Winlock Towns, 260 Finch Ave E: 30 New Stacked and Row Towns Near Bayview

Winlock Towns is a newer way into the Bayview and Finch area for buyers who want a townhouse-style home without a seven-figure price. It is a 2022 Crown Communities project of just 30 homes on Finch Avenue East, mostly stacked towns with a handful of row towns. Small and new is the appeal; small and new is also what you need to understand before you buy. I’m Jatin Dua, RE/MAX Quantum Realty.

Thirty homes, two formats

Crown Communities describes Winlock Towns as a community of 30 homes: 20 stacked townhomes and 10 townhomes, built three storeys tall. That mix matters more than it looks. A stacked town is one home on top of another, usually entered from its own door at grade or up a short flight of stairs, while a row town runs from ground to top floor as a single home.

If you are shopping here, know which format you are looking at. Stacked units tend to be smaller and lower priced, and you share a floor and ceiling with a neighbour. The row towns give you the full height and no one above you. Resale demand and price per square foot can differ between the two even within the same complex.

With only 30 homes, this is one of the smallest corporations you will find. Board meetings are a few neighbours around a table, and you will likely know who sits on the board.

A complex this small also changes how resale works. When only one or two homes come up in a year, buyers have little to compare against, so a well-presented home in good condition can stand out. The other side is that a buyer may struggle to find comparable sales when it is time to justify the price to a lender.

Layouts and size

Condos.ca puts home sizes at about 766 to 1,229 square feet, and the developer marketed two- to two-and-a-half-bedroom plans. In practice that means two-bedroom homes, many with a den or flex room, which suit couples, small families and people who work from home.

Square footage on a stacked or row town is spread over several levels, so stairs are a fact of life. That is a real consideration for downsizers and anyone with mobility concerns, and it is worth walking the stairs a few times during a viewing rather than just looking at the plan.

Ask about outdoor space for the specific home. In this format, it can be a terrace, a balcony or a small yard, and it varies by unit.

Because this is a 2022 build, finishes and mechanical systems are still recent. That is a real advantage over the 1970s and 1980s townhouse complexes elsewhere in North York, where buyers often budget for new windows, a furnace or a bathroom refresh. Here, the first years of ownership should be mostly about living in the home rather than fixing it.

Fees in a 30-home corporation

Condos.ca does not list what the maintenance fee covers, so I cannot tell you here. In most new stacked-town communities, owners pay their own heat, hydro and water, and the fee covers insurance, the grounds, snow removal and a reserve fund contribution. Confirm the exact list in the status certificate rather than assuming.

The structural point is that every cost is shared among only 30 owners. A new building usually starts with low fees and a young reserve fund, and the first reserve fund studies after turnover often push contributions up. Ask the manager for the current budget and whether a fee increase is planned.

Parking is another item to confirm. Find out whether the home has a space on title, where it is and whether there is a separate charge.

Finch East near Bayview

Winlock Towns faces Finch Avenue East just west of Bayview, in a neighbourhood that is mostly detached houses on quiet residential streets. That gives you a calmer setting than the condo towers on Yonge, with Finch as your main route for transit and driving.

The area is slowly adding more townhomes along Finch. UrbanToronto reported in 2019 on a separate proposal by Metroview Developments for 15 freehold townhomes at 276 Finch Avenue East, on the neighbouring block between Winlock Park and Manorcrest Drive, designed by Northgrave Architects. Check the City’s development application map for its current status and for anything else proposed on Finch near you.

Living on Finch also means traffic noise on the homes that face the street. Homes set back on the Winlock Park side may be quieter. Transit and school details are in the data panel on this page.

Pricing: few sales, so compare carefully

With 30 homes and only one listed for sale when I checked, there is not enough active inventory to quote a range, and condos.ca does not publish a building price per square foot. In a complex this small, a handful of sales sets the market, so each one carries a lot of weight.

The useful comparison is other recent townhouse communities nearby. Briar Towns on Greenbriar Road in Bayview Village, a 2021 project of 28 homes, averages about $601 a square foot on condos.ca. Use numbers like that as a sense check, then adjust for location, format and condition.

For an honest valuation, I would pull every sale in TSCC-2947 since registration and match it by format, stacked or row, and by size. You can ask me for that through the building sold report page.

Building specifications

Jatin’s honest take on Winlock Towns

Winlock Towns — 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.