Dwell City Towns, Applewood Lane: Menkes Stacked Towns at West Mall Prices

Dwell City Towns is where I send buyers who want their own front door and a rooftop deck in Etobicoke without paying for a freehold house. Menkes finished it in 2018, the fees are low by any standard, and the price per square foot sits well below the condo towers nearby. What you give up is the concierge, the gym and the predictable all-in bill. I’m Jatin Dua, RE/MAX Quantum Realty.

Townhouse living under a condo corporation

This is not a tower. Dwell City Towns is a block of condominium townhouses, with addresses running along Applewood Lane plus 2 Holiday Drive. Unit numbers in the listing records, such as two- and three-digit suite numbers on the same street address, suggest that many homes here are stacked: one suite sits on top of another, each with its own entrance.

That format is the point. You get a ground-oriented home with your own door to the outside, no shared hallway and no elevator, but the exterior, the roofs and the grounds are run by a condominium corporation. You pay a monthly fee, you live by the declaration and rules, and you have a vote at the annual meeting.

Menkes is one of the larger and longer-established builders in the GTA, better known for its downtown towers and office buildings than for townhouses. A big-builder name does not guarantee quality on every unit, but it does usually mean a professional sales and warranty process and a consistent finish package across the site.

Layouts and outdoor space

Suites run from roughly 643 square feet, which is a compact two-bedroom on one level, up to about 1,663 square feet in the larger three-bedroom plans. Current listings are a mix of two- and three-bedroom homes, and the three-bedrooms are what most families are shopping for here.

The developer’s marketing focused on open-plan living areas with smooth ceilings and engineered plank laminate floors, European-style kitchen cabinetry with stainless steel appliances, and private outdoor space in the form of patios, balconies and rooftop decks. Which of those you get depends on where your suite sits in the stack.

That is the key question to ask on a showing. A lower suite usually has the patio and fewer stairs. An upper suite usually has the rooftop deck and more stairs, often three flights or more from the front door to the roof. If you have young children, aging parents or a bad knee, walk the stairs twice before you make an offer.

Low fees, and why they are low

Fees on active listings run from about $240 to $455 a month, with the three-bedrooms at the upper end. For a home of 1,000 square feet or more in Toronto, that is very low.

They are low because the fee covers little. Condos.ca lists common elements, building insurance and water. Heat, hydro and air conditioning are on your own meters, and there is no concierge, pool or gym to staff and maintain. The amenity list is visitor parking and permission to barbecue.

So compare carefully. A tower suite at $0.70 per square foot that includes heat and hydro may cost about the same each month as a townhouse here once you add your own utility bills. The difference is what you are paying for: amenities and staff in the tower, private outdoor space and a front door here.

The West Mall, and what is changing around it

The West Mall is a corridor of apartment towers, office buildings and plazas running beside Highway 427. It grew up after Etobicoke moved its municipal offices to a new complex beside the highway in 1958, and much of the housing stock dates from the 1960s and 1970s. Dwell sits among that older stock as one of the newer residential projects, so the streets around you are established rather than under construction.

Change is coming to the south and east. The City is building a new Etobicoke Civic Centre at Bloor and Kipling, and UrbanToronto reports that once it opens, the current civic centre site at Burnhamthorpe and The West Mall is to be redeveloped for housing by CreateTO with private partners. Over the next decade, expect more density and more construction along this corridor. The panel on this page covers transit and schools.

Well below tower pricing per square foot

Condos.ca puts the average at about $547 per square foot. That is low for a building completed in 2018, and it reflects two things: townhouse suites are larger than typical condo apartments, and they come without the amenity package buyers pay up for in towers.

Four active listings ask from about $588,000 to $799,000, and three of the four are three-bedrooms, which ask between roughly $760,000 and $799,000. For a three-bedroom family home in a building under ten years old, that is one of the lower entry points I see in central Etobicoke.

Age also helps the price. Built in 2018, the community is now past Tarion’s seven-year window for major structural defects, so any warranty claims should be settled. That removes one unknown, but it also means future repairs come out of the reserve fund.

Watch the parking. Condos.ca does not list parking in the fee, and stacked-town sites usually have a shared underground garage, so confirm on the listing and status certificate whether a space is owned with the suite, and whether a locker comes with it.

Building specifications

Amenities at Dwell City Towns

There is no amenity package here, and that is a deliberate trade. Your rooftop deck or patio does the job a party room or terrace would do in a tower, and the low fee is the direct result of having no pool, gym or concierge to pay for.

Jatin’s honest take on Dwell City Towns

Dwell City Towns — 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.