The Star of Downtown Townsuites: 45 Two-Storey Towns off Wellesley East

The Star of Downtown Townsuites are the low-rise half of a project most people only know by its tower. They are 45 two-storey condo townhouses on Wellesley Street East and Bleecker Street, finished in 2010 and sold under the same name as the 12-storey building at 225 Wellesley, but they have their own corporation, their own manager and their own budget. If you want more space and your own front door near Wellesley and Sherbourne, they are worth a look. I’m Jatin Dua, RE/MAX Quantum Realty.

Same name, separate building

The Star of Downtown was marketed as one project: a 12-storey, art deco-styled tower at 225 Wellesley Street East, plus a row of townhouse suites on Wellesley and around the corner on Bleecker Street. The tower registered as TSCC-2003 in March 2009. The townsuites registered separately as TSCC-2085 in June 2010.

That separation is the first thing to understand. The townsuite owners have their own board, their own reserve fund and their own fees, and condos.ca lists a different property manager, Goldview Property Management. condos.ca credits the tower to Willowfield Homes, with UrbanToronto listing Willowfield and Norstar and Kirkor as architect; no developer is listed for the townsuites, though they were sold under the same name.

Whether townsuite owners can use the tower’s gym, rooftop or party room depends on any shared facilities agreement between the two corporations. condos.ca lists no amenities for the townsuites. Do not assume access; ask for the agreement and read it.

Two-storey layouts with room to spread out

condos.ca lists the townsuites as two storeys. Public listings have shown at least some three-bedroom, three-bathroom plans in the 1,200 to 1,399 square foot range, which is far more space than most suites in the tower next door, where the largest plans are under 1,000 square feet.

Two storeys means stairs inside the unit, and usually a split between living space and bedrooms. For a couple who work from home or a small family, that separation is worth a lot. Plans vary across 45 units, so get the floor plan for the specific home and walk it before you compare it to anything else.

Ask, too, how each unit is reached. Some townhouse suites open directly to the street; others open from a shared corridor or courtyard. It makes a difference to privacy, deliveries and how the home feels.

Wellesley East and Bleecker Street

You are on the stretch of Wellesley Street East between Sherbourne and Parliament, with Bleecker Street running north toward St. James Town. It is more residential and less polished than the Church–Wellesley Village to the west, and Cabbagetown’s Victorian streets begin a few blocks east.

Within walking distance you have the shops along Wellesley and Parliament, Riverdale Farm and the Don Valley trails to the east, and the downtown core to the south-west. The street scene is mixed, so walk it at night and on a weekday morning before you decide. The automatic panel covers transit, schools and walkability.

Running a 45-unit townhouse corporation

At 45 units, this complex is big enough to support professional management and a proper reserve fund, but small enough that each owner’s share of a major repair is meaningful. Townhouse complexes also tend to have different big-ticket items from towers: roofs, exterior walls, windows and doors, and any shared underground garage.

At 16 years old, the complex is entering the period where the first generation of roofing, sealants, exterior doors and mechanical equipment starts to show up in the reserve fund study. That is normal, and a well-run corporation will have planned for it. What you want to see is a recent study, a reserve fund that tracks its funding plan, and no surprise special assessments in the budget or minutes.

Read the declaration to see which of those are common elements the corporation maintains and which are the owner’s responsibility. That split varies a lot between townhouse corporations, and it changes what your fee is really buying.

Pricing the townsuites against the tower

There were no townsuites for sale or rent at the time of writing, and condos.ca does not publish a building average per square foot for this complex. With 45 units, sales come up a few times a year at most.

The natural comparison is the tower next door, which condos.ca puts at about $697 per square foot, one of the lower figures in downtown east Toronto. Townhouse suites with their own entry and two storeys often trade at a different price per square foot than tower suites, and buyers tend to pay more in total for the extra space, so do not apply the tower figure directly.

Keep in mind that the tower’s price per square foot reflects compact suites with heat, cooling and parking in the fee, as condos.ca lists for 225 Wellesley. The townsuites have their own budget and their own inclusions, so the monthly cost of a townsuite may look quite different even before you compare size.

Fee inclusions are not published for the townsuites, so get them from the status certificate, along with the reserve fund balance and any parking or locker details. My building sold report separates recorded townsuite sales from tower sales, which is important because listings sometimes mix them up.

Building specifications

Jatin’s honest take on The Star of Downtown Townsuites

The Star of Downtown Townsuites — 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.