Hampton Mews, 151 Merton St: 17 Townhomes in a Street of Towers

Hampton Mews at 151 Merton Street is one of the smallest condominiums I cover in midtown: 17 suites, registered in 1998, on a street now lined with towers. Buyers come here because they want something closer to a townhouse than an apartment, without leaving the Yonge and Davisville area. What they need to understand is how differently a corporation this small works. I’m Jatin Dua, RE/MAX Quantum Realty.

A boutique low-rise on a tower street

Merton Street between Yonge and Mount Pleasant has become one of midtown’s busiest condo streets. Within a few blocks you have The Rio at 35 Merton, Life at 68 Merton, Greenwich Terrace at 111 Merton, The Metro at 119 and 139 Merton, Le Corbu at 194 Merton and The Hampton Condos at 260 Merton, among others.

Hampton Mews is the opposite of those buildings. With 17 suites in a low-rise format, it has no lobby crowd, no elevator queue and no amenity floor. Condos.ca describes it as a boutique building in a quiet enclave, and the scale is the whole appeal: you know your neighbours, and the building feels more like a row of homes than a condo.

Do not confuse it with The Hampton Condos at 260 Merton Street. The names are similar, but they are different buildings with different corporations, and searches online often mix them up. This building is MTCC-1201.

What we know about the suites, and what we do not

The facts I could confirm are limited. Condos.ca lists the building as low-rise and records a single storey, which almost certainly reflects how the database classifies a townhome-style complex rather than the height of each home. I could not find a reliable suite size range or floor plans for the building.

Because of that, treat every listing here on its own terms. Ask for a floor plan with measurements, confirm how many levels the suite has, where the bedrooms are, and whether there is a private terrace or yard, and check what the declaration says about who maintains it.

In a building this small, layouts can vary more from suite to suite than in a tower. A corner suite and a middle suite can differ in light, privacy and noise from Merton Street more than the listing photos will show, so view in person and at more than one time of day.

Why 17 suites changes the maths

The fee here covers common elements, building insurance, parking and water. Parking in a garage on Merton Street, included in your fee, is a real advantage in a part of midtown where street parking is tight.

The bigger issue is scale. In a 300-suite tower, a $300,000 garage repair is about $1,000 per suite. In a 17-suite building, the same repair is more than $17,000 each if the reserve fund cannot cover it. That is why a small corporation’s reserve fund study, and how closely the board has followed it, matter more than in almost any other type of building.

Small corporations also run differently. Some use a full-service management company, some use part-time management, and some are largely run by the owners themselves. Condos.ca does not list a manager for this building, so ask who manages it, how often the board meets, and how many owners are actively involved.

Insurance is the other thing to look at. Ask what the corporation’s insurance deductible is and when the declaration makes an owner responsible for it, because in a small building a single water leak can affect a large share of the suites.

Living on Merton Street

The appeal of the location is that you are close to both Yonge Street and Mount Pleasant Road, with Davisville Village’s shops and restaurants and the Yonge and Eglinton area within reach. The data panel on this page shows the subway station and walking details, so I will not repeat them here.

The street itself keeps changing. Merton already carries a long run of mid-rise and high-rise condos, and midtown continues to add new buildings. Expect construction nearby from time to time, and check the City of Toronto’s development application records for anything proposed on neighbouring lots before you buy. A new building next door can change your light, your view and your street for two or three years.

For most buyers here, that change is a mixed blessing. It brings more shops and services, but it also means more neighbours and more construction traffic on Merton. A 17-suite building will never be the one that changes the street, so buy here for what the building is, not for what the street might become.

What Hampton Mews costs

With 17 suites, Hampton Mews trades very rarely. There were no suites listed for sale or rent when I checked, and condos.ca does not publish a building average per square foot, so there is no reliable building-level figure to quote.

The right comparison is with other midtown condo townhomes, such as Merton Street Townhomes at 180 Merton, rather than with the towers around it. In my experience, townhome-style suites usually trade at a premium per square foot over comparable apartment suites in older towers, because buyers pay for privacy, a front door and fewer neighbours.

Because sales are so infrequent, a single sale can move any average a long way. For closed results, use the sold data on this page or ask me for a building sold report that includes comparable townhomes nearby.

Building specifications

Amenities at Hampton Mews

There is no gym, pool or concierge, and that is the point: you are paying for a small, quiet building rather than shared facilities. Fewer amenities also means fewer big pieces of equipment for the reserve fund to replace, and fewer staff costs built into your monthly fee.

Jatin’s honest take on Hampton Mews

Hampton Mews — frequently asked questions

Looking at Yonge & Eglinton, Davisville and North Toronto more broadly? Start with my Toronto community guide — the neighbourhoods, what each pocket is like, and how they compare.