61 Main St: A 24-Suite 1986 Condo With a Rooftop Deck Near Kingston Rd

61 Main is the building I mention when someone wants the Upper Beach at the lowest price per square foot I can find. It is a four-storey, 24-suite building from 1986, with small suites, a rooftop deck and parking included in the fee. The price is low for a reason, and a building this small lives or dies by its reserve fund. I’m Jatin Dua, RE/MAX Quantum Realty.

A small 1980s building on Main Street

This is about as small as a condominium corporation gets in Toronto: four storeys and 24 suites. It was built by Eastcrest Developments and registered in August 1986 as Metropolitan Toronto Condominium Corporation 716, the numbering used before the 1998 amalgamation.

I have not found a published architectural history for the building, and I would not expect one. It is a modest, practical mid-1980s condo, not a design statement. What it offers is a low entry point on a street that has become much more expensive around it.

In a building this size you will know your neighbours. Decisions at the annual meeting are made by a handful of owners, which can be a strength if they are engaged and a weakness if they are not.

It also means a small operating budget. Insurance, the management contract, snow clearing and the auditor cost roughly the same whether a building has 24 suites or 60, so each owner carries a larger share of those fixed costs than in a bigger corporation. Read the budget with that in mind, and ask what the corporation’s insurance deductibles are, because that affects how much coverage you need on your own policy.

Small suites, and what you can do with them

Condos.ca lists suites from about 561 to 800 square feet, so this is a building of one-bedrooms and compact two-bedrooms. There is nothing here for a family that needs three bedrooms.

Older suites of this size often have more separate rooms and less open-plan space than newer ones. Some buyers like that, especially for working from home, and some will want to open walls. Before you plan a renovation, check the corporation’s alteration rules and ask what is structural.

I have not found published details on ceiling heights, layouts or locker allocation. Parking is included in the fee, but confirm on the status certificate which space comes with the suite and whether it is owned or exclusive-use.

The rooftop deck is the amenity that matters

For a 24-suite building, the amenity list is generous: a rooftop deck, an outdoor patio, a party room and a meeting room. The rooftop deck is the one people actually use. Small suites feel larger when there is a shared outdoor space upstairs.

Roof decks also come with a cost. They sit on top of the roof membrane, and when that membrane is replaced the deck usually has to come up too. In a 1986 building, I want to know when the roof was last done and what the reserve fund study says about the next replacement.

Condos.ca lists a pet restriction. I do not know the exact terms, so read the declaration and rules before you commit if you have a pet.

Main Street, just above Kingston Road

61 Main sits on Main Street a short walk north of Kingston Road. South of Kingston, the same road becomes Southwood Drive and drops toward Glen Stewart Park and the Beach. North, Main Street runs up toward the Danforth.

That position between the Upper Beach and East End-Danforth is why the building is priced below the Beach proper. You are still within walking distance of the Kingston Road shops and the ravine, and the automatic panel on this page covers transit, schools and Walk Score.

The corner just south is changing. The Southwood, a pair of six-storey Streetcar buildings at Kingston Road and Southwood Drive, finished in 2018, and the Kingston Road corridor has more mid-rise projects coming. New buildings nearby tend to lift the street but also add resale competition.

The cheapest square foot in the area, for a reason

The building average sits around $682 per square foot. That is well below The Southwood at about $937, Beech House at about $809 and North Beach Lofts at about $838. The discount is mostly age, suite size and the lack of a modern amenity package.

There were no active listings when I wrote this, and with 24 suites there will often be none. The TRREB panel on this page will usually show only a few trades a year, sometimes too few for a median. When you price a suite here, look at the building’s past sales and at similar 1980s buildings in the east end, not at new construction. Ask your agent to pull the building’s sale history over several years so you can see how prices have moved through different markets.

The fee includes common elements, building insurance, parking and water. Heat and hydro are not listed as included, so budget for both on top of the fee.

Remember that a low price per square foot on a small suite still leaves you with a small suite. The right comparison is the total monthly cost of owning here against renting something similar nearby.

Building specifications

Amenities at 61 Main

A rooftop deck, a patio, a party room and a meeting room is a decent package for 24 suites. There is no gym, pool or concierge, which helps keep shared costs down in a building this small.

Jatin’s honest take on 61 Main

61 Main — 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.