Warner Park Condominiums, 1785 Eglinton Ave E: A 24-Suite Low-Rise

Warner Park Condominiums is the building I mention when a buyer tells me they hate towers. It is a 3-storey, 24-suite low-rise from 2008 on Eglinton Avenue East, with suites around 850 to 950 square feet and a price per foot well below most of what you see in North York. Small buildings like this can be great places to live, and they can also be expensive surprises, so I go through it carefully. I’m Jatin Dua, RE/MAX Quantum Realty.

A low-rise in a city of towers

At three storeys and 24 suites, Warner Park is closer to a large house split into apartments than to a typical Toronto condo. There is no lobby full of strangers and no 20-minute elevator wait. You will likely know most of your neighbours by name within a year.

That scale is the main reason to buy here. For buyers coming from a townhouse or a rented flat in a house, it feels familiar. For older buyers, a low building with underground parking and only a couple of floors can be easier to live in than a high-rise. There are also fewer people coming and going, which means less wear on hallways and common areas.

The building sits on Eglinton Avenue East, a busy arterial, with the residential streets of Victoria Village behind it. Ask which way a suite faces. A unit on the Eglinton side will hear traffic in a way a rear-facing suite will not.

Suites that are all roughly the same size

Condos.ca puts the suite range at about 846 to 941 square feet. That is a narrow band, which tells you the building is mostly one product: a generous two-bedroom, or a one-bedroom-plus-den sized like a two-bedroom. There are no studios and no penthouses.

For a buyer, that has two consequences. First, comparables are easy: almost every sale in the building is relevant to the suite you are looking at. Second, there is no ladder within the building. If your family grows, you will be moving out, not up a floor.

In a three-storey building, the floor matters more than usual. Ground-floor suites may have patios and easier access but less privacy; top-floor suites get no one overhead but can be warmer in summer. Visit both if you can.

What a 24-suite corporation means for your money

This is the part I spend the most time on with buyers. In a 24-suite corporation, every major repair is split 24 ways. A roof replacement, a garage repair or new windows that would barely register in a 300-suite tower can be a significant cost per owner here.

That is why the reserve fund study is the most important document you will read. You want to see a funding plan that has kept up with the building’s age, a reasonable balance and no large gaps between planned work and money set aside. Read the board minutes for any talk of upcoming projects.

The developer is listed as 1623435 Ontario, a numbered company. That is common for small projects and is not a concern on its own. It does mean you will not find a developer track record to lean on, and the condition of the building today depends almost entirely on how the corporation has been run since 2008.

Daily life, without the amenities

Do not buy here for amenities. Condos.ca lists visitor parking, barbecues permitted and an underground parking garage, and tags the building as pet-friendly. There is no concierge, gym, pool or party room listed.

For many buyers, that is a feature. You are not paying to heat a pool or staff a front desk, and you are not sharing a gym with hundreds of people. If you want those things, a membership down the road is often cheaper than the fee difference.

The location suits drivers and people who already know the east side of North York. The automatic panel on this page covers transit, schools, parks and nearby food, so I will leave those details there.

A low price per foot, and the fee to understand

Condos.ca puts the building average at about $498 per square foot. That is low for Toronto, and it reflects the building’s small size, its location on an arterial road and the absence of amenities. For a buyer focused on space for the money, it stands out.

There was one suite listed for sale when I checked, and none for lease, so there is no asking range I can responsibly quote. With only 24 suites, sales are rare. I would look back two or three years of sales in this building and compare with other small low-rise condos nearby.

On fees, Condos.ca lists common elements, building insurance, parking and water as included. Heat, air conditioning and hydro are not on that list, so expect to pay those yourself. Small buildings also tend to have higher fees per square foot than large ones, because costs like insurance, management and audits are shared among fewer owners.

Ask for the current fee schedule and the last two budgets. If fees have risen sharply, find out why. If they have barely moved in years, check that the reserve fund has not been short-changed to keep them low. A small, well-run corporation will usually show you steady, predictable increases.

Building specifications

Amenities at Warner Park Condominiums

This is a bare-bones package: parking below, visitor spots for guests and permission to barbecue. What you are really paying for is the building envelope, the garage and insurance, which is exactly where you want a small corporation’s money going.

Jatin’s honest take on Warner Park Condominiums

Warner Park Condominiums — 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.