The Star of Downtown, 225 Wellesley St E: Art Deco Mid-Rise Value

The Star of Downtown is the building I point to when a buyer wants a genuine downtown address but cannot stretch to Yonge Street pricing. It is a 12-storey mid-rise from 2009 on the quieter east end of Wellesley, dressed in a deliberate art deco style, and it still trades at a price per square foot well below the towers a few blocks west. The trade-off is that you are buying small suites in a building where a few records do not agree, and you need to sort those out first. I’m Jatin Dua, RE/MAX Quantum Realty.

A deco look on a block that had waited a decade

The building’s calling card is its styling. Instead of the plain glass box that went up almost everywhere else in Toronto in the late 2000s, it was designed and marketed with an art deco, 1930s Hollywood feel. Whether you love the name or roll your eyes at it, the result does stand out on this stretch of Wellesley.

Posters on the UrbanToronto project thread noted at the time that the site had been stuck for close to ten years before construction started, and several of them expected the building to add some character to the street. Construction was not entirely smooth: the thread records a crane collapse on the site that closed Wellesley during clean-up, with a replacement crane up within days.

At 12 storeys it is a mid-rise, not a tower. That matters for daily life. Elevator waits are shorter than in a 40-storey building, the lobby is calmer, and you get a sense of who your neighbours are, which is rare this close to the core.

Small, efficient suites and what they suit

Suites here run from roughly 519 to 980 square feet, so this is mostly a one-bedroom, one-plus-den and compact two-bedroom building. There are no large family layouts or sprawling penthouses to speak of. If you need over 1,000 square feet, look elsewhere.

Early buyers on the project thread described the model suite finishes as stainless steel appliances with marble kitchen counters and undermount sinks, and also said a few finishes looked a little basic. Resale listings now commonly show stone counters, ensuite laundry, balconies and a mix of hardwood-style and laminate floors, but many suites have been updated since 2009, so judge each one on its own.

There is also a separate low-rise component. The townhouse suites on Wellesley and Bleecker immediately to the west were sold under the same Star of Downtown name and are tracked as their own building, so make sure the listing you are looking at is in the tower at 225 and not one of those.

What the fee covers here, and why it matters

The fee inclusions are one of the strongest arguments for this building. condos.ca lists common elements, heat, air conditioning, building insurance, parking and water as included. With heating and cooling bundled in, your monthly cost does not swing much between January and July, and that is easier to plan around for a first-time buyer.

Parking appearing in the inclusions list does not mean every suite has a space. In a building with this many compact one-bedrooms, plenty of units were sold without one. Confirm on the status certificate whether the suite you want owns a parking space or a locker, and whether either is registered to the unit or held on a separate title.

The east end of Wellesley, day to day

This is the stretch of Wellesley between Sherbourne and Parliament, on the edge of St. James Town and a short walk from the Victorian streets of Cabbagetown to the east. It is more residential and less polished than the Church-Wellesley Village to the west, and the street scene is mixed. Walk it at night and on a weekday morning before you decide.

The upside is that you are within walking distance of the Wellesley and Parliament shops, Riverdale Farm and the Don Valley trails on one side and the downtown core on the other. Transit, schools and walkability are covered in the automatic panel on this page, so I will not repeat them here.

Price per square foot and how it compares

condos.ca puts the building average at about $697 per square foot. For comparison, the same source puts 22 Condominiums near Yonge at about $834, 85 Bloor at about $849 and Radio City on Mutual Street at about $885. That gap of $140 to $190 a square foot is the main reason this building gets attention from first-time buyers and investors.

Inventory is thin. At the time of writing there was one suite for sale and two for rent, so active asking prices do not tell you much on their own. In a building of 184 suites, I would rather lean on the last 12 months of recorded sales in the data panel than on any single listing.

Remember to adjust for the inclusions when you compare fees. A per-square-foot fee here that looks higher than a newer building’s is often carrying heat, cooling and parking that the other building bills separately.

The other side of that discount is resale depth. Buyers at this price point are often stretching, so when rates move, demand for compact suites in mid-tier buildings can soften faster than it does for larger units. If you are buying to hold for a couple of years and sell, factor that in; if you are buying to live in, it matters much less.

Building specifications

Amenities at The Star of Downtown

This is a practical amenity package rather than a resort one: a gym and sauna, a rooftop deck, and party and meeting rooms. There is no pool, which helps keep the fee down, and the rooftop is the space owners actually use in summer.

Jatin’s honest take on The Star of Downtown

The Star of Downtown — 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.