Marquette Urban Towns, 8-16 Marquette Ave: Stacked Towns Off Bathurst

Marquette Urban Towns is what I show buyers who want out of a tower but are not ready to pay for a freehold. It is 48 stacked townhomes by KUBO Developments, four storeys high, finished in 2017, with your own front door and, in some suites, your own rooftop terrace. The trade-off is that you get almost none of the shared amenities a condo tower offers, and you have to be fine with that. I’m Jatin Dua, RE/MAX Quantum Realty.

A stacked town, not a condo tower

The first thing to understand here is the format. These are stacked townhomes: two-level and single-level suites piled on top of each other in a four-storey block, each with its own street-facing or courtyard entrance. There is no lobby, no concierge desk and no elevator bank to wait for. You walk out your door and you are outside.

KUBO Developments marketed the project with International Home Marketing Group as a small collection of 48 homes, and that scale is the point. Forty-eight owners is a small corporation. Decisions get made by people who actually live there, the board is a handful of neighbours, and there are no big-ticket mechanical systems like chillers or a pool to fund.

The flip side of a small corporation is that every repair is shared among fewer people. A roof or waterproofing job that would barely move the needle in a 400-unit tower is a real number when it is split 48 ways. Keep that in mind when you read the reserve fund study.

Layouts, terraces and the sizes you will actually see

The builder sold one- and two-bedroom models and quoted sizes of about 618 to 1,294 sq ft. Listing data on condos.ca shows a wider spread, roughly 467 to 1,372 sq ft, which suggests that some smaller and some larger configurations exist, or that sizes are being measured differently from one listing to the next. Treat any square footage you see on a listing as approximate and ask for the builder floor plan.

Outdoor space is what makes this format work. Depending on the suite, you get a ground-level patio, a balcony or a private rooftop terrace. The rooftop suites are the ones I would look at first if you entertain or garden, and the ones I would inspect most carefully, because a private roof deck sits directly on the building’s waterproofing.

Stacked town layouts also mean stairs. Upper suites can involve two or three flights from the front door to the roof. That is fine for most buyers in their twenties and thirties, and a genuine problem for anyone with mobility issues or a stroller-and-groceries routine. Walk the stairs twice before you write an offer.

Parking and what sits under the complex

The builder advertised indoor garage access, which means parking is underground rather than on a surface lot or in individual garages. In a stacked town that is a real convenience in winter, and it keeps the courtyard free of cars.

Whether a particular suite comes with a parking space, and whether there is a locker, varies from unit to unit. Do not assume either. Confirm the parking and locker unit numbers on the status certificate and check that they are owned, not leased from the corporation.

Living off Bathurst between Lawrence and Wilson

The complex sits just west of Bathurst Street, between Lawrence Avenue and Wilson Avenue and closer to Wilson. It is a residential pocket in Englemount-Lawrence, on the eastern side of the Yorkdale area, so the big shopping and the Allen Road and Highway 401 connections are a short drive west.

Bathurst Street itself is the daily-errand street here, lined with grocers, bakeries and small shops. Buyers coming from a downtown condo tend to notice two things: it is quieter and more family-oriented, and you will probably use a car more than you did before. For a lot of my buyers that is an acceptable trade for the extra room and the quiet street. The transit, school and walkability details for this exact address are in the data panel on this page.

How to think about price and fees here

There is very little active inventory in a 48-suite complex at any given time, often one listing or none, so asking prices here are not a reliable guide on their own. The more useful benchmark is the record of what has actually sold over the last year, which is shown in the data panel, and the per-square-foot figures for similar stacked towns in the surrounding area.

On fees, the inclusion list is short: common elements, building insurance and water. Heat and hydro are not on that list, so get the seller’s actual utility bills and budget for them on top of the monthly fee. When you compare this to a condo tower, remember that a lower fee reflects fewer shared services, not necessarily a better deal.

One more thing on resale: because so few suites trade each year, a single sale can swing the building’s average price per square foot noticeably. I look at the last two or three years of sales together, adjusted for size, terrace and level, before I tell anyone what a suite here is worth. A rooftop-terrace suite and a ground-level suite of the same size are not the same product, and the price history should be read that way.

If you want a building-specific read on recent sales and how they compare to nearby towns, request my sold report for this address.

Building specifications

Amenities at Marquette Urban Towns

There is no gym, party room or concierge here, and that is by design. What you are paying for is your own entrance and your own outdoor space, so the amenity question is really which suite has the terrace or patio you want.

Jatin’s honest take on Marquette Urban Towns

Marquette Urban Towns — 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.