895 Kennedy Rd: A 28-Suite, Self-Managed 1971 Condo in Ionview

895 Kennedy Road is one of the smallest and oldest condominiums I write about: 28 suites in a five-storey building registered in 1971, run by its own owners rather than a management company. Small, self-managed buildings can be the best-run in the city or the most fragile, and the difference is entirely in the paperwork. This is a building where I spend more time on the status certificate than on the suite. I’m Jatin Dua, RE/MAX Quantum Realty.

An early Ontario condominium

The corporation number tells the story. YCC-30 was registered in February 1971, only a few years after Ontario first allowed condominium ownership, and it carries a two-digit number from the old York numbering. Very few buildings you can buy into in Toronto are this early in the condominium era.

Condos.ca records Flordeen Investment as the builder. I could not find an architect or any history of the original marketing, so I am not going to fill that gap with guesses. What matters more for a buyer today is how the building has been run in the 55 years since.

Age alone is not a reason to walk away. Plenty of early condominiums have aged well under careful boards. But a 1971 building has been through at least one full replacement cycle of its roof, windows, boiler and garage or parking surface, and you need to know which of those were done properly and which are coming due.

Self-managed with 28 owners: what that really means

Condos.ca lists the building as self-managed. In practice, that means the volunteer board, and possibly one or two hired contractors, handle what a management company would normally do: collecting fees, running the budget, getting quotes and keeping the records.

In a 28-suite building, every major expense is shared by very few owners. A roof or boiler replacement that a 300-suite tower would barely notice can mean a large per-suite cost here. That makes the reserve fund study, and whether the board is actually following it, the single most important document you will read.

When we request the status certificate, I would also ask for the last two years of board minutes, the current budget and the most recent audited or reviewed financial statements. In a self-managed building, how organised that package is tells you a lot about how the building is run.

Suites, and a size question to resolve

Condos.ca gives a suite range of about 947 to 1,210 sq ft, which is generous. The two current listings, though, fall in the 700 to 899 sq ft size bands. That gap could be measurement differences, enclosed or unenclosed balcony space, or simply a range that is out of date.

Whatever the cause, do not rely on the range. Ask for a floor plan or have the suite measured, and price your offer on the actual area. In a building with few sales, a wrong square footage figure can distort every comparison you make.

Both current listings are two-bedroom suites. For a household that wants two real bedrooms in a quiet, low-density building rather than a busy tower, the format has a lot going for it.

Older suites in buildings of this era often come with features buyers now pay extra for, such as separate dining space and larger bedrooms, but also with older electrical panels, plumbing and windows inside the suite. Have a home inspector look at the suite itself, and ask the seller what has been updated and when. Your insurer may ask the same questions.

Kennedy Road at the edge of a transit hub

This stretch of Kennedy Road sits in Ionview, an established part of south-central Scarborough. Eglinton Avenue East and the Kennedy Station area are close by to the south, and the panel on this page lists the exact transit options and walking times.

That station area is changing fast. Line 5 Eglinton, the Crosstown, entered service in February 2026 with Kennedy as its eastern terminus, and the City’s Line 2 East extension will run 7.8 km from Kennedy Station north into Scarborough. For a small, older building near Kennedy, that is a meaningful long-term tailwind for demand, and also a reason to expect more construction nearby.

Before you buy, look up nearby development applications on the City’s website. Low-rise buildings on main roads near new transit are exactly where redevelopment interest tends to show up, and you want to know what may rise next door.

What 895 Kennedy costs

Condos.ca puts the building average at about $363 per square foot. That is among the lowest per-square-foot figures I see in Toronto, and it reflects the building’s age, its small size and the fact that very few suites trade here in a given year.

When I checked, two suites were for sale, asking between $349,900 and $449,000, and two were for lease. That spread is wide for a 28-suite building, and it usually comes down to condition: an original suite and a renovated one can be very different products. For actual sold figures, use the panel on this page, or ask me for a building sold report.

Fees on current listings work out to about $0.86 per square foot, covering cable TV, common elements, heat, building insurance, parking and water. Hydro is not on the list. Because there are so few owners, the fee level depends heavily on what the reserve fund needs, so a fee that looks reasonable today can move quickly after a new reserve fund study.

Building specifications

Amenities at 895 Kennedy Condos

There is very little here beyond a recreation room, a security system and visitor parking, and that is the point. With so few owners, every amenity is expensive to run, and a lean building keeps the fee focused on the structure, the heating plant and the reserve fund.

Jatin’s honest take on 895 Kennedy Condos

895 Kennedy Condos — frequently asked questions

Looking at Agincourt, L’Amoreaux, Milliken, Dorset Park and Wexford in Scarborough more broadly? Start with my Toronto community guide — the neighbourhoods, what each pocket is like, and how they compare.