Bridlewoode Place I, 55 Bamburgh Cir: Big 1985 Suites Near Steeles

Bridlewoode Place I is the building I show buyers who want a condo with the floor area of a small house and a fee that already carries heat, cooling and parking. It is a 1985 tower on Bamburgh Circle near Warden and Steeles, one of three Bridlewoode Place buildings on the same street, and it trades at a price per square foot that newer Scarborough towers cannot touch. The catch is age, and I will walk you through what that means. I’m Jatin Dua, RE/MAX Quantum Realty.

One of three Bridlewoode Place towers on Bamburgh Circle

Bamburgh Circle is a loop of condominium buildings just south of Steeles, and the Bridlewoode Place name covers three of them: this tower at 55, Bridlewoode Place II at 75 and Bridlewoode Place III at 25. Each is its own corporation with its own budget, reserve fund and board, so a fee or a rule at one tells you nothing certain about the others.

That matters when you compare listings. Buyers often see a suite at 75 or 25 Bamburgh at a different price and assume it is the same building. It is not. Ask which corporation a listing belongs to, and read that corporation’s status certificate, not a neighbour’s.

Condos.ca does not list a developer for 55 Bamburgh, and I could not confirm one from another source. Condos.ca does credit Tridel for Bridlewoode Place II next door, but I would not assume the same builder here without documents. What I can tell you is that the corporation is MTCC-684, registered in September 1985, and that it has been managed by Del Property Management.

Suites that start where most new condos stop

The smallest suites here are about 871 sq ft and the largest about 1,490 sq ft. In a new tower, 871 sq ft is a generous two-bedroom. Here it is the entry point, and the current listings run from one-bedroom-plus-den layouts to three-bedroom plans.

Large 1980s plans usually come with separate dining rooms, real hallways and bigger bedrooms, which is exactly what families and downsizers coming out of a house tend to miss in a newer condo. The flip side is that many suites still have original or older kitchens and bathrooms. Walk each suite with a renovation budget in mind and price that into your offer.

If you are coming from a house, think about storage too. Ask whether the suite has an ensuite locker, a separate locker in the building, or both. I could not confirm the locker arrangement for this building, so check it on the listing and in the status certificate.

What the fee covers, and why it looks the way it does

Condos.ca lists air conditioning, common elements, heat, building insurance, parking and water in the fee. Hydro is not on that list, so your own electricity bill is the main utility you add on top. For a suite of 900 to 1,500 sq ft, having heating and cooling inside the fee takes a lot of the seasonal swing out of your budget.

The listings I saw carried fees between roughly $529 and $938 a month, rising with suite size. The one listing with a size band worked out to roughly $0.59 to $0.66 per sq ft, which is modest for a building that bundles heat, cooling and parking. Do not read a low fee as automatically good news in a 1985 tower, though. Ask how the reserve fund is funded against the work this building will need next.

That work is predictable for a tower of this age: windows and balcony doors, the garage, the roof, elevators, and the central heating and cooling plant. Ask for the most recent reserve fund study and the last two years of board minutes, and look for which of those projects are done, scheduled or still unfunded.

Daily life near Warden and Steeles

This is the top edge of Scarborough, right at the Markham border. It is a settled, mostly residential pocket of towers, townhouses and detached streets, with everyday shopping, restaurants and grocers in the plazas along Steeles and Warden.

It is a car-friendly location more than a walking one, and most residents I meet drive or use the bus routes on Warden and Steeles. The panel on this page shows the transit options, walking scores, schools and nearby parks, so I will not repeat them here.

Inside the building, condos.ca lists a security guard, a sauna, a party room and a meeting room, plus a parking garage, visitor parking and BBQs permitted. It is a practical package for a building of this era rather than a resort one, and that keeps the fee focused on running the building itself.

What Bridlewoode Place I costs

Condos.ca puts the building average at about $393 per square foot. That is low even for north Scarborough, and it is largely a size effect: large suites always sell for less per square foot than small ones. On a total-price basis, these suites compete with older townhouses rather than with one-bedroom units in a new tower.

When I checked, three suites were for sale, asking between $450,000 and $568,000, and one was for lease. For what suites have actually sold for, use the sold data in the panel on this page, or ask me for a building sold report.

When you compare this building with a newer one, add the costs back in. A newer tower at a lower fee often bills heat and cooling to your own meter and charges for parking separately. Once you account for that, the gap in monthly cost here is usually smaller than the fee alone suggests.

Building specifications

Amenities at Bridlewoode Place I

This is a functional package: staffed security, a sauna, and rooms you can book for a family event or a board meeting. You are paying for the building and its people rather than a long list of lifestyle spaces, which suits buyers who care more about suite size than a gym.

Jatin’s honest take on Bridlewoode Place I

Bridlewoode Place I — 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.