Vox Condos, 28 Wellesley St E: Yonge-Adjacent, Fees Cover Heat and Water

Vox at 28 Wellesley Street East is about as close to Yonge and Wellesley as a condo gets, on the quiet-ish side street rather than on Yonge itself. It is a 2018 tower with a long list of amenity rooms and a fee that covers heat, cooling and water. You pay a high price per foot for that address, and the question is whether the suite you are looking at is worth it. I’m Jatin Dua, RE/MAX Quantum Realty.

An architectsAlliance tower a block off Yonge

Vox was designed by architectsAlliance, one of the Toronto firms behind many of the city’s better-regarded towers. It rises 35 storeys, about 116 metres, and went up between 2016 and 2018 alongside its eastern neighbour, 50 at Wellesley Station, a 37-storey Quadrangle design. The two towers read as a pair from the street.

Interiors were by Gluckstein Design, and the landscaped terrace was designed by NAK Design Strategies. The building sits over four levels of underground parking, which is a lot for a tower of this size and a sign that parking was offered with a good share of the suites.

Construction coverage counted 337 suites; current building data lists 330. The difference is small, but it is a reminder to rely on the registered declaration, not marketing figures, for anything that matters.

More amenity rooms than most towers this size

For a 330-suite building, the amenity list is long. Indoors there is a lounge, a billiards room, a party room, a dining room with an attached kitchen, a theatre, a library lounge, a media room, a fitness centre and a yoga room. Outside there is a landscaped terrace with barbecues. Building data confirms concierge and a gym.

That breadth is good for daily life in small suites. A dining room you can book for a dinner of twelve is genuinely useful when your own suite seats four. It also means more rooms to clean, furnish and eventually renovate, so look at how the reserve fund plans for the next refresh.

Suites, listings and the tower next door

Vox is a building of studios, one-bedrooms and compact two-bedrooms. Current listings include a studio under 500 square feet and a two-bedroom in the 600s, which is typical: there is very little large-format stock.

With only two suites for sale and nine for rent at the time of writing, the resale market here is thin. That cuts both ways. A buyer has little choice, but a seller with a well-kept suite faces little competition. If you are waiting for the right plan, set an alert and be patient.

Ask about the view in particular. Wellesley is lined with towers, and new projects keep arriving around Yonge and Wellesley. A suite with an open view today can face a new tower in a few years, so check what is approved or proposed on the nearby lots before you pay a premium for a view.

Buyers looking at Vox almost always look at the tower next door as well. The two went up at the same time, are similar in height and sit side by side on the north side of Wellesley, so the choice usually comes down to the specific suite, the fee and what it includes.

Put the two status certificates side by side. Compare the fee per square foot, what it covers, the reserve fund balance against the study’s recommendation, and any planned increases. A building with a slightly higher fee that includes heat, cooling and water can cost less each month than one with a lower fee and separate utility bills.

Then compare the amenities you will actually use, and the view from the specific floor. Two towers this close together block each other’s side views, so a suite facing east from Vox or west from its neighbour may look straight at the other building.

Wellesley Street, day to day

You are a short walk from Yonge Street, with groceries, restaurants and the Village’s bars and cafés along Church a block east. Queen’s Park, the university campuses and Yorkville are within a walk. The panel on this page covers transit.

The setting is very urban. Yonge and Wellesley has steady foot traffic, construction is ongoing on several nearby sites, and the Village is lively at night and very busy during Pride in June. Suites facing Wellesley hear the street; higher floors and the north side are quieter.

Price per square foot and an all-in fee

Vox averages about $968 per square foot. That is at the top end for the Church-Wellesley area and reflects the location so close to Yonge. Buildings a few blocks east on Jarvis and Sherbourne trade well below that.

With only two current listings asking prices run from about $310,000 to about $600,000. Two listings are not a market, so rely on recent sales and the data panel more than on these asking prices. When I price a suite here, I lean on sales in Vox and the tower next door over the past year, adjusted for floor, view and parking.

Fees on those listings run from about $308 to $604 a month and average about $1.08 per square foot. That is high on its face, but the fee includes heat, air conditioning, water and building insurance on top of the common elements. Add a summer cooling bill and water back onto a cheaper building and the gap narrows. Even so, the fee is a real cost in a building of small suites, and it affects how investors price these units.

Building specifications

Amenities at Vox Condominiums

The amenity rooms make up for small suites, especially the bookable dining room and the terrace. Check the booking rules and how often the rooms are actually available.

Jatin’s honest take on Vox Condominiums

Vox 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.