Gallery Loft Towns, 207 Beverley St: Eight Modern Towns Below College

Gallery Loft Towns is one of the few newer condominiums on the quiet blocks between Spadina and the University of Toronto. It is a 2012 complex of eight townhomes at Beverley and Cecil, with garage parking and three-storey homes the size of a family house. It suits a very specific buyer, and for that buyer there is almost nothing else like it nearby. I’m Jatin Dua, RE/MAX Quantum Realty.

Eight newer homes on an older street

Most of the housing on the blocks around Beverley and Cecil is Victorian, and most of the condominiums nearby are either older conversions or towers on Spadina and College. Gallery Loft Towns is neither. It is a small, modern infill complex registered in 2012, with homes facing both Beverley Street and Cecil Street.

Eight units is a very small corporation, but a 2012 building is young enough that its major components should still be within their expected lives. That is the main practical difference from the older loft and townhouse condominiums nearby: you are not buying into a roof or garage replacement that is already due.

No developer or architect is recorded in the sources I checked. Ask the listing agent who built it, and look at the quality of the exterior details and windows after more than a decade of Toronto winters; that tells you more than a brand name would.

Infill this small usually means a tight site, and that shapes the homes. Check how close the neighbouring houses are, which rooms get direct light, and how the units are arranged between the Beverley and Cecil frontages.

House-sized layouts over three floors

The homes are townhouses in the full sense. At least one of the Cecil Street homes is recorded as a three-storey, three-bedroom-plus-den layout with three bathrooms, about 2,000 to 2,250 square feet, forced-air heating and owned parking. That is the space of a generous semi-detached house.

Condos.ca classes the complex as a loft, and the name points the same way, but this is a new build rather than a hard-loft conversion. Expect a modern townhouse plan with an open living level and bedrooms on the floors above, and confirm ceiling heights and finishes unit by unit.

Three storeys suits families and people who work from home, with room for a separate office. It suits fewer buyers looking to downsize, so think honestly about the stairs over the time you plan to stay.

Outdoor space is the other thing to pin down. Townhouses like these often have a terrace or a small yard, but nothing is recorded for this complex, so confirm what the home has, how private it is and whether the corporation or the owner maintains it.

Parking, management and the small-corporation question

A parking garage and visitor parking are recorded, which is valuable a block from College Street. At least one unit’s space is recorded as owned. Confirm the space for the home you are buying, where it is, and whether it is deeded or exclusive-use.

Dynamic Property Management Inc. is listed as the manager. In an eight-unit corporation, professional management helps with records, contractors and the reserve fund study, but the board is still drawn from a handful of owners, and every major cost is split eight ways.

Ask for the status certificate, the budget, the reserve fund study and recent minutes. Check when the reserve fund study was last updated and what it schedules for the garage, roofs and decks, because a garage under a small complex is the most expensive thing the corporation will ever maintain.

Because the complex is only about 14 years old, it is also worth checking whether the reserve fund study has had its regular updates since registration and how each update changed the annual contribution.

Beverley and Cecil, day to day

Beverley Street runs from Queen Street up to College, where it becomes St. George Street and continues through the University of Toronto’s St. George campus. It is the main north–south cycling route on the west side of downtown, with bike lanes along the curb. The east side of Beverley is the Grange and Baldwin Village; the west side, where Cecil Street runs off toward Spadina, borders Chinatown.

From here, the university, the hospitals on University Avenue, Grange Park and the Art Gallery of Ontario, Kensington Market and Chinatown are all within walking distance. Condos.ca places the complex in the Grange Park area. Cecil Street is a residential side street, which gives you a quieter front door than College or Spadina.

The surrounding area keeps changing, with taller condominium buildings rising along Spadina. Transit, schools and parks for this address are covered in the data panel on this page.

Pricing an eight-unit townhouse complex

There were no active listings when I checked, and no building average per square foot is published. With eight homes and very few sales, any building average would be unreliable.

The best comparables are freehold semis and row houses in Grange Park, Kensington and Harbord Village, and newer condominium townhouses downtown, adjusted for garage parking and the fact that the corporation looks after the exterior. A newer, house-sized townhouse with parking a block from College is uncommon, and it should be priced as such rather than against condo apartments.

Expect a small but well-funded buyer pool. Buyers who want three bedrooms, parking and a walk to campus have few choices here at any price, and they tend to compare against freehold houses that need far more work.

Fee inclusions are not published, so ask for the budget and the unit’s utility bills, and work out the fee per square foot yourself. My building sold report can pull aggregate trades in the area.

Building specifications

Amenities at Gallery Loft Towns

The amenity list is short and practical: garage parking, visitor parking and barbecues. For a family-sized townhouse a block from the university, parking is the one that counts, and the lean package keeps the fee focused on the buildings.

Jatin’s honest take on Gallery Loft Towns

Gallery Loft Towns — frequently asked questions

Looking at Queen West, Trinity-Bellwoods, Kensington and Little Italy more broadly? Start with my Toronto community guide — the neighbourhoods, what each pocket is like, and how they compare.