Charbonnel Townhomes, Avenue Rd: 3,400 Sq Ft With an Elevator and a Garage

Charbonnel is for the buyer who has looked at midtown houses, looked at midtown condos, and decided neither is quite right. These are 19 townhomes of about 3,400 square feet, each with its own elevator and double garage, managed as a condominium. The question is not whether they are good homes. It is whether the price makes sense next to a detached house a few streets away. I’m Jatin Dua, RE/MAX Quantum Realty.

A house, with the corporation doing the outside

Charbonnel is a small enclave of townhomes that wraps the corner of Avenue Road and Oaklands Avenue. Marketing described it as a meeting of a traditional exterior with modern interiors, and that is a fair summary: from the street it reads as a row of substantial masonry houses, while the inside is open and contemporary.

Each home runs over four levels, from a lower level to a rooftop terrace, and the floor area of roughly 3,400 to 3,500 square feet is larger than many detached houses in the surrounding streets. One source describes the project as 18 homes and others list 19, so confirm the count on the status certificate if it matters to your analysis.

What you are buying is the space of a house with the exterior maintenance, snow and common areas handled by a professional manager. FirstService Residential manages the corporation, which is reassuring in a building this small, because it means there is a proper budget process and someone accountable for it.

The elevator and the garage are the point

The two features that set Charbonnel apart are the private elevator and the parking. According to the development listing, every home has its own elevator serving every floor from the lower level to the rooftop terrace. On a four-level home, that changes everything for anyone planning to stay into their 70s and 80s.

Each home also has an enclosed double garage, reached by a shared, heated underground driveway. In this part of midtown, two enclosed spaces with direct access to your home are rare, and the heated ramp is a quiet luxury in February.

Inside, main floors were specified with 10-foot ceilings and the other levels with 9-foot ceilings, with triple-pane windows, central air, central vacuum, a skylight over the main stair and a floating oak staircase. The living room opens through a folding glass wall to a main-floor terrace, and the rooftop terrace includes a gas fireplace.

What the elevator and garage cost you over time

Private elevators, a heated driveway and an underground garage are wonderful to live with and expensive to look after. Elevators need regular servicing and eventual modernization, and a heated ramp uses energy all winter. In a 19-home corporation, those costs are split among very few owners.

Ask exactly which of these the corporation maintains and which belong to you. In many townhouse condominiums, the elevator inside your home is your responsibility while the driveway and garage structure are common elements. The declaration and the reserve fund study will spell this out, and the answer has a real effect on your long-term costs.

I did not find a published breakdown of what the fees include, so ask for the current budget and the fee schedule. Then compare the fee with what you would spend each year maintaining a house of this size yourself: roof, snow, landscaping, insurance and eventually a garage. That is the honest benchmark, not the fee at a condo tower.

Avenue Road and Oaklands: which side you are on matters

The development fronts two very different streets. Avenue Road is a busy arterial with steady traffic, while Oaklands Avenue is a quieter residential side street. Homes facing Oaklands will feel calmer, and that difference should show up in price.

The location puts you between the Annex and Yorkville to the south and St. Clair to the north, with Summerhill’s shops and restaurants a walk to the east. The data panel on this page covers transit, schools and parks. Neighbouring condominiums include The Oaklands, across Oaklands Avenue, and The Davies, a nine-storey Brandy Lane building a short walk south on Avenue Road, both useful comparisons for buyers weighing a townhome against a large condo suite.

Pricing: compare it with houses, not condos

When I checked, one four-bedroom home was listed for sale and none were for rent. I will not quote a single listing, and with 19 homes, sales are infrequent enough that there is no reliable building average to quote either.

For value, I would set Charbonnel against detached and semi-detached houses of similar size and finish in Summerhill, Rathnelly and the streets around Avenue Road and St. Clair. The townhome gives you a newer build, an elevator and enclosed double parking; the house gives you land, a private yard and no condominium fee. Put the fee into the comparison as an annual carrying cost.

Resale demand for homes like these comes from a narrow, well-funded group of buyers, mostly downsizers and move-up families already living in midtown. That tends to support values, but it also means a home can take longer to sell than a condo suite, so price realistically from the start if you are a seller.

Price per square foot on homes of this size is usually lower than on small condo suites, so do not compare it with tower averages. If you want a clear view of what has actually traded here and nearby, my building sold report is the place to start, or book a call and I will walk you through it.

Building specifications

Amenities at Charbonnel

There are no shared amenities in the condo sense: no gym, no concierge, no party room. The amenities are inside each home, and the private elevator and garage are worth more to most buyers here than any shared facility would be.

Jatin’s honest take on Charbonnel

Charbonnel — frequently asked questions

Looking at Yorkville, the Annex and Midtown more broadly? Start with my Toronto community guide — the neighbourhoods, what each pocket is like, and how they compare.