21 Bloorview Place Townhouses: 2013 Towns Beside Aria at Leslie & Sheppard

Bloorview Place is better known for the Aria towers, but the townhouses further along the street are the quieter, more family-sized option. They are about 13 years old, which is a useful age: past the new-build teething stage, not yet into the big-ticket replacements. I’m Jatin Dua, RE/MAX Quantum Realty.

Same street as Aria, a separate corporation

Bloorview Place is a short street off Sheppard Avenue East, just northeast of Leslie Street. Its best-known residents are the two Aria towers at 10 and 20 Bloorview Place, which registered as TSCC-2176 in 2011. The townhouses at 21 to 88 Bloorview Place came two years later, under their own corporation, TSCC-2303.

That separation matters. Aria has a concierge, pool, gym, party rooms and guest suites, but those belong to Aria’s corporation. I found nothing showing that the townhouse owners share them. Unless the status certificate shows a shared facilities agreement, assume you do not have access, and assume you are not paying for them either.

UrbanToronto linked Aria to Cityzen, Fernbrook and Menkes, with Rafael + Bigauskas Architects. I could not confirm who built the townhouses, and condos.ca does not name a developer. It is plausible they were part of the same project, but the declaration is the record to rely on, not the street name.

A townhouse in a tower neighbourhood

The area around Leslie and Sheppard has added a lot of condo towers since Aria went up. Most of what you can buy here is a suite in a high-rise. A 41-home townhouse complex is a different product: your own front door, no elevators and no lobby, and typically far more space per home than a suite in the surrounding towers.

Condos.ca does not publish a size range or floor plans for the complex, and the one home listed when I checked was a three-bedroom plus den. That points to family-sized stock rather than small investor units, but layouts can vary, so get the floor plan for any home you are considering.

Parking is the other thing to pin down. Condos.ca does not describe how parking works in the complex, and in townhouse developments of this era it can be an integral garage, a driveway space or a spot in a shared underground garage. Each comes with different costs and responsibilities, so confirm it for the specific home before you compare prices.

For buyers who want a home in this area rather than a suite, that scarcity is the point. There are far fewer townhouses than tower suites near Leslie and Sheppard, which tends to support resale demand when one does come up. It also means few comparable sales, so pricing takes more care.

What 13 years old means for an owner

A 2013 complex is in a sweet spot. The new-build issues that show up in the first few years, such as drainage, door and window adjustments and finishing defects, should be long settled. The big replacements, roofs, windows and paving, are not normally due for some years yet.

The other side of that is warranty. The Tarion new-home warranty periods for a 2013 registration have run out, including the longest coverage for major structural defects. Anything that goes wrong now is paid by the corporation from its reserve fund, or by you inside your own home.

That makes the reserve fund study the key document. At this age, a well-run corporation should be building its fund steadily for the roofs and windows coming in the next decade. Check that contributions follow the study, and read the minutes for any discussion of early repairs to roofs, balconies or garage doors.

Daily life near Leslie and Sheppard

This is a practical location. Line 4 runs under Sheppard Avenue, Highway 401 is reached from the Leslie Street ramp, the Don Valley Parkway is nearby, and North York General Hospital sits at Leslie and Sheppard, which matters to a lot of buyers who work there. The data panel on this page shows the nearest station, schools and walkability.

UrbanToronto described the Aria site as sitting in the Don Valley, and the local green space includes Dallington Park, Clovercrest Parkette and Lescon Park. Shops, restaurants and grocery stores line Sheppard Avenue East, and Fairview Mall and Bayview Village are both a short drive away.

The trade-off is that the neighbourhood keeps densifying. More towers mean more services, but also more traffic on Sheppard and Leslie and more construction around you. For a townhouse owner, the growth mostly raises the value of having a ground-oriented home in a tower district.

Pricing and fees: what to compare

When I checked, one home was listed for sale and none for lease. One listing is not a market, so I am not quoting its asking price or fee here. For the actual recent sale figures for the complex, as aggregates, ask me for a building sold report.

The useful comparison is with other condo and freehold townhouses in Don Valley Village and nearby Bayview Village, not with suites in Aria or the towers along Sheppard. A three-bedroom townhouse and a two-bedroom tower suite serve different buyers, and price per square foot between them can mislead.

Condos.ca does not list what the fee covers. Ask for the current budget and confirm whether water, exterior maintenance, snow clearing and landscaping are included. In a townhouse complex the fee normally does not cover heat or hydro. Compare fees on what they include and on how well they fund the reserve, not on the headline number.

Building specifications

Jatin’s honest take on 21 Bloorview Place Townhouses

21 Bloorview Place Townhouses — frequently asked questions

Looking at Willowdale, Yonge & Sheppard, Bayview Village and North York Centre more broadly? Start with my Toronto community guide — the neighbourhoods, what each pocket is like, and how they compare.