Zip Condos, 80 Western Battery Rd: Liberty Village Value, Parking Included

Zip Condos is not the building people photograph in Liberty Village, and residents will tell you so. What it offers instead is practical: wide, bright layouts, parking included in the maintenance fee and some of the lowest prices per square foot in the neighbourhood. For a lot of first-time buyers and investors, that is the better deal. I’m Jatin Dua, RE/MAX Quantum Realty.

Phase two of Monarch’s Liberty Village plan

Zip was the second phase of Monarch’s Liberty Village development, built next to its first phase, Battery Park, and designed by Graziani + Corazza Architects. It is a 24-storey tower with retail at grade and four levels of underground parking, and it was finished in 2008.

The project team was a standard one for a mid-2000s Toronto tower: Kazmar Associates on structure, The ECE Group on mechanical and electrical, and NAK Design Group on landscape. The original amenity plan added a landscaped patio with barbecues, sports and cyber lounges, a fitness room and a theatre to the shared facilities next door.

The design is a straightforward glass tower. On UrbanToronto’s forum, residents and observers have been blunt about the exterior and the lobby, calling them plain at best. The same residents praised the finishes inside the suites and the floor plans. I think that is a fair summary: you are not buying architecture here, you are buying livable space.

Wide, shallow layouts and what they mean

Suites run from about 403 sq ft studios and compact one-bedrooms up to roughly 1,174 sq ft. The theme residents keep returning to is layout: units tend to be wide and shallow, with a long run of windows and less of the deep, dark interior you find in many towers of this era.

In practice, that means more natural light per square foot and bedrooms that are more likely to have a real window. It also means less wall space for furniture, so measure before you buy. The small end of the range is where the rental demand sits; the two-bedrooms around 700 to 900 sq ft are where owner-occupiers usually land.

Because the largest suites top out under 1,200 sq ft, this is not a building for families who need three real bedrooms. It is a building for singles, couples and investors.

The Battery Park bridge, parking and the garage

One detail many listings skip: Zip was built with a two-storey pedestrian bridge to Battery Park Phase I, linking residents to the pool, hot tub and steam rooms there. Zip’s own amenities, including a gym, party room, theatre, lounges, guest suites and a car wash, sit on top of that.

Shared-facility arrangements between neighbouring corporations are worth reading carefully. They usually come with a cost-sharing agreement, and those costs show up in the fee and in the reserve fund. Ask for the shared-facilities agreement in the status certificate and confirm that the pool access still works the way it was planned.

Parking is included in the maintenance fee here, which is uncommon. At most buildings in the neighbourhood a spot is a separate monthly cost. Residents on the forum describe the garage as a maze, so drive it before you buy if you will park daily.

The building sits a short walk from Toy Factory Lofts and the rest of Liberty Village’s shops and restaurants. Transit, schools and walkability details are in the data panel on this page.

Why investors keep buying here

Residents on the forum describe suites that sell quickly and steady rental demand, especially for one-bedrooms and studios. That matches what you would expect from a building with small, bright layouts, a concierge and parking in the fee, in a neighbourhood full of young professionals.

The flip side of a high investor share is turnover. Move-ins and move-outs are more frequent, elevators get booked more often and some owners care less about the common areas than an owner-occupier would. Ask the property manager about move-in rules and elevator bookings, and look at the board minutes for any recurring complaints.

For an owner-occupier, the same rental demand is a safety net. If your plans change, a well-laid-out one-bedroom here is easier to lease than a quirky suite in a boutique building.

What Zip costs, and why the fees look higher than they are

The building average is around $841 per square foot, below Toy Factory Lofts at about $931. Forum residents have pointed out that resale values here trail nearby buildings, and that is partly because purchase prices were lower to begin with. For a buyer today, that is an entry point, not a warning.

Active listings ask between $479,000 and $749,000 across four suites, from a studio-sized one-bedroom under 500 sq ft to two-bedrooms in the 800s. That is a useful spread for comparing like with like.

Fees on current listings average about $1.00 per square foot, which looks high at first glance. But that fee includes parking along with heat, water, air conditioning and insurance, plus whatever share of the Battery Park facilities the corporation pays. Compare it with a building where parking is extra and heat is metered, and the gap narrows. Check whether a suite without a parking spot still pays the same fee rate.

Building specifications

Amenities at Zip Condos

Zip’s own amenities are solid, and guest suites and a car wash are genuinely useful. The bridge to Battery Park’s pool and spa adds facilities that a 301-suite tower would rarely have alone. For a building at this price point, that combination is the quiet reason it keeps selling.

Jatin’s honest take on Zip Condos

Zip Condos — frequently asked questions

Looking at King West, Liberty Village and CityPlace more broadly? Start with my Toronto community guide — the neighbourhoods, what each pocket is like, and how they compare.