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New in Toronto real estate: Axiom Condos
Axiom Condos is the nuanced name for the set of two towers planned for Adelaide and George streets. Clearly, potential buyers are to take the project as their calculated, reasoned, true real estate choice — but hey, look, it comes with a "sparkling water feature!" A joint project by Greenpark and Fieldgate, Axiom towers will rise only modestly, but they will still certainly bring added density to Adelaide East. Watch out, west end — Axiom is coming! Very, very slowly. Here's a closer look at Axiom Condos.
SPECS
Address: 424 Adelaide Street East
Number of towers: 2
Total number of units: 480
Number of storeys: 19,17
Types of units: Studio, one bedroom, one-plus-den, two bedroom, two-plus-den
Unit sizes (in square feet): 415 - 1058
Ceiling heights: 9' and 10'
Prices from: Low $200,000's
Parking: $35,000
Maintenance fees: $0.52/sf
Maintenance fees exclude: Hydro, water, bicycle locker maintenance ($10.70)
Developer: Greenpark Homes and Fieldgate Homes
Architect: Kirkor Architects
Amenities: 24/7 Concierge, lounge, theater room, games room, pet spa, fitness studio, party room, outdoor terrace, sky deck
Expected occupancy: December 2016
THE GOOD
Lest my eyes (or sixth grade mathematical skills) deceive me, it seems Axiom is offering its suites for much below the apparent new "norm" of $650-$700 per square foot. Indeed, these units are priced closer to $500-$550, which (sadly) is pretty competitive for a new downtown Toronto tower. Granted, initial pricing is often deceiving such that the term "starting from" usually comes to mean "exclusive to just one suite on a low floor, with no view, basic finishes, and next to garbage chute." But hey, it's affordable, right? Chock it up to a cooling real estate market, surplus of new condo options (the chicken or the egg?) or the arguably less desirable east-of-Yonge address, but Axiom definitely has pricing on its side. Until you read the fine print, that is, but that goes for most Toronto builds.
Now, I hinted at a supposed east-end inferiority — a point seemingly supported by the glut of new condos poised to take over Richmond, King, and Adelaide streets west. But there's decidedly less love on the other side of Yonge. What gives? Well, for one, the area just north of the Axiom site is still a little bit seedy, with a persistent row of dive bars on Queen and questionable nighttime action at Moss Park. Retail lags a bit over here, too, with a couple stretches of unoccupied spaces that would never be tolerated a little further west. But I suspect that will change. Axiom will bring fancy new retail to its podium base (anyone want to wager $20 on Starbucks?), and construction will inevitably move east as developers snatch up the last of skinny King West spaces. Axiom residents won't be the firsts to the area, but they most certainly won't be the last either.
And if you can look past the occasional dive bar brouhaha, what's not to love? You're five minutes from the St. Lawrence Market, four mintues from the Distillery District, and potentially right by the Downtown Relief Line. And until then (just 15 years, or so), there's always the King streetcar.
THE BAD
What, exactly, is a bicycle locker maintenance fee? $10 per month to make sure exhaust from the parking garage doesn't filter into the bike room and contaminate your seat? The cost of a random stranger employed to clean your chain and inspect your brake pads once a month? Or something even more frivolous and unnecessary? Seems almost as redundant as a pet grooming room in a condo that's around the corner from a pet spa. Oh, wait...
Axiom Condos suffers from the main plague that strikes too many new urban builds; that is, the space-saving pseudo-kitchen. While I'm sure some talented multifunction-room dwellers can make good use of the kitchen/living/dining hybrid, the lack of counter space and humming Energy Star by the living room credenza doesn't seem overly charming (at least, to those pretentious people who casually use the term "credenza"). While the unit layouts seem pretty good overall, actually — with windows in most bedrooms, the occasional walk-in or step-in closet, and fair-sized balconies for most suites — no space for the stand mixer is a definite drawback.
And don't let Axiom's seemingly innocuous 19 storeys fool you — this is one mega condo in disguise. Granted, elevator waits won't be so bad with units divided between two structures, but you can count on close to a thousand people sweating in that fitness centre and clogging up the parking garage entrance. High density can mean high wear, which is bad news for your maintenance fees. And nerves.
THE VERDICT
Really depends on the price of a pint at one of those Queen East dives.
What do you think? Would you live here? Add your comments to the thread below.
Read other posts in this series via our Toronto Condos and Lofts Pinterest board
Discussion
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I wanted to thank you for not bowing down to the builders and turning these articles into pure advertisements, becuase they are not nor were they ever meant to be, although some wish that they were. Integrity is key, and I believe that you are doing a fantastic job. It is refreshing to hear your 'as honest as you can be' opinion of these new constructions within the confines that you must operate. This is a blog. Thanks for keeping it so, and resisting the $$$ of the builders to turn these real estate articles into pure advertisments disguised as critiques. You Rock!!
I wanted to thank you for not bowing down to common sense and turning these articles into something useful, because they are not nor were they ever meant to be, although some wish they were. Repetitive whining is key, and I believe you are doing a fantastic job. It is refreshing to hear your "condos are too small and there's too many of them but at least they're downtown" opinion of these new constructions within the confines that you must operate. This is a blog. Thanks for keeping it so, and resisting the suggestions of commenters to turn these real estate articles into impartial reviews.
You suck!!
If you want to know why this section always reads the same and is always negative, just look at the damn condo websites and just look at the condos themselves.
Robyn Urback=misguided, misinformed.
When the condo market crashes into the toilet, just think of all the jobs that will be created when they knock walls down to combine the pathetic shoebox units into useful square footed living spaces.
The beginning of the end.
Reading the complaint about a lack of a full kitchen in every review is tiresome. She may as well be complaining that they don't have a backyard for each unit either.
And guess what, the kitchens ARE too small and these projects ARE too similar and these projects, by and large, ARE as exciting and worthy of praise as a 40 degree day. That's why there's no "WOWOWOWOWOWOW rush out and buy this condo ASAP", because you could actually close your eyes, pick a condo in this development, and not be able to tell it apart from any of the others in this series.
Plus making a crack about SBUX at that intersection would be ridiculous, since there's one at King & George (1 block away) and Adelaide & Jarvis (2 blocks).
Adelaide & Princess is rather questionable, but there are some really huge projects going in at Princess & Front and there's a nice indy cafe Bisogno at Sherbourne and Adelaide.
It would be nice if Robyn did a wee bit more looking around on Google Maps (or, heaven forfend, actually visiting the site) before making these cracks.
"It becomes very obvious when a persons view point has very little basis, as they, instead of making their case in a reasoned manner, attack the messenger, for that is their only recourse."
Your sentence structure is Nobel prize worthy--NOT!
Oh wait, but these features always dismiss the development. Why not write something surprising? Write about the developments in Vaughan Metropolitan Center or something.
Won't live there!
I enjoy reading these articles :)