22 Condominiums, 22 Wellesley St E: architectsAlliance Lofts by Yonge

22 Wellesley Street East is what I show buyers who like the loft look but want a tower with a concierge and a short walk to Yonge. It is a slim 23-storey glass building from 2007–2008, designed by architectsAlliance, with exposed concrete inside and only a handful of suites on each floor. It is not cheap per square foot for its age, and it rarely has much for sale, but there is a reason for both. I’m Jatin Dua, RE/MAX Quantum Realty.

An architectsAlliance tower, not a developer box

The architect is the main reason this building stands apart from its neighbours. Peter Clewes of architectsAlliance designed it, the same firm behind a long list of well-regarded Toronto towers from that era, including Radio City a few blocks east. When the Toronto Star’s architecture critic Christopher Hume reviewed it in 2008, he gave it an A-minus, according to the ACO Toronto building record.

From the street it reads as a clean vertical glass tower with prominent balconies. Inside, the design carries through: exposed concrete walls and ceilings, floor-to-ceiling glass and open-concept living spaces. It is a soft-loft finish rather than a hard-loft conversion, but it is a lot closer to the real thing than the painted drywall in most towers of the same age.

One caution on the finish itself. Exposed concrete looks striking in photos, but a blogTO feature on one of the upper suites admitted the concrete and marble made the space feel less cozy. Stand in a suite on a grey afternoon and decide whether you like it before you buy it.

Few suites per floor, and a lot of corners

With 158 suites on 23 floors, the floor plates are small. One building summary describes four to eight suites per floor, with many corner units and wraparound balconies. That is a different experience from a tower with 15 doors down every corridor: less hallway traffic, more light per suite and more exposures to choose from.

Suite sizes range from roughly 483 square feet at the small end to well over 3,000 square feet at the top. The blogTO feature described an upper-floor residence of about 3,200 square feet of interior space with around 800 square feet of terrace and gas hook-ups outside. Most of the building, though, is one-bedroom to two-bedroom-plus-den.

Records disagree slightly on the count. condos.ca shows 158 suites; one building summary describes 155 loft-style suites. The difference is likely combined or larger upper-floor units, but confirm the suite’s registered area on the plan rather than trusting a listing’s square footage.

Living with exposed concrete

Concrete ceilings change more than the look. Sound carries differently, so rugs, curtains and soft furniture do more work here than in a drywall suite. Ceiling lights often run in surface conduit or tracks, because you cannot simply cut a new box into a concrete slab.

That also shapes renovation plans. Moving a kitchen or adding pot lights is more involved and usually needs board approval, so if you are buying with a plan to renovate, read the corporation’s alteration rules first and get a contractor’s view before you firm up.

The upside is durability and character. Concrete and glass age well when the building is maintained, and buyers who want this look do not have many tower options near Yonge to choose from. That scarcity is part of what holds resale demand here.

Living a block from Yonge and Wellesley

This is about as central as a quiet side-street address gets. You are a short walk west to Yonge Street and east to the Church Street strip of the Village, with Bloor and Yorkville to the north and the Wellesley area’s new towers going up around you.

That last point is worth thinking about. The blocks around Yonge and Wellesley have seen a run of large new towers, and more are proposed. If the suite you are looking at depends on a particular view, ask what is approved or proposed on the lots it faces. A slim tower like this one can lose a view to a neighbour faster than you would think.

The automatic panel on this page covers transit, schools and walkability, so I will leave those details to it.

What 22 Wellesley costs and what you get for the fee

condos.ca puts the building average at about $834 per square foot. That is noticeably higher than The Star of Downtown further east on Wellesley, at about $697, and close to 85 Bloor at about $849. You are paying for the architecture, the location a block from Yonge and the small number of suites per floor.

The fee covers more than many buildings of this vintage. condos.ca lists common elements, heat, air conditioning, building insurance, parking and water as included. With both heating and cooling bundled in, a fee that looks high on a per-square-foot basis can compare well once you add utilities back to a newer building that bills them separately.

Supply is the other factor. At the time of writing there was one suite for sale and none for rent, which is typical of a small building where owners tend to stay. That makes the last 12 months of recorded sales in the data panel more useful than any single listing, and it means you may need to wait for the right layout.

Building specifications

Amenities at 22 Condominiums

The amenity list is short but useful: a staffed concierge, a gym and sauna, guest suites for visitors and a rooftop deck with a hot tub. In a 158-suite building that rooftop is rarely crowded, which is more than most towers near Yonge can say. Guest suites are a real plus downtown, where visiting family otherwise means a hotel bill.

Jatin’s honest take on 22 Condominiums

22 Condominiums — frequently asked questions

Looking at Church–Wellesley, Corktown, Moss Park and Cabbagetown more broadly? Start with my Toronto community guide — the neighbourhoods, what each pocket is like, and how they compare.