Corvus Starway Townhouses: 1971 Family Homes by Don Mills & Sheppard

The Starway townhouses are one of the cheaper ways into a three-bedroom home with a garage and a backyard this close to Fairview Mall and the 401–404 interchange. They are also more than 50 years old, which means the corporation’s paperwork tells you more than any open house will. I’m Jatin Dua, RE/MAX Quantum Realty.

Seven lanes named after the stars, one corporation

The complex is easy to spot on a map. Instead of numbered units off a single driveway, the 95 homes sit on seven short private lanes, each named after a star or constellation: Corvus, Vega, Ursa, Lyra, Capella, Virgo and Leo. All of them fall under one corporation, YCC-58, so the owners share one budget, one board and one reserve fund.

That corporation number is low. YCC stands for York Condominium Corporation, and number 58, registered in December 1971, puts this among the early condominiums in the former North York. Ontario only allowed condominium ownership from 1967, so the people who built these homes were still working out what a condo townhouse community should look like.

I could not find a published developer or architect for the complex, and condos.ca does not list one. That is normal for a project of this age. It means you are judging the homes on their present condition and the corporation’s records, not on a builder’s name.

What a Starway home is actually like

Listing descriptions I reviewed describe three-storey homes stacked in a way that surprises some buyers. In one recent example, the ground level held a recreation room and a utility room, the middle floor carried the living room, dining room and an eat-in kitchen, and the top floor had three bedrooms. That home also had a finished walk-out to a deck and backyard, a private driveway and a garage.

That layout suits families who want the kitchen and living space away from the street and the bedrooms together on one floor. It suits fewer people who want to avoid stairs. Carrying groceries from the garage up to a second-floor kitchen every day is a real part of life here, so walk the stairs before you decide.

Heating in the listings I saw was forced-air gas with central air, and at least one home was described as freshly painted, with wood floors in the bedrooms. Expect variety. After 50 years, some homes have new kitchens and bathrooms and others have barely changed, and two homes with the same plan can be very different buys.

Owning a 1971 townhouse condo

The reason people choose a condo townhouse over a freehold house is that the corporation looks after the shared parts: usually roofs, exterior walls, the private lanes, landscaping and snow. That works well when the reserve fund is strong. It works badly when big items come due at once and the fund is short.

In a complex of this age, the big items are not theoretical. Roofs, windows, doors, garage doors, paving and the underground water and sewer lines on private lanes have all reached, or passed, their expected life at least once since 1971. Whether they were replaced on schedule, and how the work was paid for, is what you are really buying.

Do not assume which parts of the home belong to you. The declaration sets the split between owner and corporation, and in older complexes the treatment of windows, decks and garage doors can be unusual. Your lawyer should check it, and your inspector should know it before inspecting.

Henry Farm, Fairview Mall and what is changing

Henry Farm is named for George Stewart Henry, a premier of Ontario whose family had farmed the land since 1806. He sold it in 1958, and it was built out as a subdivision through the 1960s and early 1970s, with townhouse developments along its edges and the Parkway Forest towers to the east. The Starway complex is part of that first generation of housing.

Daily life here centres on Fairview Mall, which covers most errands in one trip, and on very quick access to the 401, the 404 and the Don Valley Parkway. For a family that drives, it is one of the most central spots in North York. Transit, schools and walkability are in the data panel on this page.

The area is densifying. The Parkway Forest Community Centre, designed by Diamond Schmitt, opened in 2015 as part of the Emerald City redevelopment, and Cadillac Fairview and Shape Properties have filed a first phase of a masterplan on the Fairview Mall lands. That brings services and new neighbours, and also years of construction. Low-rise family homes in the middle of it become scarcer, which tends to support values over time.

Pricing and fees: how to read the numbers

When I checked, two homes were listed for sale, asking from $688,800 to $990,000, and one was listed for lease. That spread is wide for one complex, and it tells you how much condition, size and renovation matter here. Do not take the lower figure as the price of entry or the higher one as the ceiling; look at what each home includes.

Both listings showed a monthly fee of $509. Condos.ca does not list what that covers, so ask for the current budget. In a townhouse complex the fee usually pays for the exterior, the grounds and the reserve fund, while you pay heat, hydro and often water yourself, the way you would in a house.

For actual recent sale figures, I can pull aggregates for the complex in a building sold report. Read them next to the reserve fund study. A home at a good price in a complex about to replace every roof is not the same buy as one where that work is done and paid for.

Building specifications

Amenities at 2 Corvus Starway Townhouses

There is no pool, gym or concierge listed here. What you get is a house-style home with your own garage and outdoor space, and the neighbourhood supplies the rest: the Parkway Forest Community Centre, Havenbrook and Parkway Forest parks, and Fairview Mall.

Jatin’s honest take on 2 Corvus Starway Townhouses

2 Corvus Starway Townhouses — frequently asked questions

Looking at Willowdale, Yonge & Sheppard, Bayview Village and North York Centre more broadly? Start with my Toronto community guide — the neighbourhoods, what each pocket is like, and how they compare.