Cole Millway Townhouses, 3525 Yonge St: 11 Homes, One Small Corporation

Cole Millway Townhouses is the kind of complex most buyers drive past without noticing: eleven condominium townhouses tucked in at 3525 Yonge Street, between Lawrence and York Mills. It is small enough that the owners effectively are the corporation, which is either the best thing about it or the main risk, depending on how the building has been run. I’m Jatin Dua, RE/MAX Quantum Realty.

Eleven owners, one corporation

The number that defines this complex is eleven. Most condominium corporations on Yonge Street spread their costs across hundreds of suites. Here, every repair, every insurance renewal and every management contract is divided among eleven households.

That cuts both ways. In a well-run small corporation, decisions are quick, everyone knows everyone, and nobody is paying for a pool or a concierge desk they never use. In a poorly run one, a single large repair lands hard on each owner, and there is no deep pool of suites to absorb it.

So the first thing I want to know about any small complex is not the finishes. It is the reserve fund balance, the date of the last reserve fund study, and whether the corporation has ever had to raise money from owners outside the regular fee. All of that is in the status certificate, and with eleven suites it should be easy to read.

Glendale Properties Inc. is listed as the manager. Ask how often the board meets, whether the annual general meeting reaches quorum, and how long current board members have served. In a corporation this size, a handful of engaged owners carry the whole thing.

A Yonge Street address with a side-street feel

The complex carries two kinds of address: one on Yonge Street itself and a run of numbers on Cole Millway. That matters when you are comparing suites, because a home facing Yonge lives very differently from one set back on the smaller street. Traffic noise, privacy and light all change.

This stretch of Yonge runs through one of the more established parts of North York. The side streets on either side are mostly detached houses, so a condominium townhouse is one of the few ways into this pocket below detached prices. In my experience that is what keeps buyers interested in small complexes like this one.

The panel beside this review shows the transit, schools and daily errands around the address. What I would add is the practical reality: Yonge here is a busy arterial, so walk the block at rush hour and on a weekend evening before you decide which side of the complex you want.

What we know about the suites, and what we don’t

Public records on this complex are thin. Condos.ca records a 1990 build and 11 suites, but no developer, no architect, no suite-size range and no fee inclusions. I have not been able to verify layouts, ceiling heights or parking arrangements from an independent source, so I will not guess at them here.

When I checked, one suite was listed for sale, a four-bedroom plan, and none were listed for lease. A four-bedroom townhouse tells you this was not built as starter housing. It was aimed at families and at owners moving down from larger houses who still wanted space.

Because the records are sparse, the listing package and the status certificate do the work that a public database would normally do. Ask for floor plans, confirm the registered square footage, and find out which parking spaces and lockers, if any, are deeded or assigned to the suite you are looking at.

A 1990 townhouse will have been through at least one round of owner renovations in most suites. Condition will vary from home to home far more than in a newer building, so compare two suites on what work has actually been done, not on the listing photos alone.

The 35-year question

The complex is about 35 years old. That is the age when the original roofs, windows, exterior doors and paving have usually been replaced once already, or are overdue. In a townhouse corporation, those items are often the largest costs the reserve fund carries.

Find out which of those components the corporation has already renewed and when. If the reserve fund study shows a cluster of big replacements in the next few years, that is not automatically a reason to walk away, but the fee and the reserve balance need to be able to carry it without a special charge to owners.

Pricing a complex that rarely trades

With only eleven suites, this complex does not produce enough sales to give you a reliable price per square foot on its own. In some years nothing changes hands at all. The sales panel beside this review shows what has traded on the MLS, but treat any average built from two or three sales with caution.

Condos.ca lists no fee inclusions for the complex, so I cannot tell you from public data whether heat, water or parking are covered. Get the current fee and its inclusions in writing before you compare it with any other complex. On a large family-sized townhouse, what the fee leaves out can matter as much as what it costs.

In practice, I price a suite here against recent sales of other condominium townhouses along the Yonge corridor between Lawrence and York Mills, such as The Townhouses of Hogg’s Hollow, and against small freehold homes nearby. If you are weighing a specific suite, book a call and I will pull those comparables for you.

Building specifications

Jatin’s honest take on Cole Millway Townhouses

Cole Millway Townhouses — 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.