Yikes!  Yesterday I received an email from somebody who lives at 219 Fort York Boulevard who was furious that I compared her condominium to Baltic Avenue.  She said she loves where she lives, and she wouldn’t trade it for anything in the world!

Upon hearing this, I immediately asked her to play a game of Monopoly, thinking perhaps she’s trade me Park Place straight up…

New York Avenue: 33 Lombard Street, “Spire”
Tennessee Avenue: 21 Carlton Street, “The Met”
St. James Place: 281 Mutual Street, “Radio City
Just before we hit Free Parking, we move through the orange properties.  I’ve always liked owning these if nothing else for the fact that there is a card in Community Chest that reads “Advance to St. James Place,” therefore once in a while you’ll have players deliberately landing on your property, which hopefully contains a hotel!  All three of Spire, The Met, and Radio City have been fan-favorites in the last couple years and have probably capitalized on their flashy names.  The Met is conveniently located right at Yonge/Carlton with direct TTC Subway access,  Spire is a ground-breaking new building on Lombard near Jarvis that rises 45 stories in height and dwarfs every other residential building around it, and Radio City is a very exclusive complex in “The Village” that ensures residents that they’ll be surrounded by their “own.”  Yeah, I didn’t know how else to say that…

Illinois Avenue: 168 King Street, “King George Square”
Indiana Avenue: 230 King Street, “King’s Court”
Kentucky Avenue: 333 Adelaide Street, “Mozo”
On the third panel of the board-game, we get into some more upscale properties.  Now here is where people might argue that King George Square isn’t more “upscale” than The Met or Radio City, but I see it the way I see it.  I always felt that the darker, bolder properties (red, blue, green, and even yellow) just stand out from cheaper ones (baby blue, orange, purple) and I feel the same about real estate.  King George Square is a beautiful red-brick building with a gated-entrance fronting on King Street at Jarvis, and King’s Court acts as it’s little cousin just down the street at Sherbourne.  King’s Court also stands out as it incorporated the century-old Imperial Bank facade in the design of the new condo.  Mozo Lofts, while technically located on Adelaide Street, also fronts onto vibrant King Street and is a very popular “soft-loft” among young people.

Marvin Gardens: 438 King Street W., “The Hudson”
Ventnor Avenue: 20 Blue Jays Way, “Element”
Atlantic Avenue: 350 Wellington Street, “Soho Hotel”
For some reason, I always associate the yellow properties with Electric Company, probably since it sits in between Ventnor and Atlantic Avenues.  The yellow’s are valuable, beautiful properties approaching $300, and a dingy little Electric Company for $150 lays next door.  The Hudson, Element, and Soho Hotel, all sit directly across the street from large, ugly parking lots.  Eventually, these will be condominiums, but for the time being, Soho Hotel and Element lay on opposite sides of the large car-park used to accommodate Rogers Centre, and The Hudson only faces one lot at the moment (the other is the future site of “Charlie Condos”).  All three of these buildings can use the word “luxury” without sounding out of place, and after walking into the lobby of The Hudson for the first time, I whole-heartedly agreed.

Pennsylvania Avenue: 10 Bellair Street
North Carolina Avenue: 763 Bay Street, “Residences of College Park”
Pacific Avenue: 2 Roxborough Street
Consider the green properties your “silver medal” since they are the second most expensive and are found just before the most sought after and most famous properties on the board.  Just as the green properties come second to the blue set, living on upper-Bay Street or lower-Yorkville comes second to actually living in what everybody knows to be the best.  Bay Street has represented an absolute boom to residential living in the past few years, with luxury rental buildings popping up and condos such as “Residences of College Park,” which consists of two luxury towers and a third coming in the form of Aura next year.  10 Bellair Street could easily be considered for Park Place, but it just doesn’t have the same stature as “The Windsor Arms.”  Gorgeous in every way, 10 Bellair Street is located just a stone’s throw from the overpriced yuppie paradise that is Yorkville, whereas 2 Roxborough Street could claim to be either a “Rosedale Gem” or “Yorkville’s Kissing Cousin.”

Park Place: 38 Avenue Road, “The Prince Arthur”
Boardwalk: 22 St. Thomas Street, “The Windsor Arms”
What makes these two properties the “best” in the game?  Well, they are the most expensive, and don’t “Boardwalk” and “Park Place” just sound classier than the rest?  There are only two of these dark blue properties; the only property set in the game that doesn’t come in a set of three, other than of course the worst set—Baltic & Mediterranean.  That, and the fact that they are the last properties in the game and located right before “GO” make them special, doesn’t it?  Yorkville is clearly the most expensive, most upscale, and most known-to-be-pricey in Toronto (warranted or not).  22 St. Thomas and 38 Avenue Road both epitomize the definition of “luxury living,” and while newer buildings are being constructed in Yorkville (such as Four Seasons) that come with higher prices, at least The Prince Arthur and The Windsor Arms have a sense of history and class.  Imagine buying a 1-bedroom condo for $650,000 at The Prince Arthur, or seeing one of the many $3,000,000+ units at The Windsor Arms.  It sure is nice to be at the top, isn’t it?

Well, this has been a lot of fun.

For the record, my second-favorite board game of all time was Battleship, only because it was so damn easy to cheat…