1159 Birchmount Rd Condos: 18 Suites, Hydro and Heat Included

1159 Birchmount Road is far smaller than most Toronto condominiums: 18 suites in a four-storey building from 1976. For the right buyer, that means a quiet building, a fee that covers hydro and heat, and a price far below most of the city. For the wrong buyer, it means sharing every repair with only 17 other owners. I’m Jatin Dua, RE/MAX Quantum Realty.

Eighteen suites, four floors

Most of the condos I write about have a hundred suites or more. This one has 18, spread over four storeys. It is closer in scale to a small apartment house than to a tower, and it was registered as a condominium in December 1976, when Scarborough was adding condo stock quickly.

A building this small has a particular character. There is no concierge, no amenity floor and no crowd in the lobby. You will likely know most of your neighbours by sight, and the board is a handful of owners rather than a distant committee.

That intimacy is the appeal for many buyers. It also means the building’s condition depends heavily on a few people’s decisions, which is why I approach small corporations with more caution than large ones, not less.

Governance works differently at this scale too. A board needs volunteers, and in an 18-suite building the same few owners may serve for years. Ask who is on the board, how often it meets and whether the corporation holds its annual general meetings on time. A small building run by engaged owners can be very well kept; one where nobody wants the job can drift. The minutes will usually tell you which kind you are looking at.

The size range needs a closer look

Condos.ca lists suites at about 301 to 1,030 square feet. The upper end is a comfortable two-bedroom size. The lower figure is unusually small for a 1970s building, and I would not assume it is a typical suite; it may be a bachelor, a data quirk or a measurement that excludes part of the space.

Before you rely on any size here, ask for the floor plan or measure the suite yourself. In a building with so few sales, a size error can throw off every price-per-square-foot comparison you make.

I could not find a builder floor plan or a detailed description of layouts or ceiling heights for this building, so treat each suite as its own case and judge it in person.

An unusually complete fee

The fee here covers common elements, heat, hydro, building insurance, parking and water. Hydro and heat together are not common inclusions, and having both means your monthly cost is close to fixed, apart from internet and contents insurance.

There is a flip side. In an 18-suite building, the energy bill, the insurance premium and every repair are split only 18 ways. When costs rise, the effect on each owner is larger than in a big tower, and a single major project, such as a roof or a parking surface, can lead to a noticeable fee increase or a special assessment.

Ask for the last three years of budgets, the current reserve fund study and the funding plan. Those three documents will tell you more about this building than any listing will.

Birchmount Road and the changing transit map

Birchmount Road forms the western edge of Dorset Park, a largely residential neighbourhood whose houses mostly date from the 1950s, with the Kennedy Road commercial strip running through its centre. This is a quiet, established part of Scarborough rather than a condo district.

Transit in this part of Scarborough is in the middle of a change. The Line 3 Scarborough RT has been retired, and the Scarborough Busway along its old corridor, with stops including Lawrence East and Ellesmere, was scheduled to open on 30 September 2026. The Line 2 subway extension, with a new station at Lawrence and McCowan, is expected around 2030. The data panel on this page shows the current options from the door.

For most owners here, a car will still be part of daily life, which is one reason parking in the fee matters.

Pricing a building that almost never trades

Condos.ca shows a building average of about $214 per square foot. I would not rely on that number. With 18 suites, sales are rare, the average may rest on very few transactions or old ones, and the questionable 301 sq ft figure could distort it.

When I checked, there were no suites listed for sale or for rent. That is typical for a building this small, and it means a buyer has to be patient, and a seller has to price against sales in comparable older buildings in Dorset Park and Wexford rather than against the building’s own history alone.

Because hydro, heat and parking are in the fee, compare total monthly cost with other buildings, not the fee by itself. Also ask your lender early: some lenders look harder at very small condominium corporations, and it is better to know before you firm up an offer. For what has actually traded here, ask me for my building sold report.

Building specifications

Amenities at 1159 Birchmount Road Condos

There are no shared facilities to speak of beyond a security system, and that is by design in a building this size. You are not paying for a gym or a pool you might never use, which is part of why the fee can cover hydro and heat.

Jatin’s honest take on 1159 Birchmount Road Condos

1159 Birchmount Road Condos — frequently asked questions

Looking at Agincourt, L’Amoreaux, Milliken, Dorset Park and Wexford in Scarborough more broadly? Start with my Toronto community guide — the neighbourhoods, what each pocket is like, and how they compare.