34 Coulson Avenue: A Two-Suite Forest Hill Condo, Explained

34 Coulson Avenue is a condo the way a semi-detached house would be a condo: two large residences under one roof, sharing one corporation. It sits on a quiet Forest Hill South street near Spadina Road and Heath Street, and it gives you house-sized space with a condo title. That structure is the whole story here, and you need to understand it before you buy. I’m Jatin Dua, RE/MAX Quantum Realty.

Two homes, one corporation

Most condos have dozens or hundreds of owners. This one has two. Legally it is a full condominium corporation, TSCC-2797, with a declaration, a budget, a reserve fund and a board, but in practice the board is likely to be the two owners, and every decision is a conversation between neighbours.

That has real advantages. There is no staff to pay, no amenity floor to maintain and no tower mechanical room. Your share of the shared costs is driven by insurance, the roof, exterior walls and landscaping, not by concierge salaries.

It also has real risks. If the two owners disagree on a repair, a contractor or a reserve contribution, there is no majority to break the tie. Before you buy, read the declaration and bylaws closely, and find out whether the corporation uses a property manager or is self-managed.

Condos.ca does not name a developer or a property manager, and I could not confirm either from public sources. For a building this small, that is not unusual, but it means you should ask the seller directly who built it, who holds the corporation’s records, and who you call when something shared needs fixing.

What the two residences are like

Both suites are large, multi-level homes rather than apartments. Media coverage from 2020 described one as a two-storey, three-bedroom, three-bathroom suite with an open-plan main floor, a large waterfall kitchen island, floor-to-ceiling windows in the living room and three private outdoor areas, including a big rooftop terrace and bedroom balconies.

The other is a four-bedroom, four-bathroom home over main, upper and lower levels, described in its current listing at about 2,750 square feet of interior space, with high ceilings, a fireplace, a terrace and a landscaped backyard with a hot tub. Earlier coverage gave a somewhat larger figure, so confirm the size from the plan or a measurement.

Finishes in both were built to a high custom standard, with a modern white, wood and black palette in the 2020 coverage. Because there are only two suites, each is close to one of a kind, and no future buyer will find a matching unit to compare against.

The four-bedroom suite’s listing describes soaring ceilings, and the three-bedroom has floor-to-ceiling living-room windows, but no ceiling measurements have been published for either. If volume matters to you, measure it on your visit, and look closely at the lower level of the four-bedroom suite, where light and ceiling height are the usual trade-offs in a house-style condo.

Fees, insurance and the reserve fund

Condos.ca does not list what the fee covers, and I won’t quote the fee from the single active listing. Ask for the corporation’s budget and the status certificate. In a two-suite building, the line items to look at are building insurance, the reserve fund contribution, snow and landscaping, and any shared utilities.

Ontario law requires every condo corporation, however small, to have a reserve fund study and to keep the reserve funded. In a two-suite building the dollar amounts are small but the stakes are not: a roof or a rooftop-deck membrane is shared by two owners, not two hundred, and an underfunded reserve means a large bill split two ways.

Also ask about the corporation’s insurance and each owner’s own policy. With so few owners, it matters exactly where the corporation’s coverage ends and yours begins, especially for the rooftop terrace, the backyard, the parking and any in-suite features such as a hot tub.

Living in Forest Hill South

Coulson Avenue is a residential street of houses close to Spadina Road and Heath Street West. Forest Hill Village’s shops are nearby, the Cedarvale Ravine is close for walks, and the St. Clair West shops and restaurants are within reach. The data panel on this page has the transit, school and walkability details.

The appeal is that you are not in a condo neighbourhood at all. Your neighbours are detached and semi-detached houses, the street is quiet, and the building looks like a home. The trade-off is that you have none of the services of a staffed building, so parcels, snow and repairs are handled the way they are in a house.

Resale is the other thing to plan for. Buildings this small rarely trade, so when one of these suites comes up, its buyer pool is people specifically looking for a house alternative in Forest Hill. That pool is real but narrow, and it rewards patience on both sides of the deal.

How to think about price at 34 Coulson

With only two suites, there are no meaningful building medians or per-square-foot averages. Condos.ca does not publish an average here, and with one suite currently listed, I will not quote an asking price.

The right comparables are not other condos. They are semi-detached and detached houses in Forest Hill South and the larger custom townhouses nearby, adjusted for the fact that this title comes with a shared roof, a shared budget and a neighbour who is also your co-owner.

If you are buying here, ask me for the recent sold report for the surrounding streets and I will build the comparison against freehold sales, not condo towers.

Building specifications

Amenities at 34 Coulson Avenue

There are no shared amenities in the usual sense. The listed features, a patio, a garage and a rooftop deck, belong to the residences themselves, which is the point of buying here.

Jatin’s honest take on 34 Coulson Avenue

34 Coulson Avenue — frequently asked questions

Looking at Yonge & Eglinton, Davisville and North Toronto more broadly? Start with my Toronto community guide — the neighbourhoods, what each pocket is like, and how they compare.