The Lofthouse, 495 Logan Ave: Grid’s Condo on the Old Beer Store Site

The Lofthouse is what happened to the Beer Store at Gerrard and Logan. Grid Developments replaced the store and its big parking lot with a six-storey, 58-suite building where the smallest suite is a little over 700 square feet, near Withrow Park and the Gerrard and Riverdale strips. It is a good building with one feature you need to understand before you buy: the parking is in a mechanical stacker. I’m Jatin Dua, RE/MAX Quantum Realty.

From Beer Store lot to six storeys

In 2017 blogTO reported that the Beer Store at Gerrard and Logan was being sold and would become the LoftHouse, a six-storey condo by Grid. The site’s large surface parking lot was what made it attractive for redevelopment. At the time, the Beer Store said it hoped to return to the new building, but noted that the developer decides on retail.

UrbanToronto’s project file shows 678 square metres of non-residential space at grade, so there is retail under the suites. Ask who the current commercial tenants are, and read how the residential and commercial portions share costs, because a retail tenant at grade affects deliveries, garbage and noise as much as it adds convenience.

Grid built this with Oben Build as construction manager, the same Grid and Oben pairing behind Sunday School Lofts on Dewhurst. Andrew Pike Interiors did the interiors on both. George Popper Architect is credited on the building and COMN Architects handled the rezoning and site plan applications, according to UrbanToronto and the Daily Commercial News.

No small suites

Condos.ca lists suites from about 708 to 1,145 square feet. That floor matters: there are no 400-square-foot studios or tiny one-bedrooms here, so the building is mostly one-plus-dens, two-bedrooms and larger. Buildings without a small-suite investor tier usually have a higher share of owner-occupiers.

Fifty-eight suites over six storeys works out to roughly ten per floor, so hallways are short and the elevator is not crowded. The building reaches about 24 metres, a mid-rise height that sits reasonably beside the two- and three-storey houses and shops around it.

Grid’s approach on both its east-end buildings has been to sell to people who plan to live in the suite. At Dewhurst that meant two- and three-bedroom plans; here it means a floor of about 700 square feet and a building with no investor studio tier. When you resell, your buyer pool is mostly end-users, who tend to pay for layout and condition rather than for rent-per-square-foot maths.

I could not confirm ceiling heights or the specific suite mix from public sources. Despite the name, this is a new-build mid-rise rather than a converted loft, so check the plan for each suite and ask whether any have higher ceilings on the top floor.

The stacker, the amenity room and the roof

UrbanToronto’s file shows 38 parking spaces at grade in a parking stacker system, for 58 suites, and 62 bicycle spaces. Two things follow. Not every suite has parking, so confirm whether yours does and how it is held. And a stacker is machinery: ask about retrieval time, vehicle size and weight limits, what happens during a power cut, and what the service contract and eventual replacement cost.

The amenity space is modest. The Daily Commercial News described an indoor amenity room on the second floor opening onto an outdoor area, plus a rooftop terrace. UrbanToronto’s application figures were 61 square metres indoors and 142 square metres outdoors. That is a lounge and a terrace, not a gym floor.

Gerrard and Logan, day to day

This corner sits between the Gerrard East strip and the residential streets of North Riverdale, with Withrow Park a short walk north. It is a neighbourhood of Victorian and Edwardian houses, independent shops and restaurants, and it feels settled in a way new condo districts do not.

The City application also proposed making the short stretch of Logan between Gerrard and the lane to the north two-way. Transit, schools and parks for this address are in the data panel on this page.

Logan Avenue has become a small cluster of boutique buildings. Elevate at Logan at 485 Logan is a 2023 three-storey building next door, Logan Mews at 501 Logan is a small eight-suite building, and Printers Row Lofts at 525 Logan is a 12-suite, two-storey loft building from 2001. If you like this corner, look at all four.

Pricing and fees

Condos.ca puts the building average at about $883 per square foot, almost identical to Elevate at Logan next door at about $884. Printers Row Lofts up the street averages about $1,134, which shows what buyers will pay for a tiny loft building with character. Sunday School Lofts, Grid’s other boutique building, sits at about $965.

There were no suites for sale or for rent when I checked, so I have no fee range to quote and I will not cite one suite’s fee. Heat, hydro and parking are not on the inclusion list. If a suite comes with a stacker space, ask whether the space is owned or leased and what it costs each month.

Supply is the real constraint. A 58-suite building with mostly owner-occupiers may list only a handful of suites a year, and the ones with a stacker space or a larger terrace will draw the most interest. If you want a particular layout, get set up for alerts early and be ready to act when it appears.

For sold history in this building, ask for my building sold report.

Building specifications

Amenities at The Lofthouse Condominiums

The shared space is a lounge and terraces rather than a full amenity floor, which keeps operating costs down in a 58-suite building. Most residents will treat Withrow Park and the Gerrard strip as their real amenities. If a gym in the building matters to you, this is not the right building.

Jatin’s honest take on The Lofthouse Condominiums

The Lofthouse Condominiums — 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.