Heron Park Place, 15-45 Heron Park Pl: Back-to-Backs on a School Site

Heron Park Place is one of the few newer townhouse condos in West Hill, and it sits on land most locals remember as a school. Manse Developments replaced the old Heron Park Junior Public School with a mix of townhouses, and this 2018 corporation holds 76 of them, with parking below grade rather than in front of your door. That one design choice shapes almost everything about living here. I’m Jatin Dua, RE/MAX Quantum Realty.

From school yard to townhouse block

The site was the Heron Park Junior Public School at 280 Manse Road, on the west side of Manse Road just south of Lawrence Avenue East. After the school was demolished, the Toronto District School Board severed the property in 2012, and Manse Developments applied in early 2014 to build townhouses on the roughly 2.1-hectare parcel.

The 2014 City staff report describes 138 homes in total: 58 street townhouses with front garages, and 80 back-to-back townhouses in four buildings of 20, with underground parking. Heron Park Place has four addresses, 15, 25, 35 and 45, and condos.ca counts 76 suites in this corporation, which lines up with the back-to-back component after some change to the final plan.

That means the street townhouses on the same former school site appear to be held separately from TSCC-2652. Before you buy, confirm on the status certificate exactly which buildings, garage and grounds this corporation owns and whether it shares any facilities with a neighbouring corporation.

What a back-to-back townhouse is like to live in

A back-to-back townhouse shares its rear wall with another home, so each suite gets windows on one main side plus any end-unit exposure. The staff report gives these buildings three storeys. In practice that usually means a narrow footprint with living space stacked over several floors, and more stairs than you would climb in an apartment.

The current listings here are all three-bedroom suites, which is the format families want and which is rare in new West Hill condo stock. The trade-off is light: interior units depend on one face of the building, so the direction it faces matters more than usual. End units, with windows on a second side, are the ones I would look at first.

Noise is the other practical point. Sharing a rear wall and side walls means sound from neighbours can carry, especially on stairs. Visit in the evening, and ask the seller directly how much they hear.

Ask for the floor plan and measure the bedrooms rather than relying on the bedroom count. In three-storey back-to-backs, a third bedroom can be compact, and storage is often limited to closets and whatever locker space the garage provides.

Underground parking changes the economics

Most townhouse complexes of this type put a garage under each home. Here, the City report describes underground parking for the back-to-back buildings, and condos.ca lists a parking garage among the amenities. Your car is kept out of the weather and the streetscape is cleaner, but the corporation owns a structure that needs a waterproofing membrane, drainage, lighting and ventilation for the long term.

Parking is included in the maintenance fee, which is the right way to think about it: part of what you pay each month funds the garage. In a 2018 building those costs are years away, but the reserve fund study should already show them. Check the study’s plan for membrane repairs and concrete work.

City staff flagged visitor parking supply as a question at the 2014 application stage. I do not know how the final plan resolved it, so visit on a weekend evening and see how full the visitor spaces are before you rely on them for family and guests.

Daily life next to Heron Park

The location is the strongest part of the case. The 2014 report places Heron Park, the Heron Park Community Recreation Centre and the Morningside branch of Toronto Public Library directly north of the site, so a park, a recreation centre and a library are part of your neighbourhood rather than a drive away.

Around it, the streets are mostly detached and semi-detached homes, with townhouses to the east and near Lawrence Avenue East. Groceries and day-to-day shopping are along Lawrence and Kingston Road. Schools and transit for this address are in the data panel on this page.

The setting is quiet and residential, which is what families buying a three-bedroom townhouse are looking for. If you want restaurants and nightlife within a walk, this is not that kind of location.

Prices, fees and the active listings

When I reviewed the building there were three suites for sale and three for rent. The three for sale were asking between $609,000 and $629,000, and the listings showed the same monthly fee of about $526. That is a tight band, which suggests the suites are similar in size and format and that sellers are pricing off each other.

For context, a three-bedroom suite in a newer West Hill condo building at that price is uncommon. The comparison buyers usually make is with an older 1980s or 1990s townhouse complex nearby, which may offer more square footage and a private garage for similar money but comes with older roofs, windows and reserve-fund pressure.

The fact that three suites were also offered for rent at the same time tells you investors own part of this complex. That is normal for newer townhouse condos, but it matters for buyers who want an owner-occupied feel, and it means you will be competing with rentals if you ever lease your own suite.

The fee includes parking and building insurance. Utilities are not listed as included, so add your own heat, hydro and water before comparing totals. The panel on this page shows what has actually sold here.

Building specifications

Amenities at Heron Park Place Condos

There is no gym or party room to fund, which helps keep fees modest. The real amenities are the underground garage and the public park, recreation centre and library next door.

Jatin’s honest take on Heron Park Place Condos

Heron Park Place Condos — frequently asked questions

Looking at Scarborough Bluffs, West Hill, Guildwood, Woburn, Malvern and Rouge more broadly? Start with my Toronto community guide — the neighbourhoods, what each pocket is like, and how they compare.