Fallingbrook Place Phase II, 2294 Queen St E: Seven Suites, East Beach

Fallingbrook Place Phase II is about as small as a Toronto condominium gets: seven suites at the corner of Queen Street East and Scarborough Road, at the quiet eastern end of the Beach. It registered in 2007, a year after the first phase next door. In a building this size you are buying into a partnership with six neighbours as much as a suite. I’m Jatin Dua, RE/MAX Quantum Realty.

Two phases, two corporations

Fallingbrook Place Developments built this project in two stages. The first, Fallingbrook Place at 2286 to 2292A Queen Street East, registered as TSCC-1775 in June 2006. The second, this one, registered as TSCC-1887 in October 2007, and wraps the corner onto Scarborough Road.

They look like one development from the street, and the addresses overlap at 2292 and 2292A. Legally, they are separate. Each phase has its own declaration, budget, reserve fund and insurance. If you are looking at a suite here, make sure the status certificate you receive is for TSCC-1887 and not the first phase.

Ask whether the two corporations share anything: a driveway, a parking area, a roof, a garbage enclosure or a shared-facilities agreement. Phased low-rise projects often do, and a shared cost that is not clearly documented is the kind of thing that causes trouble between two small boards.

Queen Street suites and Scarborough Road suites

The addresses are split between Queen Street East and Scarborough Road, a residential side street that meets Queen at the corner. That split matters. A Queen Street suite is on the 501 streetcar line, with the noise and convenience that brings. A Scarborough Road suite faces a quieter street of houses.

Condos.ca records the building as one storey, which I would not rely on. Street-front condominiums of this kind often have suites on more than one level. Condos.ca also does not record suite sizes for this phase, so get the floor plan and the measured square footage from the listing.

Ask how each suite is entered. In small street-front buildings, some suites have their own door from the street and others share a stair, and that affects privacy, deliveries and how the space feels.

Running a seven-owner corporation

Condos.ca does not name a manager for this phase. That may mean the owners manage it themselves, or that the information is simply missing; ask the seller which it is. Either way, in a seven-suite building the board is a few owners, and the person arranging insurance, snow clearing and repairs is likely to be a neighbour.

The rules of the Condominium Act still apply in full. The corporation needs annual financial statements, which must be audited unless every owner has agreed to waive the audit, as corporations under 25 units may. It also needs a reserve fund study at least every three years, an annual general meeting and current filings with the Condominium Authority of Ontario. A small corporation that has kept up with those basics is usually a well-run one.

Condos.ca lists common elements, building insurance and parking as included in the fee. Heat, hydro and water are not on that list, so expect to pay them yourself. With only seven owners sharing every repair, the reserve fund balance is the number I would read first.

Insurance deserves its own question. In a small corporation, the deductible on the building policy can be high relative to the budget, and declarations often make the owner of the suite where damage starts responsible for it. Ask what the deductible is, make sure your own policy covers it, and read which parts of the suite, windows and exterior the declaration assigns to you.

The quiet end of Queen Street East

This is the eastern end of the Beach, where the shops on Queen thin out and the side streets toward the lake are mostly houses. A little further east, Queen ends at the R. C. Harris Water Treatment Plant, the Art Deco plant begun in 1932 and opened in 1941, which was designated under the Ontario Heritage Act in 1998 and still supplies a large share of the city’s water. Kew Gardens and the busiest part of the Beach strip are a longer walk west.

Its grounds have stayed open to the public, and the lawns above the lake are one of the better walks in the east end. Living a few minutes from them is one of the quiet advantages of this corner.

Buyers who choose this end of the Beach usually want calm over a cafe on every corner. If you need a car, the parking in your fee matters here. The data panel on this page has the transit, parks and schools nearby.

Pricing: no listings, so price from the street

There are no suites for sale or rent at the time of writing, and condos.ca does not publish an average price per square foot for this phase. In a seven-suite building, several years can pass between sales.

To set a price, I would look at any past sales in both Fallingbrook Place phases, other small Beach condominiums on Queen Street East, and freehold homes on the surrounding streets. The 12-month figures in the data panel above will often be empty for a building this small. Ask me for a building sold report that widens the sample.

Parking in the fee is worth something here, and so is the rarity of a newer condo at this end of the Beach. Against that, a tiny corporation carries more risk per owner, and the price should reflect the state of its reserve fund.

Building specifications

Amenities at Fallingbrook Place Phase II

Condos.ca lists visitor parking and barbecues as permitted. There are no shared facilities, which keeps the fee down and puts the focus where it belongs in a building this size: the roof, the exterior and the parking.

Jatin’s honest take on Fallingbrook Place Phase II

Fallingbrook Place Phase II — frequently asked questions

Looking at Leslieville, Riverdale, the Beaches, Danforth and Leaside more broadly? Start with my Toronto community guide — the neighbourhoods, what each pocket is like, and how they compare.