4005 Don Mills Road: A 1977 Low-Rise With a Pool at Don Mills and Steeles

4005 Don Mills Road is a four-storey building that behaves like a much bigger one. It has an indoor pool, a sauna, a gym and a party room, and its suites run large enough for families, which is unusual in a low-rise. The catch is the monthly fee, and whether it makes sense depends entirely on what it covers. I’m Jatin Dua, RE/MAX Quantum Realty.

A low-rise with a high-rise amenity list

Most four-storey condos in Toronto have a lobby, a garbage room and not much else. 4005 Don Mills Road has an indoor pool, a sauna, a gym and a party room, plus a BBQ area and visitor parking. For a building this size, that is a generous package.

It is also expensive to run. A pool needs heating, chemicals, filtration, staff time, insurance and, eventually, a full mechanical replacement. In a smaller building those costs are spread over fewer owners than in a tower, and that shows up in the fee.

So the first question I ask a buyer here is simple: will you use the pool? If the answer is yes, this building offers something that very few low-rise condos in North York do. If the answer is no, you are subsidising a facility you do not want.

Big suites in a four-storey building

The suites here are larger than most buyers expect. The building includes four-bedroom suites, and suite numbers run into the 350s, which points to a wide building with many suites per floor rather than a small walk-up.

Four bedrooms in an apartment condo is rare anywhere in Toronto, and rarer still at the price levels this building trades at. For a large family that wants one-level living, an elevator and no stairs, that is a real reason to look here instead of at a townhouse.

Buildings from the late 1970s were often built with more generous room sizes and storage than today’s condos. Many have original layouts with separate kitchens and dining rooms, so budget for updating if the seller has not. Bring a contractor to a second showing; a full kitchen and bathroom renovation in a large suite can change your numbers more than a small difference in asking price.

The fee, and the 1977 question

Fees in this building are high in dollar terms. That is partly the pool and partly the age. A 1977 building is well into its second cycle of major repairs: roofing, windows, balcony and garage concrete, elevators, boilers and the pool mechanical plant all come due on long but predictable schedules.

condos.ca does not list what the fee includes, and I could not confirm it. Buildings of this age often bundle heat, water and sometimes hydro into the fee, which can make a high fee look much better once you add your own utility bills back in. Do not assume it. Get the inclusions from the status certificate and the budget.

Next door, 4001 Don Mills Road is a separate listing on condos.ca and belongs to York Condominium Corporation No. 242, according to public certificates of completion for garage podium deck work there in 2001 and 2003. I could not confirm whether 4005 shares that corporation or has its own, so check the corporation number before you rely on any reserve fund study you are handed.

The corner of Don Mills and Steeles

The building sits at the very top of North York, at the south-east corner of Don Mills Road and Steeles Avenue East. Steeles is the boundary with Markham here, so German Mills is directly across the road and the shopping and services of both cities are a short drive away.

Directly behind the building is the Spire Hillway townhouse complex, and the rest of Hillcrest Village stretches south to Finch Avenue and Seneca Polytechnic’s Newnham Campus. The Don Valley and Duncan Creek give the eastern side of the neighbourhood its wooded slopes. Transit, schools and parks for this address are in the data panel on this page.

Being on a corner of two busy arterials has a cost: suites facing Steeles or Don Mills will hear traffic. Ask which way the unit faces, and visit at rush hour.

Pricing and fees

At the time of writing, two suites were listed for sale, asking from $489,000 to $559,000, with monthly fees between $1,002 and $1,156. Two listings are a snapshot, not a market, so use the sold-data panel on this page to see what has actually traded.

Those asking prices are low for suites this size in Toronto, and the fees are a big part of why. A buyer comparing this building with a newer condo needs to compare total monthly cost: mortgage, fee, property tax and utilities together. If heat and water turn out to be included here, the gap narrows. If they are not, it widens.

Fees also drive financing. Lenders count part of the condo fee when they calculate how much you can borrow, so a high fee reduces your purchasing power. Talk to your mortgage broker with the actual fee before you write an offer.

Building specifications

Amenities at 4005 Don Mills Road

An indoor pool and sauna in a four-storey building is uncommon, and for swimmers it can replace a club membership. Visitor parking matters more than it sounds at a busy suburban corner where street parking is limited.

Jatin’s honest take on 4005 Don Mills Road

4005 Don Mills Road — frequently asked questions

Looking at Toronto more broadly? Start with my Toronto community guide — the neighbourhoods, what each pocket is like, and how they compare.