Irwin Avenue Townhouses: 30 Condo Townhomes Off Yonge and Wellesley

The Irwin Avenue Townhouses are what I point to when someone says there is nothing downtown except glass towers. Thirty two-storey townhomes from 1987, tucked onto Irwin Avenue and St. Nicholas Street a block off Yonge, on a street whose row of 1883 cottages is protected heritage. They rarely come up for sale, and when they do, you are buying a house-like home with a condo’s shared costs and an almost 40-year-old building. I’m Jatin Dua, RE/MAX Quantum Realty.

A low-rise pocket one block from Yonge

St. Nicholas Street is one of the downtown streets that most people walk past without noticing. It runs behind the Yonge Street storefronts north of Wellesley, narrow, tree-lined and mostly low-rise, while the towers of Bay Street rise a block west.

The street’s history explains why it feels this way. City of Toronto heritage research traces the area to the Elmsley family estate, which was subdivided in the mid-1800s with streets named after saints: St. Joseph, St. Mary, St. Alban (now Wellesley), St. Nicholas and others. St. Nicholas was originally a lane, known as Brownville’s Lane, and took its current name by 1890.

On the east side of the street stands a row of ten brick cottages built in 1883, each originally named after a tree, from Birch to Oak. The City moved to designate one of them, Elm Cottage at 61 St. Nicholas, under the Ontario Heritage Act in 2015, calling the row a rare intact piece of 19th-century downtown housing. The same report notes other 19th-century survivors nearby, including the Robert Barron Stables at 81 St. Nicholas. The Irwin Avenue Townhouses share that setting.

What a 1987 condo townhouse is like

These are two-storey homes, not stacked townhouses or suites in a low-rise block. Property.ca lists them at roughly 1,200 to 1,400 sq ft, which in this location is a lot of interior space for a condominium. You get your own front door on the street and a layout that feels much more like a house than a suite.

The complex has a parking garage, which in practice means underground parking rather than a driveway or a surface space. That is rare for a small townhouse condo and a real advantage downtown, where parking on these narrow streets is scarce. Visitor parking is listed too, and barbecues are permitted, which tells you there is some private outdoor space.

Being built in 1987 also means these homes predate the modern condo boom. Expect brick, conventional windows and more solid interior walls than in a new tower, but also older mechanical systems unless an owner has replaced them.

The age question, honestly

At nearly 40 years old, this complex is in the stage of life where big-ticket items come due. Roofs, windows and doors, the underground garage membrane and waterproofing, and the shared mechanical and drainage systems all have finite lives, and in a corporation of only 30 owners, each owner carries a large share of every repair.

That makes the reserve fund study and the status certificate the most important documents you will read. Look at the balance in the reserve fund, what the study says is due in the next five to ten years, and whether any special assessment has been discussed in the board minutes. I could not find public information on this, so treat it as unknown until you see the documents.

Also check what the declaration makes your responsibility versus the corporation’s. In townhouse condos, items like windows, doors, decks and the furnace often sit with the owner, and that changes what the fee really buys.

Daily life around Bay and Wellesley

The location is the case for buying here. Yonge Street’s shops are steps east, the Wellesley area’s restaurants and services are around the corner, and the University of Toronto and the Queen’s Park area are a walk west. The panel on this page has the transit, park and walkability details.

The surroundings are denser than the street suggests. Towers such as Nicholas Residences at 75 St. Nicholas Street and the Bay Street corridor’s buildings are close by, and the blocks along Yonge and Bay continue to see redevelopment. Check the City’s development applications map for anything proposed near your home, because construction can affect a quiet street like this one more than it would a busy arterial.

Pricing a home that rarely trades

There were no active listings when I checked, and Condos.ca does not publish a building average per square foot for this complex. With only 30 homes, there may be only one or two sales in a year, sometimes none, so a fair price has to be built from the few comparable trades rather than read from a chart.

For context, nearby condo towers trade on a per-square-foot basis: Condos.ca shows Nicholas Residences, a 2015 tower on the same street, at about $910 per square foot, and older Bay Street towers from the 1980s and 1990s between roughly $600 and $740. A two-storey townhome with a street door and underground parking sits in a different market from either. Buyers usually pay a premium for the house-like layout, and they also price in the age and the shared repair burden.

Ask for the current fee and the most recent budget before you make an offer. I could not confirm what the fee includes, and in a townhouse corporation that answer varies more than it does in towers.

Building specifications

Amenities at Irwin Avenue Townhouses

There is no gym, pool or concierge here, and that is the point: you are paying for a home and a garage space, not a lobby. The trade-off is that the corporation’s money goes into the buildings themselves, which is exactly where a complex of this age needs it.

Jatin’s honest take on Irwin Avenue Townhouses

Irwin Avenue Townhouses — frequently asked questions

Looking at St. Lawrence, the Financial District and Downtown Yonge more broadly? Start with my Toronto community guide — the neighbourhoods, what each pocket is like, and how they compare.