Chinatown Centre Residence, 99 Cameron St: Big Suites, All-In Fees

Chinatown Centre Residence is one of the few places downtown where a three-bedroom condo still costs well under a million. The suites sit above and behind the Chinatown Centre mall on Spadina, with the residential door on quiet Cameron Street. You trade a glossy lobby and a long amenity list for space and an all-in fee. I’m Jatin Dua, RE/MAX Quantum Realty.

Homes attached to a Chinatown mall

The residence is part of the Chinatown Centre development at 222 Spadina, one of the two major Chinese malls in downtown Chinatown along with Dragon City. Shops sit at the Spadina frontage, and the condo suites are reached from 99 Cameron Street, a side street to the west.

That arrangement shapes daily life. You have groceries, bakeries, restaurants and services in and around the building, and you come home through a quiet side-street entrance rather than through the mall. It also means the condo shares its site with a commercial property, so ask the manager how shared costs, access and parking are divided between the residential and commercial sides.

The building is from 1991, the same era as much of this stretch of Spadina. Chinatown moved west along Dundas onto Spadina after much of the original Chinatown was cleared to build City Hall, and buildings like this one came later, as the neighbourhood grew.

Before that, this stretch of Spadina was the heart of Toronto’s garment district and of its Jewish community, with tailors, delis and theatres. That layered history is part of why the street feels lived-in rather than new.

Large suites, many with three bedrooms

Size is what sets this building apart. Condos.ca lists suites of about 932 to 1,418 sq ft, with no small studios or compact one-bedrooms. Current listings are all three-bedroom layouts, and one is listed with additional rooms on top of the three bedrooms.

For a family, a group of students or a household with a parent living in, that is rare in a downtown condo. New towers nearby mostly build one-bedrooms and small two-bedrooms, and the few large suites they do build cost far more.

The trade-off is age. Expect 1990s kitchens and bathrooms unless they have been redone, older windows, and ceiling heights typical of the period. Look at each suite on its own merits, since condition will vary a lot between owners.

Older buildings tend to have bedrooms with real walls and windows, not the glass-walled dens new towers sometimes market as bedrooms. Still, check that each room counted as a bedroom in a listing has a window and a closet.

A plain amenity list, by design

Condos.ca lists a security guard, a security system, a recreation room and underground parking. There is no pool or big fitness centre on the list. That keeps the shared costs simpler, and it is one reason the fee can include so much. For many owners, that is the point: you are not paying to run a pool you never use, and the neighbourhood around you fills the gap.

Condos.ca flags a pet restriction. I could not find the details, so read the declaration and rules in the status certificate if you have a pet.

Daily life on Spadina

Spadina here is a wide avenue with the 510 streetcar running in its own lanes down the middle. It is busy and noisy, especially near Dundas, with deliveries, crowds and late-night food. Suites facing Cameron Street or the interior are the calmer choice. If you drive, Spadina is a direct route south towards the Gardiner and the lake, but expect slow going through Chinatown at busy times.

Kensington Market is a short walk north-west, Queen West is just south, and the Art Gallery of Ontario and OCAD University are a few blocks east. The University of Toronto campus is a walk north. For transit times, schools and Walk Score, see the data panel on this page.

Spadina keeps changing. New towers are going up along the avenue south of Queen and towards Front, so check what is proposed close to the building, especially if a suite relies on a view.

A three-bedroom under $700,000, with the fee doing a lot of work

Current three-bedroom listings ask roughly $695,000 to $700,000. On suites of about 930 to 1,420 sq ft, that is a low price per square foot for anywhere south of Bloor, and very low for three bedrooms.

Monthly fees on those listings run about $1,080 to $1,160. That looks steep until you read what it covers: heat, hydro, air conditioning, water, building insurance and parking, as well as common elements. In a newer building, a three-bedroom owner would pay hydro and heating or cooling separately, and those bills would not be small. Divide the fee by the suite size and you get roughly $0.80 to $1.20 per square foot, depending on the suite, with almost no utility bills on top.

Two cautions. An all-in fee rises with energy costs, so ask how it has moved in recent years. And the low price per foot partly reflects age, the mall setting and a thin amenity list. Compare against other large suites downtown, not against one-bedrooms. My building sold report shows recent sales here.

Building specifications

Amenities at Chinatown Centre Residence

The amenity list is short. What you get instead is a mall downstairs and one of the most food-rich blocks in the city around you. Parking is in the fee, which is worth a lot this close to Queen and Spadina.

Jatin’s honest take on Chinatown Centre Residence

Chinatown Centre Residence — 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.