Camden Lofts, 29 Camden St: Urban Capital’s First, Two-Storey Lofts

Camden Lofts is where Urban Capital started, and it was one of the first residential buildings on a King-Spadina side street that was still mostly garment factories and loading docks. It is a small red-brick loft with one- and two-storey suites, no gym, no pool and parking in the fee. Listings are rare, so when one comes up you need to know quickly whether this building is for you. I’m Jatin Dua, RE/MAX Quantum Realty.

Urban Capital’s first building

Urban Capital co-founder David Wex has described Camden as his first development. He spent about two years trying to get a King-Spadina project off the ground in the mid-1990s, partnering with people connected to Dundee Realty, and ended up on a small and very industrial street.

By his account it was the first project in that area, around the same time as 23 Niagara, and it took roughly two years to sell because nobody yet lived nearby. Buyers ended up happy and the area took off a couple of years later. Wex has also said that a conversation with designer Elaine Cecconi on this project about closing off the kitchen shaped the flexible-space suites Urban Capital became known for.

That matters to a buyer today because Camden is a pioneer building rather than a copy. Many of the lofts that followed on Camden Street and the surrounding blocks were built in its image.

New loft or converted warehouse? The records differ

From the street, Camden reads as an old warehouse: red brick and rows of square-paned windows. Sources disagree on what it actually is. condos.ca describes a building designed to look like a warehouse, part of the first wave of the new-loft concept downtown, while a Toronto Life rental feature called it a six-storey warehouse converted into lofts in 1999.

The counts disagree too. condos.ca lists 7 storeys and 55 suites, Toronto Life said 59 lofts, and Wex recalled 48 units in an interview. Floor counts can differ depending on whether a mezzanine or penthouse level is counted, and unit counts can change when suites are combined.

None of this is a red flag on its own, but it tells you to rely on the status certificate and the registered condominium plan rather than marketing copy. If it is a conversion, the age of the structure, the original brick and any old building systems become questions for the reserve fund study.

One- and two-storey suites

The building’s suites come in one- and two-storey loft layouts, and sizes start higher than most downtown condos, from about 683 square feet up to about 1,212. There are no micro-units here, which is part of why the building holds a premium per square foot.

In a two-storey loft the bedroom usually sits on an upper level open to the living space below. That gives you volume and light but less acoustic privacy, and the stairs take floor area. Toronto Life’s feature described one suite with 10-foot ceilings and an open plan; ceiling heights will vary by floor and layout, so measure the one you are buying.

Larger suites at the top of the size range are the ones I would watch most closely. They suit buyers who have outgrown a one-bedroom but are not ready to leave downtown, and in a building this small there are only a few of them. If a suite has been renovated or reconfigured, ask for the permits and the corporation’s approval, because changes to a loft’s open plan can involve common elements.

Daily life on Camden Street

Camden is a short side street a few minutes’ walk from Queen Street West, which is what makes the location work. You are off the main roads, so weeknights are quiet, but Queen West shopping, the King West restaurant strip and Spadina are all close.

Expect some service traffic. Side streets in this part of King-Spadina still carry delivery trucks and loading for the businesses and restaurants nearby, so a suite facing the street hears more of it during the day than one facing the back.

The street has filled in with loft buildings since 2000, including 21 Camden Lofts, Zen Lofts at 42 Camden and the Sorbara Group project at 32 Camden, so you are now living on a residential street rather than an industrial one. The automatic panel on this page covers transit, schools and walkability.

Pricing in a building that rarely lists

Camden Lofts averages about $943 per square foot on condos.ca, almost identical to Urban Capital’s Charlotte Lofts at about $949 and well above the roughly $742 at the much larger SoHo Metropolitan on Blue Jays Way. That premium is for the format and the scale: an authentic-feeling brick loft, larger suites and only 55 neighbours.

The fee inclusions are strong for a building of this age: heat, air conditioning, water, building insurance and parking are all included, along with common elements. Hydro is not listed, so budget for your own electricity. Because parking is in the fee, compare total monthly costs with a nearby building that charges for parking separately rather than comparing headline fees.

At the time of writing there were no suites listed for sale or for rent. In a building this small that is normal, and it means comparable sales are few and far between. I price suites here using the building’s own sales history together with similar brick lofts on Camden Street and in the King-Spadina blocks around it. For an aggregate view of recent trades, see my building sold report.

Building specifications

Amenities at Camden Lofts

There is no gym, pool or concierge here; the shared spaces are a party room and meeting room, plus a garage with visitor parking. You buy Camden for the suite and the street, not the amenities, and you fund less shared space as a result.

Jatin’s honest take on Camden Lofts

Camden Lofts — frequently asked questions

Looking at King West, Liberty Village and CityPlace more broadly? Start with my Toronto community guide — the neighbourhoods, what each pocket is like, and how they compare.