Stanley Condos, 70 Carlton St: Tribute Tower Facing Maple Leaf Gardens

Stanley Condos is the building you see from the Maple Leaf Gardens steps: a curved Tribute Communities tower at the corner of Church and Carlton, finished in 2020. It replaced a block that held a well-known Church Street nightclub, and it was one of the first of the new towers that are reshaping this stretch of Church. It is a good product for a specific buyer, and I will tell you which one. I’m Jatin Dua, RE/MAX Quantum Realty.

A curved tower on a seven-storey base

Core Architects designed Stanley as a seven-storey podium with a curved tower rising out of it. The podium height was set to line up with the historic building to its west, which keeps the Church Street wall at a human scale even though the tower behind it is one of the tallest in the immediate area.

The site cleared in late 2016, after the Zippers nightclub on the corner closed and was demolished, and excavation started in early 2017. Retail sits at street level on Church and Carlton, and the shared amenity space sits on top of the podium.

Expect to see two addresses, 70 Carlton and 403 Church, on listings. They are the same building and the same corporation, TSCC-2817.

Sources disagree on the size, so check the declaration

Condos.ca lists Stanley at 37 storeys and 471 suites. UrbanToronto’s 2017 construction coverage gave 37 storeys and about 490 units, and its project database shows a larger figure still. Unit counts often shift between approval and registration as suites are combined or split.

None of this changes how you live here, but it does matter when you read the reserve fund study and budget, because those are spread across the actual number of units. The condominium declaration in the status certificate gives the true count.

What the suites are really like

Suites run from just under 500 square feet up to about 1,070. This is mostly a one-bedroom, one-plus-den and two-bedroom building, built for young professionals, students at nearby Toronto Metropolitan University and investors who lease to them.

Many of the two-bedrooms are in the 600 to 800 square foot range. At that size, you trade living-room width for a second bedroom. That works well for roommates or a home office, less well if you entertain. Look at whether the kitchen runs along the living-room wall and how much clear floor space is left once a sofa and table go in.

Corner two-bedrooms in the 800-plus square foot range are the most liveable plans here, and they are the ones I would put an owner-occupier into.

Who actually lives here

A building with this many compact suites at Church and Carlton draws a predictable mix: students and staff at Toronto Metropolitan University, young professionals who walk to work downtown or along Yonge, and investors who lease to both. Expect a busy lobby, frequent move-ins and a lot of deliveries.

That mix has upsides. Rental demand is deep, so a well-chosen suite is easy to lease and easy to resell. It also has trade-offs. If you are an owner-occupier, you are living in what is partly an investor building, and the amenity spaces, especially the study room and gym, see heavy use.

If you plan to live here long term, look for suites on higher floors, away from the Church Street side and away from the amenity terrace, and ask the manager how elevator bookings and move-ins are scheduled. Those details shape daily life more than the lobby finishes.

Church and Carlton day to day

The corner works hard for you. Loblaws inside Maple Leaf Gardens is across the street, and the Mattamy Athletic Centre is in the same building. The Church-Wellesley Village is a short walk north and the Yonge Street spine is a block west.

It is also a busy, late-night corner, especially on weekends and during Pride. Suites facing Church will hear it; suites facing east or higher in the tower will hear less. CentreCourt’s Axis Condos at 411 Church is the neighbouring tower to the north, so check what your view looks at before you buy. The panel on this page has the transit and walkability figures.

Pricing and fees at Stanley Condos

The building averages about $788 per square foot. For a 2020 tower at a corner this central, that is reasonable. Downtown condo values have softened since the 2022 peak, and the smaller-suite investor buildings near Church and Yonge have felt that more than family-sized stock.

On current listings, one-bedroom and one-plus-den suites are asking between about $445,000 and $500,000, and two-bedroom suites between about $580,000 and $798,000, depending on size and exposure. Those are asking prices; the sold report on this page shows what has actually closed.

Fees across current listings run from about $332 to $738 a month, roughly $0.84 per square foot. They include common elements, building insurance and water. Heat, cooling and hydro are not in the listed inclusions, so budget for them separately. Parking is not listed as included, so confirm whether a suite comes with a space and what it adds to the fee.

If you are comparing suites inside the building, watch the fee per square foot. The smallest suites tend to carry the highest fee for their size, which narrows the gap between a one-bedroom and a two-bedroom more than the asking prices suggest.

Rents in this pocket have eased since 2023 as many new towers completed nearby. If you are buying to rent, use current lease comparables from the sold and leased report rather than older figures, and budget for some vacancy between tenants.

Building specifications

Amenities at Stanley Condos

UrbanToronto’s project record describes about 16,000 square feet of amenities, including a fitness centre, party room, theatre, study room and an outdoor terrace of about 8,000 square feet on the podium roof. The study room matters more here than in most buildings, given how many residents are students or work from home.

Jatin’s honest take on Stanley Condos

Stanley Condos — 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.