6 Things I Wish I Knew Before Moving Into A Toronto High-Rise Building
The view wasn't worth it.
Patrick on his balcony. Right: The apartment's view.
The opinions expressed in this article are the author's own and do not necessarily reflect the views of Narcity Media.
I roughed it out in Toronto for a few years before I secured enough money to rent a unit in a downtown high-rise, at which point, I quickly realized what I thought was a milestone was, in fact, the dumbest decision I had made in years.
It was the summer of 2018 when an H&R Block commercial I booked had just fed my slowing, starving savings accounts, and I was strolling around Yorkville with my best friend and a big old chip on my shoulder.
I was trying to convince him to move to the city by showing him its glitz and glamour. It worked like a charm. Soon we were both living that high-rise life, which basically boiled down to paying a lot of rent and pretending we were hot.
All those woes could've been avoided if someone had told me the hard truths about living in a high-rise Toronto building, which is why I'm now telling you.
Waiting for the elevators is painful
I won't name the apartment complex my friend and I moved into, but I want you to know that I, along with hundreds of others, have given it a glowing one-star review on Yelp.
And a good quarter of that scorn can be linked to its elevators and the "system" management used to operate them.
During the countless minutes of my life wasted waiting for my building's janky elevators, I often daydreamed of what the rental company's slogan must be. Probably something like, "patience is a virtue, we don't care about you."
Our apartment had four elevators, seems like enough, right? It would be, except I can't recall a single day when all of them were available.
Management had this winning strategy of allowing two of them to be reserved all day, every day, for maintenance workers and movers. So, there were two working elevators for over 20 floors of people, which was rough when life was normal and became impossible when COVID-19 restrictions were put in place.
During lockdown, our building only allowed two people in an elevator at a time, so I'd regularly wait 15 minutes in line just to squeeze into an elevator with one other person.
Imagine getting back from a night of drinking with friends and then having to wait in line to go home. Never again.
Moving in and out requires weeks of planning
My first apartment in Toronto was a basement bachelor, my second was fully furnished. So I pretty much breezed my way through moving during my first few years in the city.
However, setting up a life 20 stories off the ground is something that requires lots of careful planning because if you don't have a service elevator booked, you're screwed.
As I mentioned above, my building's elevator system swung heavily in favour of the people moving in, so long as you booked it in time, you were good.
We booked our time slot six weeks in advance, on the advice of my best friend's mother, and managed to pull off moving in without much hassle.
However, we didn't prepare nearly as well for the move-out, forcing us to rely on the kindness of strangers, which in Toronto can be a bit of a gamble.
Fire alarms happen way too often
Call me paranoid, but I always assume there's an actual inferno going on when I hear a fire alarm. Which, in my building, meant walking down 20 flights of stairs to get to the lobby, usually just in time to watch fire crews flip a switch and be on their way.
I had to do this so often that it became something of a bi-monthly ritual for me, a little anxiety-induced cardio to get my blood pumping, if you will.
I really wish someone had told me that living in a building with that many people would mean dealing with a lot of false alarms and stair master sessions, but they didn't.
So, I'm telling you right now, be prepared for it. Don't skip leg day.
Laundry day is the worst
Here's a tidbit of advice that'll save you all kinds of misery — don't rent a place in a high rise unless it has in-unit laundry machines. Otherwise, you could end up in a similar situation that I did, venturing weekly to a dingy dungeon of a room twenty floors below where you're at.
Our building's washers were so out of the way that the laundry room had a bathroom, which would've been nice if it hadn't been out of service for the entire three years that I lived there.
Washing clothes is an annoying chore on its own. You either do it or live in filth, but living in a high-rise turned the relatively hassle-free process into a full-on task for me.
It made me weary, and I've since spent many a late-night apartment searching, looking for affordable listing that includes the elusive descriptor — washer and dryer in-unit.
Having a great view of the city isn't everything
The high-rise unit my roommate and I lived in offered a stunning view of downtown Toronto. We could see it all from our living room and were convinced it would give us clout.
It did not. Despite me pointing it out like a loser every time, the romantic partners I brought home barely batted an eyelash.
One of them even said that they liked my old place, which overlooked a literal pile of trash, a lot better. Money well spent.
And, I'm ashamed to admit that after a few months of living there, even I hardly noticed it anymore. The novelty disappeared, and I realized it was not worth what I was paying for it.
Pigeons will poop nonstop on your balcony
Who doesn't want a balcony? A tiny sliver of the great outdoors that you can drink beers on and shoot the breeze. That's what I had envisioned, anyway.
The hard reality was my roommate and I constantly shooing off flocks of pigeons who were determined to turn our balcony into their communal bathroom.
Picture me down on my hands and knees, scrubbing bird poop off the concrete with bleach every week, shaking my fist at my past self for never thinking anything through.
Sure, I could've bought one of those ugly fake owls or spikes to keep them away, but I love birds too much to go to war with them. Especially pigeons, who are hopelessly domesticated and lost.
I still can't look at a balcony without wondering how much the owners have to clean it.
Hopefully, this list will make you think a little harder before investing in the high-rise life like I did.
I mean, It's not all bad, but I do recommend researching the building you're interested in before signing on willy-nilly as I did. You'll save yourself a lot of grief.
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