Madison Group

Madison Group is a real estate development company based in Toronto and New York City, operating from 369 Rimrock Road in Toronto. Its expertise rests on more than fifty-five years and three generations of family involvement.

Madison Properties and its affiliated companies have been developing and managing commercial real estate for over fifty-five years, and the residential business sits alongside that rather than replacing it.

An unusually broad portfolio for a company of its size:

• Mixed-use high-rise projects
• Low-rise master-planned communities
• Office, retail and prestige industrial
• Rental and retirement property

It has built thousands of homes in Ontario, in what it describes as premier locations across the Greater Toronto Area.

Two stand out, one in each city:

• The Madison, an award-winning condominium in midtown Toronto
• The Icon, in New York City’s Hell’s Kitchen

Naming a building after the company is a statement of intent. It is also useful for a buyer, because it is easy to go and look at what they consider their best work.

Developing in Manhattan is a harder test than developing in Toronto: higher costs, tighter sites, more demanding approvals and less tolerance for error. A Toronto developer that has completed a Manhattan residential building has demonstrated something.

The caution is the same as with any multi-market company. Ontario is one market competing for capital and attention, and your building is governed by Ontario contracts and the Ontario warranty regardless of what happens in New York.

Confirm the Ontario entity on your agreement and its Tarion registration, since the group spans two countries and several property types.

Because the portfolio includes retirement and rental property that Madison retains, ask what else is planned on or beside your site, and who will own it.

Then the usual: deposit schedule, maintenance fee estimate and its basis, what is standard rather than an upgrade, parking and locker, and the occupancy and registration timeline.

Madison has been developing for over fifty-five years through three generations of the same family, and the commercial side has run continuously alongside the residential one that whole time.

The practical effect is patience. A family company holding office, retail, industrial and retirement property has recurring income that does not depend on selling condominium units this quarter, which means less pressure to launch into a weak market.

It also means the residential business is one line among several. Ask how many residential buildings they have completed and registered, rather than reading the group's fifty-five years as fifty-five years of condominium delivery.