The Winthorpe Modern, Winthorpe Rd: 8 Beach Towns With Private Garages

The Winthorpe Modern is not a condo building in the usual sense. It is eight modern townhomes on Winthorpe Road, just off Kingston Road in the Beaches, each with its own front door, its own garage inside the home and its own rooftop terrace, all held in one small condominium corporation. It offers a freehold feel at a lower cost, and the trade-off is that eight owners share every repair. I’m Jatin Dua, RE/MAX Quantum Realty.

Eight homes, one small corporation

With only eight homes, this is one of the smallest condominium corporations in the east end. Each home is a three-and-a-half-storey townhouse with a street-level front door, so day to day it feels like owning a house rather than a suite. There is no lobby, no elevator and no shared hallway.

Being a condominium is what keeps the cost down and the exterior consistent. The corporation, TSCC-2591, looks after the common elements and insurance, while you look after the inside of your home. The listed fee inclusions are common elements, building insurance, parking and water.

Condos.ca records the building as one floor, which is a quirk of how townhouse complexes are entered in its data. UrbanToronto records three storeys, and the developer described the homes as three and a half storeys once the rooftop level is counted.

A garage inside your front door

The design detail that sets this project apart is the parking. Each home has a private garage reached from inside its front foyer, and the garages are tucked into the building and reached through an enclosed driveway that the developer called a garage boulevard. From the street you see front doors and landscaping rather than a row of garage doors.

For a Beaches buyer, that matters. Parking on the side streets off Kingston Road is tight, and a private garage with direct entry into the home is a real advantage in winter or with children and groceries. Confirm how the shared driveway and garage doors are maintained and insured, because they are likely to be common elements and are one of the costlier items to repair in a small corporation.

Black brick, rooftop terraces and a green roof

George Popper Architect designed the homes as a modern take on the brick houses along Winthorpe Road, using smoky black brick, aluminum details and wood-grain finishes on the front doors. Interiors were finished by Andrew Pike Interiors, with open plans and generous light. UrbanToronto’s project file notes 10-foot ceilings on the main floors and floating staircases, which do a lot to make a narrow townhouse feel open.

Every home has a private rooftop terrace, described as having lake and city views, and the building includes a large green roof. Suites run from about 1,070 to 1,550 square feet with two- and three-bedroom layouts. For a family moving from a downtown condo, a three-bedroom with a garage and a roof terrace is a very different proposition from a high-rise.

The developer also pitched the design on running costs: the green roof, the efficient use of space and the absence of heated common areas were meant to keep heating and cooling bills down. That is a reasonable claim for a building with no corridors or lobby, but ask a seller for a year of utility bills rather than relying on the brochure.

The homes were sold fully built and finished, with model homes to walk through, rather than off plans. That means early buyers knew exactly what they were getting, and you can judge today’s homes on how they have aged since 2017.

Living at Kingston Road and Winthorpe

This is the upper side of the Beaches, on the Kingston Road strip rather than down by Queen Street East. Kingston Road has been adding small-scale condo and townhouse projects for years, and the Winthorpe Modern is one of the more carefully designed examples. Transit, schools and parks nearby are listed in the data panel on this page.

Expect Kingston Road traffic at the 715 Kingston Road end of the site, and a quieter residential feel toward Winthorpe Road. Ask which home you are buying and where it sits relative to the main road and the shared driveway.

Think honestly about stairs. A three-and-a-half-storey townhouse means climbing from the garage to the kitchen, the bedrooms and the roof every day. That suits most families and active buyers, but downsizers planning to stay into their eighties should walk the stairs a few times before they commit.

Townhouse space at a condo price per square foot

Condos.ca puts the average at about $962 per square foot. For a modern townhome with a private garage in the Beaches, that is a fair figure, and it is lower than you would expect to pay per foot for a renovated freehold house nearby once land is included.

At launch the developer quoted maintenance of about $0.28 per square foot, which is very low because there is no elevator, lobby or amenity space to run. Fees have almost certainly moved since 2017, so ask for the current fee and the latest budget. The fee includes parking and water, which most condo townhomes do not cover together.

There were no active listings when I checked. With eight homes, a sale here may happen only once a year or less, so there are few direct comparables. Value has to be set against nearby townhouses and semis as well as against the past sales shown in the data panel above.

Small corporations also have to be judged on insurance. Ask what the corporation’s insurance premium and deductible are, because in an eight-home complex a single water or roof claim can affect every owner’s costs.

Building specifications

Amenities at The Winthorpe Modern

There are no shared amenities in the usual sense, and that is deliberate. Your amenities are your own garage and roof terrace, which is why the fee was set so low at launch.

Jatin’s honest take on The Winthorpe Modern

The Winthorpe Modern — 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.