements, heat, air conditioning, water, building insurance and parking. Electricity is separately metered and billed, so budget for hydro on top. Parking in the fee is a real saving compared with buildings where a space is a separate monthly charge, but confirm the suite you are buying actually has one.

At the time of writing, five suites were listed for sale, all one-bedrooms or one-plus-dens in the 500 to 700 square foot range asking from about $420,000 to $549,000. Five listings at once in an 82-suite building is a lot of supply, which gives buyers some negotiating room. For aggregate recent trades, see my building sold report.

Building specifications

Amenities at Trinity Lofts

The package is small but practical: a gym, a lounge and a rooftop with cabanas, without a pool to fund. In an 82-suite building that keeps shared costs focused on what owners actually use.

Jatin’s honest take on Trinity Lofts

Trinity Lofts — frequently asked questions

Looking at Church–Wellesley, Corktown, Moss Park and Cabbagetown more broadly? Start with my Toronto community guide — the neighbourhoods, what each pocket is like, and how they compare.