IT Lofts, 130 Rusholme Rd: A Small College Street Mid-Rise in Little Italy

IT Lofts is a building you buy for the neighbourhood, not the amenities. It is a small, seven-storey mid-rise at College and Rusholme with one party room, a shop at the base and the west end of Little Italy outside the door. The suites have good ceiling heights, and the price per square foot is among the highest in this part of the city. I’m Jatin Dua, RE/MAX Quantum Realty.

Two buildings in one, stepped back from College

RAW Design gave IT Lofts two distinct faces. The part facing College Street is charcoal grey, and the rear section is beige brick. The College side steps back at the sixth floor and the rear at the fifth, which keeps the building from looming over the street and lets more sun reach the neighbours.

The facade mixes glass, brick and cement panels, with large windows and a combination of glass Juliet balconies and small pocket balconies. If you want a large balcony for outdoor dining, check the specific suite carefully, because many have only a Juliet or a small balcony.

One less common detail: instead of a storm-water tank, the building was designed to manage rainwater through built-in planters on the fourth and sixth floors. Ask how those planters are maintained and who pays for them, since landscaping on a building is a common-element cost.

Ceilings and layouts

The launch materials described nine-foot ceilings on the lower floors and ten-foot ceilings on the upper floors. That is a real advantage over many new towers with eight-and-a-half-foot ceilings, and it makes smaller suites feel larger.

Suites were marketed from one-bedroom to two-bedroom-plus-den, at roughly 570 to 1,250 square feet, with gas ranges as standard. Condos.ca does not publish a size range, so confirm the square footage of any suite from the floor plan or the builder’s records.

At launch, parking was offered with two-bedroom and larger suites, not with the smaller ones. That means many one-bedroom suites will not have a space. Lockers were sold separately. Confirm what is owned with the suite before you make an offer.

Ten-foot ceilings on the upper floors also mean taller windows, and on a building that steps back, the setbacks may give some upper suites terrace space where the floor below extends further out. Ask whether a terrace is exclusive-use common element, which affects who pays for its membrane and what you are allowed to put on it.

A small corporation, and what that means

The suite count is uncertain. Condos.ca lists 47 suites, while blogTO and UrbanToronto reported 56 at launch. Plans often change between marketing and registration, so read the declaration for the final number and your suite’s share of common expenses.

Either way, this is a small corporation. A small building has fewer neighbours and a quieter lobby, but each owner carries a larger share of any repair. A roof replacement or a garage membrane repair costs the same whether it is split 47 ways or 400 ways, so the reserve fund matters more here than in a tower.

FirstService Residential, one of the larger management companies in the city, is listed as manager. Ask how often a manager is on site in a building this size.

Small buildings also depend heavily on a few engaged owners. Ask how many owners sit on the board, how often it meets and whether the minutes show any recurring issues, such as leaks, noise from the retail unit or problems in the garage. Those patterns tell you more than the glossy listing photos.

College Street at the west end of Little Italy

The building sits on College between Ossington and Dufferin, the quieter western stretch of Little Italy, with cafés, restaurants and independent shops along the street and Dufferin Grove Park a short walk north. The College streetcar runs along the street outside.

Little Italy’s western end is a mix of older Victorian houses, small commercial buildings and newer mid-rises like this one. It is lively but less of a late-night bar scene than Ossington or the College strip east of Bathurst, which suits owners who want restaurants nearby without crowds every weekend.

That streetcar is the trade-off for College-facing suites, along with patio noise in summer. Rear-facing suites on the brick section are quieter. The data panel on this page has the transit, school and park details.

One of the higher prices per square foot in the area

Condos.ca puts the IT Lofts average at about $988 per square foot. That is the highest of the mid-rises I have reviewed in this pocket, just above 109OZ on Ossington at about $972, and well above Nero on Dundas West at about $855 and 707 Lofts on Dovercourt at about $819.

Part of that reflects scarcity: with fewer than 60 suites, IT Lofts rarely has more than one suite on the market. Part reflects the ceiling heights and the College Street address. Only one suite was for sale at the time of writing, so there is no meaningful asking-price range to quote.

The launch materials projected fees at about $0.50 per square foot. Fees in most buildings have risen since then, so ask for the current budget rather than relying on that figure. For recent sold figures, see the data panel on this page or ask me for a building sold report.

Building specifications

Amenities at IT Lofts

The only listed amenity is a party room. There is no gym, concierge or rooftop listed, which keeps the fee simpler, but it means your gym, your outdoor space and your social life are all on College Street.

Jatin’s honest take on IT Lofts

IT Lofts — 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.