181 Davenport Rd: Mizrahi’s Limestone Mid-Rise at Hazelton Avenue

181 Davenport is for the buyer who wants Yorkville without a glass tower. It is a 12-storey limestone mid-rise on the corner of Hazelton Avenue, built by Mizrahi Developments in a deliberately old-world style, with valet parking and a full-time staff. The fee looks reasonable for the address, but read what it leaves out before you compare it with anything else. I’m Jatin Dua, RE/MAX Quantum Realty.

A limestone building in a heritage district

Most new Yorkville condos of the last 15 years are glass. 181 Davenport went the other way. Sam Mizrahi described it as a mid-rise with French-inspired architecture, clad in pale limestone, and the Globe and Mail compared its scale to the buildings along the Champs-Élysées.

The site sits at the edge of the Yorkville-Hazelton conservation district, which is a large part of why the building stops at 12 storeys. The same height limits that shaped it also protect its outlook, since tall towers are unlikely to rise directly beside it.

It is one of a small family of Mizrahi buildings on this stretch. 133 Hazelton and 128 Hazelton, a few doors away on Hazelton Avenue, share the same classical, masonry-led approach, and buyers who like one tend to look at all three.

Layouts, ceilings and the custom-suite promise

At launch the building offered everything from one-bedrooms to three-bedroom-plus-den plans, with ceilings of nine to ten feet. The condos.ca profile records suites from about 624 to 2,000 square feet, while early marketing listed penthouse plans far larger than that, so the top of the range depends on which source you read.

Mizrahi marketed custom suite design at no extra cost to original buyers. That is good news for finishes, but it means two suites with the same floor plan can be quite different inside. Do not assume a resale suite matches the original brochure; walk it and get the actual plan.

One honest note from an early review: some plans put bathrooms in the interior of the suite, without windows. That is common in Toronto condos, but at this price point some buyers expect better, so check it on the specific layout you are considering.

Larger plans here were pitched to people leaving houses, so storage and dining space were part of the brief. Even so, measure your furniture before you fall in love with a suite, especially in the one- and two-bedroom plans, where room sizes are closer to a typical downtown condo than to a house.

Staffed like a small hotel

Service was the selling point. At launch the developer highlighted a 24-hour concierge and uniformed staff employed directly by Mizrahi Developments, along with valet parking. Today the building lists ICC Property Management, so ask how the staffing arrangement works now and whether service levels have changed since turnover.

Amenities are geared to entertaining rather than sport: a party room with a catering kitchen and dining room, a private screening room, a fitness centre and guest suites. There is no pool. The marketing also highlighted soundproof, UV-filtered windows, which matters on a corner of Davenport Road that carries steady traffic.

Valet parking is convenient, but it also means you are relying on staff to get your car. If you drive every day, ask how it works at rush hour.

Upper Yorkville on a quieter corner

Davenport at Hazelton is the north edge of Yorkville. You are a short walk from the galleries on Hazelton Avenue, Yorkville Avenue’s restaurants and Bloor Street’s luxury retail, without living in the middle of the weekend crowds. The early marketing leaned on views of sunrises, sunsets and the downtown skyline from upper floors.

The trade-off of a corner site on Davenport is noise and traffic on the Davenport side. Suites facing into Hazelton Avenue or the quieter side streets will feel very different from those over Davenport, even with upgraded windows. If you are sensitive to sound, visit at rush hour and on a Friday night before you choose a stack.

The data panel on this page covers transit, Walk Score and nearby food and parks.

What you pay and what the fee leaves out

The building averages about $1,287 per square foot on condos.ca. That sits below the hotel-branded towers at Bay and Yorkville and in line with the better boutique buildings on Hazelton Avenue, which is where 181 Davenport really competes.

The fee structure is lean. The fee includes common elements and building insurance, and condos.ca does not list heat, hydro, water or parking as included. Compare that with an older Yorkville building whose fee includes heat, water and parking, and the gap in monthly cost narrows quickly. Ask for the actual utility bills on the suite you are considering.

There was only one suite listed for sale and none for lease at the time of writing, so active listings do not give much of a read on value. In a 110-suite building, supply is thin by nature, and patient buyers usually wait for the right stack rather than the first listing.

Price per square foot is also a blunt tool in a building with custom interiors. Two suites of similar size can differ by tens of thousands of dollars in finishes alone, so I look at floor, exposure, layout and the quality of the custom work before I rely on the building average.

Building specifications

Amenities at 181 Davenport

The amenities suit someone who entertains at home: a dining room and catering kitchen, a screening room and guest suites, backed by full-time staff and valet. Swimmers will need to look elsewhere.

Jatin’s honest take on 181 Davenport

181 Davenport — frequently asked questions

Looking at Yorkville, the Annex and Midtown more broadly? Start with my Toronto community guide — the neighbourhoods, what each pocket is like, and how they compare.