The Rhodes, 2010 Bathurst St: 25 Bespoke Suites by Cedarvale

The Rhodes is not a condo in the way most people use the word. It is 25 large, mostly one-of-a-kind suites over eight storeys at Bathurst and Eglinton, where most owners step out of the elevator straight into their own home. That makes it closer to buying a house with a concierge than buying an apartment, and it should be judged that way. I’m Jatin Dua, RE/MAX Quantum Realty.

A building where almost no two suites match

Most new condos are a stack of the same few floor plans repeated floor after floor. Blackdoor set out to do the opposite. At launch, the developer said roughly 85% of the 25 suites had floor plans unlike any other in the building, and its stated position was that it did not want a stacked building of identical layouts.

For a buyer, that cuts both ways. You are getting a home that was designed as a single residence rather than a template, with features such as rotundas, floor-to-ceiling glass and generous terraces on some plans. But comparables inside the building will be thin, because the suite above or below you may be a different size, shape and orientation. Expect any appraisal or resale pricing to lean on the per-square-foot level of similar boutique buildings in Forest Hill and Yonge-St. Clair, not on a neighbour’s sale.

The exterior is meant to read as a quiet piece of Bathurst Street rather than a glass tower: flat-finish concrete arches, masonry pillars and an oversized black front door, a nod to the developer’s name. I could not find the project architect named in the sources I reviewed, so I have left that row out of the specifications.

Private elevators, ten-foot ceilings and house-sized plans

The feature that defines daily life here is access. Launch materials stated that 18 of the 25 suites have direct elevator-to-suite entry, so you do not walk a shared corridor to reach your door. For downsizers leaving a detached house, that privacy is often the difference between a condo they tolerate and one they actually like.

Suites were marketed with ten-foot ceilings and no bulkheads, and with an average size of about 1,700 square feet. Condos.ca shows a range of roughly 998 to 2,915 square feet. That is house territory: most of these plans are larger than a typical semi-detached main and second floor combined.

The finish specification is at the top of the market. The developer listed Gaggenau appliances, panel-ready refrigerators, gas cooktops, custom cabinetry, Rubinet fixtures and seven-inch engineered plank flooring. Lower floors were designed with balconies and the upper floors with larger terraces, so the outdoor space you get depends heavily on where the suite sits.

Concierge service more than amenity floors

A 25-suite building cannot carry a big amenity floor, and The Rhodes does not try to. What it offers instead is service. Marketing described a 24/7 concierge plus à la carte offerings such as personal shopping and pet care through The Forest Hill Group. Condos.ca also lists a gym, a spa, a pet spa, a rooftop deck, a business centre and BBQs permitted.

Ask exactly which of those services are paid for through the common expenses and which are billed to the owner who uses them. In a building this small, the cost of a staffed front desk around the clock is shared among very few suites, and that is the single biggest reason the fees here look the way they do.

Between Cedarvale and Forest Hill

The building sits on Bathurst just south of Eglinton, on the line between Cedarvale to the west and Forest Hill to the east. City data places it in Humewood-Cedarvale, the former City of York. In practice, buyers here are usually comparing it with Forest Hill and the Eglinton Way strip rather than with the rest of York.

The Cedarvale Ravine trail system and the shops on Eglinton Way are the two everyday draws the developer leaned on, and both are real reasons people choose this pocket. Eglinton West at Bathurst has changed a great deal with the Eglinton Crosstown line, and the commercial strip is still settling after years of construction. The data panel on this page shows the current transit and walkability figures.

Bathurst itself is a busy arterial. Suites facing the street will hear it; suites on the quieter sides and upper floors will feel very different. With so few suites, orientation is one of the biggest variables between one home and the next here.

What it costs to own here

This is a building priced like a luxury house. At launch, suites started at about $1.4 million. At the time of writing, the two active resale listings were asking between $3,595,000 and $3,695,000, with monthly maintenance fees between about $3,355 and $3,885.

Fees that size are normal for a boutique building with a 24-hour concierge and only 25 suites to share the cost, but they are a real carrying cost. Over ten years, a fee in that range adds up to roughly $400,000 to $470,000 before any increase, so build it into your affordability the same way you would build in property tax.

Because the suites are so different, I would not use a single average price per square foot for this building. Ask for the floor plan, the exact interior and terrace areas, and the parking and locker allocation for the suite you are considering, then compare it with other boutique buildings nearby. Sale history for the building appears in the data panel on this page in aggregate form, and I can pull a full report through my building sold report.

Building specifications

Amenities at The Rhodes

The amenity list is short because the building is small; what you are really paying for is a staffed front desk, private elevator access to most suites and a concierge service that can arrange things like pet care. Confirm which services are covered by the fee before you compare it with a larger tower.

Jatin’s honest take on The Rhodes

The Rhodes — 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.