98 Beverley Street Townhouses: 15 Brick Lofts Facing Grange Park

98 Beverley Street is one of the least-known condominiums downtown, and one of the best placed. It is a 15-unit brick complex at Beverley and Grange Avenue, facing Grange Park and the Art Gallery of Ontario, with homes that open straight onto the street. There is no lobby and no elevator, and for the right buyer that is the whole point. I’m Jatin Dua, RE/MAX Quantum Realty.

An older brick building, registered as a condo in 1982

Condos.ca dates this complex to 1982, which is the year the corporation was registered. The building itself looks older than that. Marketing for one past listing described a hard-loft complex from around 1910, with exposed brick, high ceilings and iron fire escapes, which fits what you see from the sidewalk. I could not confirm the construction date from a city record, so treat it as likely rather than certain.

If it is a pre-war brick building converted to a condominium in the early 1980s, that tells you a lot. You are buying century-old masonry with a newer set of interior systems, and the quality of the conversion and of everything done since matters more than the date on the deed.

Fifteen units across three storeys makes this one of the smallest corporations in the area. The addresses on both Beverley and Grange Avenue, with B suffixes, show that the homes have their own front doors on two street frontages rather than a shared lobby.

What the homes are like

From the descriptions I found, the appeal is loft character rather than modern finishes: full walls of exposed brick, open living areas, tall ceilings and big original-style windows. At least some homes are on a single floor with street-level access through a covered porch, which is rare in a downtown condominium and attractive to anyone who does not want stairs.

Layouts in a building like this are not standardized. Each unit was shaped by the original conversion and by any renovation since, so two homes in the same building can differ widely in size, ceiling height and light. Visit more than one if you can, and ask for the floor plan and the measured size of the one you are buying.

Older brick buildings bring specific checks. Ask about the condition of the masonry and mortar, the roof, the windows, the fire escapes and the heating system, and whether each home has its own furnace or shares a system. Ask, too, how sound travels between units, since conversions of this age rarely had modern acoustic separation.

Across from Grange Park and the AGO

The location is the headline. Beverley Street separates the Grange and Baldwin Village neighbourhoods on its east side from Chinatown on its west, and this corner looks across to Grange Park, which was redesigned in recent years, with the Art Gallery of Ontario behind it. OCAD University sits on the far side of the park.

Beverley itself is one of the main north–south cycling routes on the west side of downtown, with curbside bike lanes running from Queen Street up to College, where it continues as St. George Street through the University of Toronto. The Italian Consulate General and the George Brown House are a short walk north on the same street.

Chinatown on Spadina, Kensington Market, the hospitals on University Avenue and the Financial District are all reachable on foot. The data panel on this page covers transit, schools and walkability for this address.

Small corporation, big responsibility

With 15 owners, every decision about the building is made by a handful of people, and every bill is split fifteen ways. A roof or a masonry repair that a 300-unit tower would barely notice can be a meaningful cost per home here.

No property manager is recorded in the sources I checked. That may mean the corporation is self-managed, or simply that the information is not published. Ask who runs the building day to day, who keeps the records, and how often the reserve fund study is updated. In a building this size, you should also expect to be asked to serve on the board at some point.

Insurance is the other item to look at closely. Older brick buildings can carry higher premiums and higher deductibles, and in a small corporation the deductible can fall on the owner whose unit caused a claim. Ask for the insurance certificate, note the deductible, and make sure your own condo policy covers it.

Pricing a 15-unit loft complex

There were no active listings when I checked, and no building average per square foot is published. With 15 units, sales are rare and every home is different, so there is no reliable building average to quote.

For comparables, I would look at other hard lofts and low-rise loft-style condominiums around Grange Park, Queen West and Kensington, and at freehold row houses nearby, adjusting for the fact that the corporation looks after the exterior. Light, ceiling height and street-level access will move value here more than bedroom count.

Parking is the other variable. None is recorded for this complex, which is normal for an older brick building on a downtown corner. If a listing includes a space, confirm what it is and where; if it does not, price the home against comparables that also come without one.

Fee inclusions are not published, so ask for the budget and the unit’s utility bills, and work out the fee per square foot yourself. My building sold report can pull aggregate trades for this corporation and its neighbours.

Building specifications

Amenities at 98 Beverley Street Townhouses

There is no amenity package, and nobody buys here for one. The amenities are Grange Park across the street, the AGO behind it and the rest of downtown on foot, and the lean building keeps the fee focused on the structure itself.

Jatin’s honest take on 98 Beverley Street Townhouses

98 Beverley Street Townhouses — frequently asked questions

Looking at Queen West, Trinity-Bellwoods, Kensington and Little Italy more broadly? Start with my Toronto community guide — the neighbourhoods, what each pocket is like, and how they compare.