My wife and I looked at a lot of Harbourfront condos before buying new at 33 Bay. We found Maple Leaf Square condos to be quite poor.. The designs, finishes.. The fact you have to take two elevators to get up to your unit from ground.
People are also paying a premium to live there because of the restaurants and Longos. An 850 square footer was selling for more than my 1050 at 33 Bay. The rents there seem excessive too. My wife decided to rent her 18 Harbour unit, which is 970 square feet. She got 2800 a month.... We saw a number of 850 square footers in MLS renting for over 3000 a month. From what I saw, I'd rather be in 18 Harbour if I was paying that -- you can walk over to the restaurants and Longos on about 2 minutes.
I had a relative over this summer and as we walked over towards MLS, I told him we considered living there. He said bluntly "the building looks old" and I told him it was newer than 18 Harbour, which my wife lived in at the time. He couldn't believe it. MLS doesn't look particularly good from the outside due to the balconies and the squareness, combined with the very light green treatment on the outside.