33 Delisle Ave: From One-Bedrooms to 5,500 sq ft by Yonge and St. Clair

33 Delisle Avenue is a rare midtown building where a first condo and a downsizer’s 5,000-square-foot home share the same lobby. It sits on a short side street a few steps from Yonge and St. Clair, it was finished with house-style detailing in 2002, and its fee covers more than most. That range is its strength, and it is why you need to look at each suite on its own. I’m Jatin Dua, RE/MAX Quantum Realty.

A side-street building at a major intersection

Delisle Avenue is a short residential street just north of St. Clair and west of Yonge. That location gives the building a quieter address than the towers on the main roads, while keeping the Yonge and St. Clair intersection, with its grocery stores, restaurants and subway, a few minutes’ walk away.

The street has become a small cluster of midtown condominiums. The St. Clair at 10 Delisle Avenue and The Carlyle at 55 Delisle Avenue are close by, as is 60 St. Clair Avenue West. They are different buildings with different suite mixes and fee structures, so compare them side by side rather than treating the street as one product.

At 11 storeys and 108 suites, 33 Delisle is mid-sized. It is large enough to support a full-time concierge and meeting rooms, and small enough that most owners know the staff. That familiarity is part of what owners pay for.

Finishes that were built to last

The original finish package was aimed at buyers coming from houses. Building descriptions mention coffered ceilings in the foyers, hand-built kitchen cabinetry with crown moulding and French doors. Those details were standard at the time and are still present in suites that have not been fully redone.

The finish language is very similar to that of the Lonsdale on Avenue Road, another early-2000s midtown building with coffered foyers and custom trim. If you like the feel of one, look at the other, and compare suite sizes and fees side by side.

Twenty-plus years on, many suites have been updated, and many have not. A suite with original kitchens and baths may need work, but the millwork and room proportions are often worth keeping. Judge each suite on its plan, light and condition rather than on the building’s reputation alone.

A very wide range of suite sizes

Recorded sizes run from about 698 to 5,496 square feet. Current listings show how wide that is in practice: a one-bedroom plus den, a three-bedroom and a four-bedroom plus two suite were all for sale at the time of writing.

That mix is unusual. Most midtown buildings are either compact-suite buildings or large-suite buildings. Here the two share a corporation, which means owners of very different suites vote on the same budget. Large-suite owners pay a much larger share of the fees, and smaller-suite owners benefit from that.

For buyers at the top of the range, the largest suites compete with houses, not condos. For buyers at the small end, the question is whether the fee per square foot is worth it, which I cover below.

Parking, lockers and what you will not pay separately

Parking is in an underground garage and is included in the maintenance fee, along with heat, air conditioning and water. That is a broad set of inclusions for this part of midtown, where newer buildings often put heating and cooling on your own meter and charge separately for parking.

Confirm the number of parking spaces and lockers attached to the suite on the status certificate. Do not assume a large suite comes with more than one space, and do not assume a small one comes with any.

The garage is also the item I would ask about first. A 2002 garage is at the age where membranes, drainage and concrete repairs start to appear in reserve fund studies. Ask when it was last inspected, what work has been done, and what is planned over the next ten years.

Price per square foot across a very wide range

The condos.ca profile puts the building average at about $901 per square foot. That is a premium figure for a building of this age, and it reflects the side-street location near Yonge and St. Clair, the finishes and the large suites.

At the time of writing, three suites were for sale, asking between $999,000 and $5,475,000, with monthly fees between about $1,465 and $7,009. The fees look large, but remember what they cover: heat, air conditioning, parking and water as well as the common elements and insurance.

For smaller suites, work out the fee per square foot and add back what you would pay separately in a newer building: heat, air conditioning and a parking space. That gives you a fair total monthly cost. On that basis, the gap between this building and a newer one is usually smaller than the headline fee suggests, though it does not disappear.

Because the suites vary so much, a building average is a rough guide at best. Compare a one-bedroom here with other one-bedrooms near Yonge and St. Clair, and compare the largest suites with houses and with large suites in buildings like the Lonsdale. My building sold report shows what has actually traded here.

Building specifications

Amenities at 33 Delisle Avenue Condos

The amenity list is short: a concierge, a party room, a meeting room and visitor parking. This is a building for people who want service and a good address, not a resort-style amenity floor, and the fees reflect that by putting the money into utilities rather than a pool. If a gym matters to you, plan on a membership nearby; if a doorman and a quiet lobby matter more, this building delivers.

Jatin’s honest take on 33 Delisle Avenue Condos

33 Delisle Avenue Condos — frequently asked questions

Looking at Yorkville, the Annex and Midtown more broadly? Start with my Toronto community guide — the neighbourhoods, what each pocket is like, and how they compare.