32 Curzon Street Townhouses: 15 Leslieville Homes Over a Shared Garage

32 Curzon Street is one of the oldest condominium townhouse complexes in Leslieville, and one of the smallest. Fifteen homes, built in 1983, with a shared parking garage on a residential side street off Queen. Homes here rarely come up, and when one does I look at the garage and the reserve fund before I look at the kitchen. I’m Jatin Dua, RE/MAX Quantum Realty.

A 1983 townhouse condo in old Leslieville

Leslieville began in the 1850s as a village around George Leslie’s Toronto Nurseries, and for most of the next century its residents worked in the nurseries, brickyards and factories nearby. Its side streets are still lined mostly with older houses. A townhouse condominium from 1983 is infill on that pattern, built when the area was still working class and long before the gentrification of the 2000s.

The corporation number tells you the age. MTCC stands for Metropolitan Toronto Condominium Corporation, the naming used before amalgamation in 1998, and number 621 places it among the city’s earlier condominiums. Corporations of this age were set up under the old Condominium Act. They now run under the 1998 Act, but their declarations and by-laws are often older and less detailed than a new building’s.

Condos.ca does not name the original builder, and I could not find one. That does not change much today. What matters for a 40-year-old complex is how the board and manager have looked after it since.

Fifteen homes and a shared garage

Condos.ca lists a parking garage and visitor parking. For 15 townhouses, a shared garage is unusual and it is the single most important thing to understand here. Underground or podium garages need a waterproof membrane over the roof slab, drainage, ventilation and concrete repair, and those costs are shared among only 15 owners.

Ask when the garage membrane was last replaced or repaired, what the most recent engineering report found, and what the reserve fund study plans for the next ten years. If a garage repair is overdue in a complex this small, each owner’s share can be large. That is not a reason to walk away, but it is a reason to read the numbers carefully.

Condos.ca does not record suite sizes or a storey count beyond listing the complex as a single storey, which is how databases often code townhouses. Get the floor plan and the measurements from the listing, and walk the stairs.

What a 40-year-old townhouse corporation needs

After four decades, almost everything original to the exterior has been replaced at least once or is due: roofs, windows, doors, brick repointing, decks and paving. Townhouse declarations often split these between the corporation and each owner, and older declarations can be vague about it. Read the declaration and the by-laws, and ask the manager which items have been treated as the owner’s cost in practice.

Condos.ca lists no fee inclusions, so ask exactly what the fee covers. In townhouse complexes, owners usually pay their own heat, hydro and often water, and the fee covers building insurance, common areas, the garage and exterior work. Confirm how each home is heated and what the age of the furnace or boiler is.

Small corporations also depend on a few people. Ask how often the board meets, whether the corporation is current with its filings to the Condominium Authority of Ontario, and when the last reserve fund study was done. Ontario requires one at least every three years.

Insurance is the other question. Building insurance in a small, older complex can carry a high deductible, and many corporations pass the deductible to the owner whose home the damage started in. Ask what the current deductible is, and make sure your own condo owner’s policy covers it. If the home has been renovated, ask whether the corporation approved the work, especially anything touching plumbing, walls or the exterior.

Living on Curzon Street

Curzon is a quiet residential street in the heart of Leslieville, a short walk from the shops, cafes and restaurants on Queen Street East and the 501 streetcar. Condos.ca lists the nearest main intersection as Donlands Station, which is not right for this address; use the data panel on this page for the actual nearest transit, parks and schools.

This part of the city has changed more in 20 years than in the 80 before. Wikipedia describes Leslieville’s rapid gentrification between 2000 and 2010, and the old industrial land around it is still being redeveloped. Another townhouse condominium, Towns on Curzon, is further along the same street and gives you a nearby comparison point.

Pricing: almost no data, so price it carefully

There are no homes listed for sale or rent at the time of writing, and condos.ca does not publish an average price per square foot for this complex. With 15 homes, a full year can pass with one sale or none.

That makes pricing hard. The best comparisons are the few past sales here, recent sales of condo townhouses nearby, including Towns on Curzon, and semi-detached houses on the surrounding streets. Use the 12-month figures in the data panel above where they exist, and ask me for a building sold report that widens the sample.

Expect a condo townhouse here to trade below a freehold of similar size on the same street, because you share the land, pay a fee and accept the corporation’s rules. How far below depends on the fee and the state of the reserve fund, which is why those documents matter more than usual.

Building specifications

Amenities at 32 Curzon Street Townhouses

Condos.ca lists a parking garage, visitor parking and barbecues as permitted. There are no shared facilities to speak of, so your fee goes toward the garage, insurance and exterior upkeep rather than a gym or a lobby.

Jatin’s honest take on 32 Curzon Street Townhouses

32 Curzon Street Townhouses — frequently asked questions

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