Woodside Terrace, 200 McLevin Ave: Stacked Towns With Low Fees

Woodside Terrace is what I show buyers who want to stop paying for a concierge and an elevator they never use. These are stacked townhouse suites with your own front door, a two-storey building around you and a fee that covers the basics and little else. In Malvern, that is one of the cheapest ways to own something that feels like a home rather than an apartment. I’m Jatin Dua, RE/MAX Quantum Realty.

Stacked townhouses, not a tower

Condos.ca records Woodside Terrace as a two-storey, 136-suite low-rise. In practice that means stacked townhouse suites: one home above another, each with its own entrance from outside rather than a shared corridor. Listings describe ground-floor suites with entry at grade and no stairs, which is the main draw for older buyers and anyone tired of hauling groceries up an elevator.

This format changes your daily routine. There is no lobby, no concierge and no waiting for the elevator, and you deal with neighbours above or below you rather than along a hallway. Sound between the upper and lower suites is the thing to test. Visit in the evening and listen.

Eden Oak Homes built the complex in 2004, and it is a modest, practical project. Condos.ca lists visitor parking but no parking garage, so ask whether the space that comes with your suite is a surface spot and where it sits relative to your door.

Layouts: upper or lower suite

Condos.ca puts suites between about 663 and 1,004 square feet. The smaller plans are typically two-bedroom, one-bathroom homes of around 700 square feet, and the larger ones add room for a third bedroom or a second bathroom.

In a stacked complex the two positions live differently. The lower suite usually gives you level entry and may have a patio. The upper suite usually gives you more stairs, more light and sometimes a balcony or terrace, with nobody walking above you. Ask which one you are looking at and price them separately, because buyers value them differently.

Storage is the other question in a stacked town. With no lockers listed, ask where bikes, strollers and seasonal items go, because some suites have a utility room or under-stair closet and others have very little.

Since heat is not in the fee, each suite likely has its own furnace or heating unit and its own water heater, possibly a rental. Ask the age of both, and whether the water heater is owned or rented, before you firm up.

A lean fee, and what it leaves out

Condos.ca lists the fee as covering common elements, building insurance, parking and water. Heat and hydro are on you. That makes the fee much lower than in a high-rise, but your total monthly cost includes two utility bills you would not see in many towers.

Low fees in a 2004 low-rise also have a catch. The corporation still has to replace roofs, windows, exterior stairs, the parking surface, walkways and fencing over time, and 136 suites share that cost. If the fee has been held artificially low, the reserve fund may be thin. Read the reserve fund study closely and look at what is planned in the next ten years.

Condos.ca also lists a security system, an enter-phone system and visitor parking, and says barbecues are permitted. That is the whole amenity list. There is no gym or party room, and for most buyers here that is exactly the point of choosing a stacked town.

Malvern day to day

McLevin Avenue sits in the middle of Malvern, a mostly low-rise community of townhouses and houses. Malvern Town Centre and Malvern Community Centre are the local anchors for shopping and recreation, and the University of Toronto Scarborough campus and the Toronto Pan Am Sports Centre are part of the wider area.

Much of the housing around this complex dates from the same period. A 2000 City of Toronto report on land north of McLevin, east and west of Tapscott Road, describes a Canada Lands Company plan for about 593 homes, mostly semis and townhouses, with about 5.13 hectares of parkland and woodlots dedicated to the City. That gives the area a consistent, family-oriented feel.

This is a car-friendly location, with Highway 401 reachable without going through downtown traffic. Buses cover the area, and the automatic panel on this page shows the nearest routes and stations.

One note on names: Woodside Village, a separate townhouse condominium nearby on Pinery Trail, uses a similar name. If you are comparing the two, confirm the corporation number on each listing, because they have different boards, budgets and fees.

Pricing and what it competes with

Condos.ca does not publish an average price per square foot for this complex, and at the time of writing there was one suite for sale and two for rent. One listing is not a market, so I would not anchor on it.

The better comparison is against Malvern’s freehold townhouses and against two-bedroom suites in Scarborough high-rises. Woodside Terrace usually trades below a freehold town, because you share the land and pay a fee, and its fee is usually well below a tower’s because you have no elevators, garage or concierge to fund.

When you run the numbers, add heat and hydro to the fee, and compare that total against a tower whose fee includes them. Then ask me for the complex’s recent sale record through the building sold report, which shows what suites have actually traded for.

Building specifications

Amenities at Woodside Terrace

The amenity list is short on purpose: visitor parking, an enter-phone, a security system and permission to barbecue. You are paying for a front door and low overhead, not for shared facilities.

Jatin’s honest take on Woodside Terrace

Woodside Terrace — 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.