Casa Condos, 33 Charles St E: Glass Tower With a Year-Round Pool

Casa at 33 Charles Street East is the first of the three Casa towers, and in my view still the most practical. You get a glass tower half a block from Yonge and Bloor, a podium-level outdoor pool that runs all year, and a fee that covers heat and cooling. You also get one of the higher fees per square foot on this street, which is the trade you need to weigh. I’m Jatin Dua, RE/MAX Quantum Realty.

The first Casa, and the one with the pool

Casa was the first of three towers Cresford built on this short stretch of Charles Street; Casa II followed in 2016 and Casa III in 2018. People mix them up constantly, and they are separate corporations with different fees, amenities and resale histories. When someone tells me they want to buy in Casa, the first question is which one.

This one is the 46-storey glass tower on a five-storey podium. The architect, architectsAlliance, wrapped the tower in a glass curtain wall with continuous balconies and glass railings, and capped it with an overhanging concrete slab that is lit from below at night. The Charles Street base pairs glass with black brick.

The marketing leaned hard on an Italian theme, and the lobby was furnished by Armani Casa according to the building page Dash Property Management publishes. Lobbies get refreshed over time, so judge the common areas as they are today, and look at the most recent budget to see whether a lobby or corridor renovation is planned and how it will be paid for.

The feature that sets this building apart is on top of the podium: an outdoor pool and hot tub heated year-round, set within a landscaped terrace with an outdoor bar and lounge. Swimming outside in January with the Yonge Street towers around you is something very few downtown buildings offer.

Suites, balconies and ceiling heights

Suites here run from about 365 square feet up to roughly 2,281, so the building covers everything from investor studios to large two-level penthouses. The upper south-east corner has had two-storey penthouses with two terraces, which Globe and Mail coverage profiled years ago.

Standard features described by the property manager’s building page include floor-to-ceiling windows, nine-foot ceilings, wood flooring, stainless appliances and oversized balconies or terraces. blogTO’s coverage made the same point I hear from buyers: suites and outdoor space here tend to be more generous than in a lot of newer towers nearby.

Nine-foot ceilings are standard for a 2010 tower, not exceptional. What you are buying is the balcony, the exposure and the height. A south or east view above the podium buildings is worth a real premium; a low suite facing the Casa II tower is a different product at a similar size.

Two numbers that do not agree

Public sources disagree on how many suites are in the building. Condos.ca lists 420, the building page hosted by Dash Property Management says 440, and a 2007 Toronto Star listing cited 407. The declaration is the only number to rely on.

Management is the second discrepancy. Condos.ca lists Del Property Management, while Dash hosts a building page for TSCC-2058 with contact details. Managers do change, so confirm the current company in the status certificate and ask how long they have been in place.

Daily life on Charles Street

Charles Street East is a short, mostly residential street of towers between Yonge and Church. You are a few minutes on foot from Yonge and Bloor, the Bloor Street shops and the Church-Wellesley Village, and Yorkville is just across Yonge.

Compact suites in a location like this attract investors, and the number of lease listings at any given time suggests a meaningful share of suites are rented out. In practice that can mean more move-ins and move-outs and more elevator bookings than in an owner-heavy building. It is not a reason to avoid Casa, but owner-occupiers should know it going in, and the panel on this page shows the actual owner and renter mix.

The street has filled in heavily since 2010, with the other Casa towers, The Bloor Street Neighbourhood across the road, and several more high-rises nearby. Expect busy sidewalks, construction somewhere on the block in most years, and limited street parking. The panel on this page covers transit and Walk Score.

Price per square foot and the fee question

The building averages about $878 per square foot. That is a discount to the newer towers at Yonge and Bloor, which reflects the building’s age and the large number of compact suites.

Fees are the issue to understand. Across current listings they average about $1.28 per square foot, which is high. Part of that is the inclusions: heat, cooling, water and, where a suite has one, parking are all covered. Part of it is the amenity package, since a year-round heated outdoor pool, two guest suites and a large podium terrace cost real money to run.

Put that into dollars. On a 600-square-foot one-bedroom, the difference between $1.28 and a more typical $0.90 per square foot is roughly $230 a month, or close to $2,700 a year. Some of that comes back to you because heat, cooling and water are covered, and some of it is the price of the pool. Decide which half matters to you.

At the time of writing there were five active listings asking from $369,000 to $699,999, from a studio to a two-bedroom, with monthly fees from $401 to $945. There were also five suites listed for lease, which tells you a fair share of this building is investor-owned. My building sold report can show you what has actually traded.

Building specifications

Amenities at Casa Condominiums

The podium terrace is the heart of this building: pool, hot tub, outdoor bar and sundeck in one place, plus a double-sided fireplace inside. If you will use it, it justifies a good part of the fee. If you will not, you are paying for it anyway.

Jatin’s honest take on Casa Condominiums

Casa Condominiums — 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.