La Costa, 600 Eglinton Ave E: 44 Suites in a Former Office at Bayview

La Costa at 600 Eglinton Avenue East is easy to miss: a four-storey stucco building with 44 suites, a short walk west of Bayview. Condos.ca describes it as a former office building, which makes it one of the few conversions on this part of Eglinton. It is small, quiet and rarely on the market, and that cuts both ways. I’m Jatin Dua, RE/MAX Quantum Realty.

An office building turned into 44 homes

According to condos.ca, La Costa started out as an office building before it was converted to residential use, and the condominium was registered in 1996. I could not find the original building’s name, its architect or the year it was first built, so treat the conversion story as reported rather than documented. The corporation’s records and the status certificate are where to look if the history matters to you.

What you see today is a low-rise building with a stucco exterior, four storeys and 44 suites, so roughly 11 per floor. Condos.ca lists Plaza as the developer of the condominium.

Conversions have their own character. Office buildings often have deeper floor plates and different window spacing from purpose-built apartments, so layouts can be less predictable. Walk the suite you are considering, and check where the light reaches and how the bedroom is laid out.

Small suites, with some good outdoor space

Suites run from about 583 to 987 square feet, so this is a building of one-bedrooms, one-bedroom-plus-dens and smaller two-bedrooms. There are no very large suites here.

That mix shapes who lives in the building. Without three-bedrooms or big two-bedroom-plus-dens, you are unlikely to see many families with children, and more likely to find singles, couples and downsizers who want less space to look after. If you think you may need a second bedroom within a few years, buy the two-bedroom now rather than counting on trading up inside the building, because the chance to do that may not come.

Some suites have more outdoor space than you would expect. One one-bedroom-plus-den I saw described had a terrace-style balcony of about 150 square feet, and a den large enough for a desk and a daybed. The same listing described soundproofing work and extensive built-in storage, which tells you owners here tend to invest in their suites and stay.

Each suite appears to have its own heating and cooling: the same listing described natural gas forced-air heating and central air, with a newly replaced system. Ask the age of the equipment in the suite you are buying, because replacing it is normally the owner’s cost.

What the fee includes, and a conflict on heat

Condos.ca lists common elements, building insurance, parking and water in the fee. One recent listing also included heat in the list. With suites on their own gas forced-air systems, I would not assume heat is covered until you see it on the status certificate. The difference matters for your monthly budget.

Parking is in the fee, and the listing I reviewed came with one garage space and one locker. In a building this small, there are very few spare spaces or lockers to buy or rent later, so make sure the suite you want has what you need.

With only one suite for sale when I checked, I cannot give you a reliable fee per square foot from listings. Ask for the current budget and the fee schedule, and compare the total monthly cost against nearby buildings where parking is extra.

Eglinton and Bayview, and what is changing

The building sits just west of Bayview on Eglinton, between the shops of Mount Pleasant and the Leaside retail along Bayview. Listings point to a Metro, pharmacies, medical clinics and restaurants within walking distance, and to walking paths reached via the Mount Pleasant Cemetery extension. The data panel on this page has the transit, school and walkability detail.

Eglinton East has gone through years of construction for the Crosstown line, and the street is now attracting taller condo proposals. A four-storey building will feel that change, both in the street life outside and in the possibility of a taller neighbour.

Next door is SoHo Bayview Lofts at 562 Eglinton East, another small building of five storeys and 40 suites. If you like the scale of La Costa, it is the natural comparison. Between the two, you have most of the small-building choice on this block of Eglinton, and it is worth viewing both before you decide.

Pricing: thin supply, so be careful with averages

Condos.ca puts the building average at about $729 per square foot. That is a little below SoHo Bayview Lofts next door at about $766, and below The Cardiff on Eglinton, a much newer building to the west, at about $880. For a 1990s conversion with parking in the fee, that is a reasonable place to sit.

There was only one suite for sale and none for rent when I checked, so I will not quote an asking price. In a 44-suite building, a single sale can move the per-foot average a lot, and some years may see only a handful of trades.

That makes the sold and leased medians in the data panel, and my building sold report, especially important here. If you are serious about this building, set up an alert so you see the next suite the day it lists, and have your financing approved in advance. In a building where supply is this thin, a well-presented suite at a sensible price may not wait for you to arrange a mortgage.

Building specifications

Amenities at La Costa

There is no pool or concierge, which is normal for 44 suites and keeps the fee down. A party room, a meeting room and a small exercise room cover the basics, and the real amenity is the scale: a quiet building where neighbours know each other.

Jatin’s honest take on La Costa

La Costa — frequently asked questions

Looking at Yonge & Eglinton, Davisville and North Toronto more broadly? Start with my Toronto community guide — the neighbourhoods, what each pocket is like, and how they compare.