Montclair Place, 70 Montclair Ave: A 1971 Forest Hill All-Inclusive

Montclair Place is one of the oldest condominiums in Toronto, and it was built the way Forest Hill apartments were built then: few suites, big rooms and a fee that pays for almost everything. Thirty-one suites over eight floors, a security guard and guest suites. It is a building you buy for the long haul, after reading every page of the status certificate. I’m Jatin Dua, RE/MAX Quantum Realty.

One of Toronto’s earliest condominiums

Ontario only began allowing condominium ownership in the late 1960s, and the corporation number here, York Condominium Corporation No. 33, places Montclair Place among the first few dozen registered in what was then York County. It was registered in April 1971, which makes it more than half a century old.

Buildings from that first wave were often aimed at people moving out of large houses in the same neighbourhood, and the scale here fits that pattern. Thirty-one suites over eight floors works out to about four suites a floor, so most suites have more than one exposure and you share a hallway with very few neighbours.

I could not find the original developer or architect, and the building is listed under two names. Condos.ca calls it Montclair Place; other sources simply call it 70 Montclair. Use the address and the corporation number, YCC-33, when you search for records.

Large suites, including three bedrooms

Condos.ca does not record a size range for this building, which is common for older buildings where few suites trade. The suite on the market when I checked was a three-bedroom plus den, which tells you the kind of space this building was designed around: family-sized apartments rather than one-bedrooms.

A suite in a 1971 building can be anything from a carefully renovated home to the original kitchen and bathrooms. Look closely at the electrical panel, the plumbing, the windows and any work done to the bathrooms, and ask what the corporation has approved in past renovations. Older concrete buildings can make it harder to move plumbing, so a renovation may have limits.

Because there are only four suites a floor, the layouts tend to be generous, but each one is different. Get the floor plan and a measured size before you compare it with anything else; listings in older buildings sometimes leave the size out.

A fee that pays for nearly everything

The fee here includes common elements, heat, hydro, air conditioning, cable TV, building insurance, parking and water. That is close to fully inclusive. Most buildings, even older ones, leave hydro on your own meter; here it is pooled.

That makes the fee look very high when you first see it, and in a 31-suite building with a security guard it is. But the fair comparison is your total monthly housing cost. Add hydro, heating, cooling, a parking charge and cable to a suite elsewhere and the gap narrows a great deal.

The other side of a pooled hydro and heat bill is that you pay for your neighbours’ use as well as your own, and energy price increases flow straight into the fee. Ask the manager how the fee has changed over the last five years and what the budget assumes for utilities.

Cable TV in the fee is a sign of the building’s age. Many owners now stream instead, so ask whether the bulk contract can be changed to include internet, or whether you will be paying for cable you do not use and buying internet on top. It is a small cost, but in a building this size the board can usually change it if enough owners ask.

Montclair Avenue in Forest Hill

Montclair Avenue is a residential street of houses and low apartment buildings near Spadina Road in Forest Hill South. The setting is quiet and leafy, with the shops and cafés of Forest Hill Village on Spadina Road within an easy walk. A few doors along, 60 Montclair is a separate condominium with its own corporation, so check which building a listing actually refers to.

It is a neighbourhood people choose for its calm and its established streets rather than its nightlife. The data panel on this page covers transit, schools and parks.

The trade-off of living in an established neighbourhood like this is that very little is built, so supply stays tight. That supports values, but it also means you may wait a long time for the right suite to come up.

Pricing: few sales and a fee you must read carefully

Condos.ca does not publish an average price per square foot for Montclair Place, and with only one suite on the market when I checked, there is no range of asking prices to quote. In a building this small, a handful of sales a year is normal and some years see none.

That makes pricing harder. The fair value of a suite here has to be built from past sales in the building and from similar older, larger-suite buildings in Forest Hill, adjusted for condition. A renovated suite and an original one can be far apart in price.

When you weigh the price, weigh the fee with it. A high all-inclusive fee lowers what a buyer can afford to pay, which keeps prices down per square foot. My building sold report can give you aggregate sale data for the building.

Building specifications

Amenities at Montclair Place

The amenities are not about a gym or a party room; they are about the way older owners live. A security guard, guest suites for visiting family and a sauna make sense in a building where many owners have lived for years and have children and grandchildren who come to stay.

Jatin’s honest take on Montclair Place

Montclair Place — 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.