Dundas Square Gardens, 251 Jarvis St: 968 Small Suites and a 17th-Floor Pool

Dundas Square Gardens at Jarvis and Dundas is a volume building: 968 suites, almost all of them studios, one-bedrooms and compact two-bedrooms under 800 square feet. That scale shapes everything about owning here, from the competition you face when you sell to the number of neighbours you share an elevator with. It also buys you an amenity package with an outdoor pool that smaller buildings cannot fund. I’m Jatin Dua, RE/MAX Quantum Realty.

Two towers on the old hotel site

Dundas Square Gardens replaced the Hilton Garden Inn that used to stand at the north-east corner of Jarvis and Dundas. The complex is two buildings over a shared podium: a tall main tower on the western half of the site, and a 16-storey Garden Tower on the eastern side, with its own entrance and elevators but full access to the main tower’s amenities.

Sources do not agree on the main tower’s height. The 2014 launch coverage on UrbanToronto described 47 storeys, UrbanToronto’s project database lists 50, and condos.ca lists 48. The developer is also named differently: condos.ca says Easton’s Group of Hotels, UrbanToronto’s database says the Gupta Group, and launch coverage says Easton’s Group. For a buyer, the declaration and the status certificate are what count.

IBI Group designed the complex, with Mansoor Kazerouni as lead designer at launch. The main tower is wrapped in a shifting white grid, broken by balcony stacks at the corners and topped with a lit lantern meant to be seen from a distance. At street level, the frontages were set back to widen the sidewalks on Jarvis, Dundas and George.

The site plan spreads outdoor space over five terraces: amenity and garden terraces on the third and seventh floors, the pool and barbecue deck on the 17th, and more than 16,000 square feet of rooftop and landscaped space on the Garden Tower. That is a lot of outdoor space for a downtown complex, and it partly offsets suites that are small inside.

Garden Tower or main tower

The Garden Tower was pitched as the quieter, boutique option: 16 storeys, its own lobby and elevators, and a rooftop of landscaped terraces. In a complex of nearly a thousand suites, having fewer neighbours per elevator is a real daily advantage, and I would expect it to matter on resale.

The main tower offers height and views. Upper suites look across the downtown skyline, and the higher you go, the more the compact layouts are offset by the outlook. When you compare suites here, compare the tower, the floor and the exposure first, and the finishes second.

Condos.ca lists both addresses under one corporation, TSCC-2798; if the declaration confirms that, owners in both pay into the same reserve fund and budget. That means the Garden Tower owner still helps pay for the main tower’s pool, elevators and facade, and the other way round. Read the budget with the whole complex in mind.

Compact suites, and lots of them

Suites run from about 305 to 773 square feet. That means no large family suites at all: even the two-bedrooms currently for sale are in the 500 to 599 square foot range, which tells you how tight the second bedroom is. If you need a true second bedroom, measure it before you fall for the view.

During sales, the developer pitched suites to the university market and pledged $1,000 to Ryerson, now Toronto Metropolitan University, for every suite sold, up to $1 million. The campus is a short trip west, and the suite mix shows who the building was designed for: students, young professionals and the investors who rent to them.

At the time of writing, there were 20 suites for sale and 23 for lease. That is a lot of supply competing at once. As a buyer, it gives you choice and negotiating room. As a future seller, it means your suite will need to stand out on price, view or condition.

Jarvis and Dundas, day to day

The corner is about as central as downtown east gets: the Toronto Metropolitan University campus and Yonge-Dundas are to the west, the St. Lawrence and Old Town area to the south, and Allan Gardens to the north. The data panel on this page covers transit, Walk Score and nearby food and parks.

It is also a busy, mixed part of the city, with a hospital, social services, older rental buildings and new towers within a few blocks, and there is ongoing development nearby. Visit at different times of day before you decide, and judge the immediate block for yourself.

Entry-level pricing, and a fee to compare carefully

The building averages about $783 per square foot, below the Yonge corridor and the newer towers at the core. That reflects the location and the compact, investor-heavy suite mix, and the heavy supply keeps a lid on prices.

At the time of writing, most suites for sale were in the 500 to 599 square foot range asking from about $374,900 to $415,000 for one-bedrooms, one-bedroom-plus-dens and compact two-bedrooms. Monthly fees on current listings ranged from roughly $437 to $591.

Across active listings, that works out to about $1.02 per square foot in fees, and condos.ca lists only common elements, building insurance and air conditioning as included. Heat, hydro and water appear to be billed separately, so add them to your monthly budget. For an investor, that fee and the rent competition from 23 lease listings are the two numbers to run. My building sold report shows what has actually closed.

Building specifications

Amenities at Dundas Square Gardens

The 17th-floor pool deck, with a hot tub and barbecues, is the centrepiece, and the second-floor library and study rooms suit the student and work-from-home buyers this building attracts. With 968 suites sharing them, expect busy amenity spaces on summer weekends.

Jatin’s honest take on Dundas Square Gardens

Dundas Square Gardens — frequently asked questions

Looking at Church–Wellesley, Corktown, Moss Park and Cabbagetown more broadly? Start with my Toronto community guide — the neighbourhoods, what each pocket is like, and how they compare.