Silver Shadow Townhouses, 1-85 Silver Shadow Path: 1973 Family Towns

Silver Shadow Path is one of the ways young families get into Markland Wood without paying detached-house prices. It is an 85-home townhouse condominium from 1973, so you are buying family-sized space on a quiet suburban street, not a new build. Whether it is a good purchase comes down almost entirely to how well the corporation has looked after a 50-year-old complex. I’m Jatin Dua, RE/MAX Quantum Realty.

A 1970s townhouse condo in a planned suburb

Markland Wood is a planned neighbourhood at the far west end of Etobicoke, bounded by Etobicoke Creek, Renforth Drive and Burnhamthorpe Road and wrapped around the Markland Wood Golf Club. Development started in 1960 on land bought from the Silverthorn family, and most of the detached houses were finished by 1967. Tract housing followed in the early 1970s and two condo apartment buildings went up on Mill Road later in the decade.

Silver Shadow Path belongs to that second wave of building, when condominium townhouses were still a new idea in Ontario. The corporation, YCC-110, was registered in August 1973, which puts it among the earlier condominium corporations in what is now Toronto. That age shapes everything about buying here, from the floor plans to the reserve fund.

I could not find a reliable public source for the original builder or for where the “13” in the complex’s name comes from. If that matters to you, the declaration in the status certificate package will name the declarant.

House-sized layouts on a private road

The two homes listed for sale when I checked were a three-bedroom and a four-bedroom. That is typical of 1970s condo townhouses in Etobicoke: they were built for families, with bedrooms upstairs, living space on the main floor and often a basement, rather than the compact plans you see in new stacked towns.

Condos.ca does not publish a square-footage range for this complex, so I cannot give you a size band. Measure, or ask for the floor plan, and check whether the listing’s figure includes the basement. In older townhouse complexes, two listings with the same bedroom count can differ a lot in usable space depending on how the basement has been finished.

The homes are numbered 1 to 85 along Silver Shadow Path, which works as the complex’s own internal street, so there is little through traffic. Confirm whether the path is a private road owned by the corporation. If it is, the corporation, not the City, pays for the paving, lighting and snow clearing, and those costs come out of your fee and the reserve fund.

Who owns what in an older townhouse condo

In a townhouse condominium of this age, the line between what you own and what the corporation maintains can be quite different from a high-rise. Roofs, windows, doors, fences, driveways and patios may be common elements, exclusive-use common elements or part of your unit, depending on the declaration.

That split decides who pays when something wears out. Ask for the declaration and the by-laws, and read the schedule of maintenance responsibilities before you make an offer. If the corporation replaces roofs or windows on a cycle, find out where your home sits in that cycle.

Condos.ca does not list what the fee covers here, and I have not seen a fee schedule. Do not assume it includes water, heat or cable. Get it in writing from the status certificate.

The same goes for alterations. Owners in older complexes often want to replace windows, add a deck or open up a kitchen wall, and many declarations and rules require board approval first. If you are planning a renovation, ask what the rules allow before you buy, not after.

Markland Wood day to day

This is a quiet, established suburb. The Markland Wood Shopping Centre handles daily errands, and Bloordale Park and Millwood Park, with its old-growth forest, trails, tennis courts and ball diamonds, are the neighbourhood’s green space. Etobicoke Creek and the golf course give the area a lot of trees for a city neighbourhood.

The trade-off is that you will drive more than you would downtown or on the Queensway. The transit, school and walkability figures for this address are in the data panel on this page, and I would look at them closely if you commute without a car.

Silver Shadow Path sits a short distance east of Burnhamthorpe Gate, another early-1970s townhouse corporation managed by the same company, which gives you a useful comparison when you shop the area.

What a family-sized townhouse costs here

When I checked, two homes were listed for sale, asking from about $749,000 to $929,000. Monthly fees across the two ran from roughly $636 to $706.

The comparison that matters is with a detached house in Markland Wood, which costs considerably more. A three- or four-bedroom townhouse here puts you in the same neighbourhood for a much lower price, in exchange for a monthly fee and shared decision-making with a board.

Because condos.ca does not publish square footage for this complex, I cannot give you a reliable price per square foot. For the sold record, see the aggregate figures in the data panel or ask me for a building sold report. The fee level is moderate for a 1970s family townhouse complex, but the number that really matters is what it pays for and whether the reserve fund is keeping up.

Building specifications

Jatin’s honest take on 13 Silver Shadow Townhouses

13 Silver Shadow Townhouses — frequently asked questions

Looking at Humber Bay Shores, Mimico, the Queensway and central Etobicoke more broadly? Start with my Toronto community guide — the neighbourhoods, what each pocket is like, and how they compare.