3555 Bathurst St Condos: 63 Suites at One of North York’s Lowest Prices

3555 Bathurst Street is a building I show to buyers who want an affordable first home on Bathurst and are willing to do their homework. It is a 63-suite mid-rise from 1978 with one of the lowest prices per square foot in this part of North York. The catch is in the fee, which covers less than its neighbours, and you need to know what that means before you compare. I’m Jatin Dua, RE/MAX Quantum Realty.

A small mid-rise on a busy stretch of Bathurst

At nine storeys and 63 suites, this is a modest building on a busy stretch of Bathurst Street north of Lawrence. It is far smaller than the 1970s towers on Neptune Drive to the west, and older than the newer boutique buildings along Bathurst such as The Deloraine Residences at 3443 Bathurst, completed in 2012.

A building this size has fewer people in the lobby and fewer owners to agree on decisions. It also has fewer suites to share the cost of big repairs, which makes the corporation’s finances especially important.

The building suits people who want to live on Bathurst itself, close to the shops and services along the street, rather than on a quiet side road.

The trade-off of a main-street address is noise and traffic. Ask which way the suite faces. A suite on the Bathurst side gets the street; one facing away from it will usually be quieter, and in a nine-storey building the floor you are on makes less difference than the direction you face.

Suites of about 700 to 900 square feet

Condos.ca records suites from about 710 to 924 square feet. That points to one-bedrooms and two-bedrooms of a comfortable size, larger than most new one-bedrooms in the city.

Older mid-rise layouts often put more of the floor area into living space and less into corridors, but I would not promise that without seeing the floor plan. Ask for it, along with the measured size and the renovation history, since a 1978 suite may still have original kitchens, bathrooms or windows.

Parking is in the fee according to condos.ca. Confirm how many spaces and whether a locker come with the suite, as that is set out in the suite’s own documents.

The fee covers less here, so compare carefully

This is the most important point about 3555 Bathurst. Condos.ca lists only common elements, building insurance, parking and water in the fee. Heat and hydro are not on that list, unlike many 1970s buildings in the area where the corporation pays both.

That makes the fee look lower than at a neighbour that bundles utilities, but your total monthly cost may not be. Ask how suites are heated and cooled, whether hydro is metered by suite, and what the average monthly bills are. A suite with electric baseboard heat and an older window can cost a lot to heat in January.

The upside is control. When each owner pays their own utilities, you are not exposed to the corporation’s energy budget, and your usage is your own business. For a careful owner, that can be a fair trade.

It also changes how you read the budget. In a building where the corporation pays heat and hydro, a big share of every fee goes to energy. Here, more of the fee should be going to operations and the reserve fund, so ask what share of the budget is reserve contributions and how that compares with the reserve fund study’s recommendations. A fee that is low because reserve contributions are low is not a saving.

Lawrence Heights is changing next door

The biggest long-term change near here is the redevelopment of Lawrence Heights, the neighbourhood bounded by Highway 401, Bathurst Street, Lawrence Avenue West and Dufferin Street. Post City reported that the City’s Lawrence-Allen Secondary Plan calls for replacing about 1,208 social housing units and adding about 4,400 market homes over more than 20 years.

That work has been under way in phases for years and will continue. For owners on this part of Bathurst, it points to more residents, new streets and parks, and continuing construction to the west for some time.

Day to day, Bathurst north of Lawrence is a practical place to live, with shops and services along the street. The panel beside this review shows transit, schools and parks.

Pricing: about $367 a square foot

Condos.ca puts the building average at about $367 per square foot. That is among the lowest figures I have seen for this part of North York. The towers at 130 and 150 Neptune Drive average about $341 and $322, while newer buildings nearby, such as The Station Condos on Wilson Avenue, average well above $600.

Some of that discount reflects the fee structure, since buyers price in the utilities they will pay themselves, and some reflects the building’s age. A low price per foot is only a bargain if the building’s finances are sound, and with 63 suites sharing every major repair, I would want to see the reserve fund study, the latest budget and at least a year of board minutes before calling anything here a deal.

There were no active listings when I checked, so I cannot give you an asking range. Use the 12-month trading data in the panel beside this review, and ask me for a building sold report that compares it with the Neptune Drive towers and the newer Bathurst buildings.

Building specifications

Amenities at 3555 Bathurst Street Condos

The amenity list is short: a gym, a parking garage, visitor parking and a security system. That keeps running costs lower, and it suits owners who would rather pay for what they use than for a pool or party room they never visit.

Jatin’s honest take on 3555 Bathurst Street Condos

3555 Bathurst Street Condos — frequently asked questions

Looking at York Mills, Don Mills, Lawrence Park, Bathurst Manor and midtown-north Toronto more broadly? Start with my Toronto community guide — the neighbourhoods, what each pocket is like, and how they compare.