One Valhalla, 1–27 Valhalla Inn Rd: Towns and a Tower on a 1960s Motor Inn

One Valhalla is the building I show commuters who live on the 427 and want a condo townhouse or a tower suite at a price downtown cannot touch. Edilcan built it on the site of the Valhalla Inn, one of Toronto’s first motor inns, and the corporation mixes a 22-storey tower with three-storey townhomes. That mix is what makes it interesting, and what makes it easy to get the comparables wrong. I’m Jatin Dua, RE/MAX Quantum Realty.

Built where the Valhalla Inn stood

The Valhalla Inn opened in 1963 beside Highway 427 and was one of the city’s earliest motor inns. In the 1960s and 70s it was a genuine hotspot, with Scandinavian styling and, according to UrbanToronto, a herd of tame deer in the courtyard. By the time it closed, after nearly five decades, the building had declined, and it came down in 2011.

Edilcan did not keep the building, but it did borrow from it. The Globe and Mail reported that the lobby and common areas would reproduce some of the inn’s Scandinavian details, including custom door handles, stained glass, a carved Viking ship bar and a two-storey lobby with a shell-like chandelier. It is a nice touch, and it gives the building more personality than most suburban towers of its era. Check on a visit which of those features made it into the finished building.

One corporation, two kinds of home

The community was planned as three towers on a podium plus 68 three-storey townhomes. Phase one was a 22-storey tower of about 213 suites. Condos.ca shows 284 suites under TSCC-2276, which lines up with that tower plus the townhomes sharing one corporation. Early UrbanToronto coverage described towers of 29, 25 and 19 storeys, so the plan changed along the way; confirm the details in the declaration.

This matters when you price a unit. The tower suites run from about 345 sq ft studios to two-bedrooms, while the townhomes are three- and four-bedroom family homes. When you look at average prices or fees for the building, the two products get blended, and neither average describes what you are actually buying.

The tower side is a typical early-2010s mix: studios, one-bedrooms, one-plus-dens and two-bedrooms, with smaller suites that rent easily to people working near the airport and along the 427 corridor. If you are buying to live in, favour the larger plans and higher floors, which get the open views over the surrounding low-rise neighbourhoods.

The townhomes are the unusual part. A three-bedroom-plus or four-bedroom condo townhouse in central Etobicoke, with condo fees in the low $400s according to current listings, is rare. Townhouse owners should read the declaration carefully for who is responsible for roofs, windows and exteriors, because that varies a lot between corporations.

Amenities that span the community

The launch package listed a gym, business centre, internet lounge, a party room with kitchen and patio, a theatre, a kids’ play room and a ground-floor courtyard with a playground. The glass-enclosed pool, splash pool and whirlpool were described as being on the fourth floor of an adjacent tower in a later phase.

That is the question I would want answered first. If the pool and other facilities sit in a different corporation’s building, access and cost sharing are governed by a shared facilities agreement. Read it, see how costs are split and confirm what TSCC-2276 owners can actually use. Condos.ca lists a sauna, a rec room and a party room for this corporation.

Life beside the 427

This is a commuter location first. The 427 is right there, the Gardiner and 401 are a short drive, and the airport was marketed as about five minutes away. Sherway Gardens and Cloverdale Mall are close for shopping, and Centennial Park is a short drive north for families who want sports fields and trails.

Edilcan originally ran a shuttle bus to Kipling station, the supermarket and the malls. Ask whether it still operates before you count on it. The automatic panel on this page shows transit times and walkability; for most residents here, a car is part of daily life.

Low price per foot, and why the average misleads

Condos.ca puts the building average at about $646 per sq ft, which is low for Toronto and reflects the location and the mix of product. Because the townhomes and tower suites are blended, I would not anchor on that number. Price a tower suite against other tower suites and a townhome against townhomes.

Current asks show the split clearly. Three-bedroom-plus and four-bedroom townhomes range from about $699,000 to $899,000, with fees in the low $400s a month, and the tower one-bedroom on the market sits far below that range. The surprising part is that the townhome fees are lower in dollars than some tower suite fees, because townhouse owners typically carry more of their own costs. Confirm exactly what each type pays for. Heat is not in the fee here, so add your own heating and hydro costs when comparing with buildings that include them.

With eight suites listed for rent and four for sale, rentals are a meaningful part of this building. Recent sold and lease figures are in the data panel on this page.

Building specifications

Amenities at One Valhalla

The useful daily amenities here are the gym, the party room and the courtyard for families in the townhomes. The pool question depends on shared facilities with the neighbouring phases, so confirm access in writing.

Jatin’s honest take on One Valhalla

One Valhalla — 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.