X2 Condos, 101 Charles St E: A 49-Storey Black Tower With a Podium Pool

X2 is the taller of the two black towers that frame Charles Street at Jarvis, and it is the one with the pool. Great Gulf and Lifetime finished it in 2015, about 558 suites on top of an eight-storey podium, and it is one of the most actively traded buildings in this part of the city. That much choice is good for buyers, and it is the first thing a seller here needs to plan around. I’m Jatin Dua, RE/MAX Quantum Realty.

The sister tower, in black glass

X2 was planned as the companion to X Condos, the black tower across Charles Street to the north. Seen from the east, the pair works as a gateway into the Bloor and Yorkville area, and that was the intent.

Wallman Architects clad X2 in dark glass and mullions that nod to Mies van der Rohe and the Toronto-Dominion Centre, then added accents in primary colours in a Mondrian-like pattern so it does not simply copy its sibling. The lobby is double height.

Out front on Jarvis is a public art piece by Shayne Dark called Double Take, a cluster of deep blue poles set at angles. It pairs with his Double Vision sculpture in front of X. Small details like that are part of why the corner feels finished rather than just built.

Dark glass looks sharp, but it affects how a suite feels inside. Tinted glazing cuts glare and some heat, and it also makes rooms read a little dimmer on grey days than clear glass would. Visit in the afternoon and with the lights off before you decide whether you like it.

The pool on the podium

The eight-storey podium is topped by a terrace designed by Janet Rosenberg & Studio, with an outdoor swimming pool, patterned stone paving, trees in large planters, a fire feature and loungers and day beds. For a downtown tower, it is one of the better-designed outdoor amenity spaces I show.

An outdoor pool is a summer amenity. You get three or four good months a year, and the corporation pays to run and maintain it all year. That is a fair trade for many buyers, but look at the reserve fund study for pool and terrace waterproofing, which are among the more expensive items in a building of this type.

The double-height ground floor of the podium was planned for a grocery store when the tower was built. Check what operates there now, since a grocer in the base of your building is a genuine daily convenience.

Small suites, many of them

Condos.ca shows suites from about 416 to 1,517 square feet. The bulk of what trades is studios, one-bedrooms and one-plus-dens, with a smaller number of two-bedrooms. That mix is typical of towers sold to investors in the early 2010s.

In a 558-suite building with many repeated plans, you are rarely the only seller of your layout. At the time of writing there were a dozen listings for sale and six for lease. For a buyer, that is leverage: you can compare several near-identical suites and negotiate. For a seller, it means condition, view and price have to be right from day one.

Higher floors and corner two-bedrooms are where X2 stands apart from the generic one-bedroom crowd. If you are buying to hold, those suites face the least direct competition when you sell.

Studios and compact one-bedrooms are the easiest suites to rent and the hardest to sell in a soft market, because they are what every investor-era tower downtown has in quantity. If you are buying one, buy the best view and layout you can afford in that category, and keep your holding period long enough to ride out a slow year.

Jarvis and Charles, day to day

The building sits at a crossroads. Bloor Street and the Yonge–Bloor hub are a short walk north and west, the Church–Wellesley Village is to the south-west, and the quieter residential streets of Upper Jarvis run around it. Couture at 28 Ted Rogers Way is just to the north, and buyers often compare the two.

Living between two neighbourhoods has its advantages. You can walk to the Village’s restaurants and bars in one direction and to the Bloor Street shops in the other, while the streets right around the building are mostly residential and offices. That combination is a big part of the appeal, and it is something neither Yorkville nor the heart of the Village offers on its own.

Jarvis is a busy arterial road, so suites facing it get more traffic noise than those facing Charles or the interior. Ask which way a suite faces and visit at rush hour. The panel on this page covers transit, schools and nearby food and parks.

Price per square foot and what is listed now

The building average on condos.ca is about $887 per square foot, toward the top of this part of downtown. That reflects the newer construction, the pool and the position close to Bloor.

At the time of writing seven suites were for sale, asking from $389,000 to $699,000, a range that runs from a studio to a two-bedroom. Monthly fees on those listings ran from $340 to $682, or about $0.80 per square foot across active listings. Separate parking or storage listings and lease listings are excluded from that range.

Condos.ca shows heat and water among the fee inclusions, with common elements and building insurance as standard. Hydro and cooling appear to be separate, so ask for the suite’s utility bills. With this many active listings, I compare within the same plan and stack before setting an offer price.

Building specifications

Amenities at X2 Condos

The podium terrace and pool are the reason to choose X2 over its neighbours, and they are well designed. The rest is standard: concierge, a gym, visitor parking and Beanfield Fibre for those who work from home.

Jatin’s honest take on X2 Condos

X2 Condos — 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.