St. Gabriel Lanes, 23-27 Elkhorn Dr: 3,000 Sq Ft Townhomes off Sheppard

St. Gabriel Lanes is the answer I give buyers who want house-sized space at Bayview and Sheppard without a lawn to cut. There are only 23 homes here, each around 3,000 square feet, tucked behind the St. Gabriel towers on Elkhorn Drive. They rarely come up for sale, so when one does, you need to know what you are looking at. I’m Jatin Dua, RE/MAX Quantum Realty.

The townhouse end of a church master plan

St. Gabriel Lanes is one piece of a larger story. The Passionist fathers at St. Gabriel’s sold most of their roughly three-hectare property at Bayview and Sheppard to Shane Baghai to pay for a new church, as The Globe and Mail reported. Baghai then built a planned community on the land: the St. Gabriel Terraces mid-rise, the two St. Gabriel Village towers, the St. Gabriel Manor mid-rise and these townhouses.

The towers and mid-rises face Sheppard. The Lanes sit behind them, off Elkhorn Drive, closer to the church and the residential streets of Bayview Village. Forum records from the build describe the townhouses in three blocks, and the people tracking construction at the time were kinder about them than about the towers.

That placement is the whole point. You get the address and convenience of Bayview and Sheppard, but your front door is on a quiet lane rather than a busy arterial.

House-sized homes inside a condominium

The numbers are what set this place apart. Condos.ca records the homes at roughly 2,970 to 3,185 sq ft, which is the size of a good detached house in much of North York. Most condo townhouses in Toronto are half that. A home of this size works for a family with teenagers, for a multi-generational household, or for downsizers who are not ready to give up a dining room and a guest bedroom.

With only 23 homes, this is a tiny corporation. Everyone knows everyone, the board is small, and decisions can move quickly. The flip side is that every repair is shared by just 23 owners, so a big-ticket item hits each household harder than it would in a 300-suite tower.

I have not found published floor plans or ceiling heights for the Lanes, so I would not take either from a listing remark. Walk the home, measure the rooms that matter to you, and ask for the original builder plans if the seller has them.

Because the homes are this large, they also attract a different buyer pool from the towers in front. You are competing with people who are weighing a detached house, not with first-time condo buyers, and that shapes how quickly a well-priced home sells and how much room there is to negotiate.

What the fee covers, and what it does not

Condos.ca lists the fee inclusions as common elements, building insurance, parking and water. Heat is not on that list, and neither is hydro. That is normal for a townhouse, where each home usually runs its own heating, but it means your carrying cost is the fee plus a house-sized heating and electricity bill.

The building records also list an underground parking garage and visitor parking, plus a security guard and security system. A shared garage under a townhouse complex is convenient in winter, but it is also the single most expensive component these corporations maintain. When I review a townhouse condo of this age, the garage membrane and waterproofing are the first things I look for in the reserve fund study.

Condos.ca also flags the complex as pet-friendly and BBQ-permitted. Confirm both in the declaration and rules before you rely on them, especially if you have a large dog or plan to grill on a terrace.

One more practical point: in a condo townhouse, the line between what you maintain and what the corporation maintains is set by the declaration, not by habit. Windows, doors, decks, roofs and the furnace can fall on either side depending on how the documents were drafted. Read that schedule before you buy, because it decides who pays when something fails.

Daily life behind Sheppard

Bayview Village Shopping Centre is a short walk west, with groceries, restaurants and everyday shopping. The Sheppard subway line runs along Sheppard; the panel beside this review shows the nearest station and the walk. For a family, the bigger draw is the established Bayview Village neighbourhood around you, with its quiet streets and parks.

Sheppard East keeps densifying, and new towers continue to be proposed along the corridor. The Lanes are set back behind the existing St. Gabriel buildings, so the change is less direct here, but it is still worth a look at the City of Toronto development applications map before you buy.

Pricing a home that rarely trades

This is the hard part. When I checked, there were no homes for sale or for lease at St. Gabriel Lanes, and condos.ca does not publish a building average per square foot. In a 23-home complex, a year can go by with one sale or none, so there is no reliable building-level number to anchor on.

In practice, I price a home here against three things: any recent trades in the complex itself, larger condo townhouses elsewhere in Bayview Village and Willowdale, and freehold semis and detached houses nearby, since those are what a buyer of a 3,000 sq ft home is really comparing against. Expect the per-square-foot figure to sit well below the towers next door, because large homes almost always trade lower per square foot.

For what has actually sold, see my building sold report, or book a call and I will pull the comparables for the specific home you are considering.

Building specifications

Amenities at St. Gabriel Lanes

There is no gym, pool or party room here, and you would not want to pay for one in a 23-home complex. What you get is a secure garage, visitor parking and security on site, which is exactly what a townhouse owner actually uses.

Jatin’s honest take on St. Gabriel Lanes

St. Gabriel Lanes — 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.