108 Sackville Street Townhouses: A Four-Unit 1986 Condo off Queen East

108 Sackville Street is about as small as a condominium gets: four townhouses, one corporation, and no management company. It sits just north of Queen Street East on Sackville, between Corktown and Regent Park, and it was registered in 1986. Buying here feels more like buying a row house with three neighbours who share your roof than buying a condo, and that is exactly how you should think about it. I’m Jatin Dua, RE/MAX Quantum Realty.

Four homes, one corporation

There are only four units here, at 108, 110, 112 and 114 Sackville Street. condos.ca lists them as two-storey townhouses, built and registered as a condominium in 1986, during the wave of small infill townhouse projects that went up across the old City of Toronto in the 1980s.

Because it is a condominium, the land and the shared parts of the buildings are owned through the corporation, MTCC-696, and each owner holds a unit plus a share of the common elements. In practice, with four homes in a row, that usually means shared responsibility for things like the roof, exterior walls and any common driveway or yard. Exactly how that split works depends on the declaration, and it varies from complex to complex.

I could not find a developer, builder or architect on record for this complex. For a four-unit project from the mid-1980s that is not unusual, and it means the corporation’s records and the declaration are your main sources of facts.

What self-management means with four owners

condos.ca lists the complex as self-managed. In a four-unit corporation, the board is likely to be most or all of the owners, and decisions about repairs, insurance and the reserve fund are made around a kitchen table rather than at an annual meeting with a property manager.

That can be the best kind of condo to own. Fees can be modest, decisions are quick and everyone knows each other. It can also be the hardest. One owner who does not want to pay for a roof can stall a repair, and if the neighbours do not get along there is no manager to sit between you.

In a complex this small, the status certificate, the reserve fund study, the last two years of budgets and the board minutes are not paperwork to skim. They are the building.

The Condominium Act still applies to a four-unit corporation. It must keep records, hold meetings, carry insurance and maintain a reserve fund with a reserve fund study. Ask to see evidence that all of that is actually happening, not just that it is supposed to.

Condo title versus a freehold row house

The obvious comparison for any buyer here is a freehold row house a few streets away in Corktown, Cabbagetown or Moss Park. A freehold gives you full control of your own roof and walls, with no fees and no board. A condo townhouse like this gives you shared costs for the big items and a legal structure for dealing with them.

Which is better depends on the condition of the buildings and the people. A well-funded four-unit corporation with a recent roof can be easier to own than an old freehold with deferred repairs. An underfunded one can leave you paying a share of a large bill with only three other owners to split it.

Ask, too, whether there is parking, whether it is part of the common elements or assigned to each unit, and whether there are any rules on renting or renovating. Do not assume; read the declaration and rules.

Queen and Sackville, day to day

You are on Sackville Street just north of Queen Street East. To the north is Regent Park, now well into its long revitalization, with new condos, rental towers and community facilities. To the south and west are Corktown and Moss Park, and the Distillery District and King East are within walking distance.

The blocks around you are some of the most actively redeveloped in the city, so expect cranes and road closures within sight for years. For an owner who plans to stay, that change has generally been good for values; for someone who wants a settled street today, it is worth weighing.

This is a mixed part of downtown, with older houses, community housing and new development side by side, and the street scene along Queen East varies block to block. Walk it at different times of day before you buy. Transit, schools and parks are covered by the automatic panel on this page.

How a four-unit condo is priced

There were no units listed for sale or rent at the time of writing, and with only four homes, sales may be years apart. condos.ca does not publish a building average per square foot, and there is no meaningful building average to quote.

That means a unit here has to be priced against the wider market: freehold row houses nearby, and condo townhouses in other small complexes in Corktown and Regent Park. Buyers often expect a modest discount for condo title on a small, self-managed complex compared with an equivalent freehold, and that discount should be larger or smaller depending on the reserve fund and the condition of the shared elements.

Fee inclusions are not published for this complex, so get the fee, what it covers and the reserve fund balance from the status certificate. If you want to see whatever has traded here and in comparable complexes, my building sold report is the place to start.

Building specifications

Jatin’s honest take on 108 Sackville Street Townhouses

108 Sackville Street Townhouses — frequently asked questions

Looking at Church–Wellesley, Corktown, Moss Park and Cabbagetown more broadly? Start with my Toronto community guide — the neighbourhoods, what each pocket is like, and how they compare.