Liberty Village Townhomes, East Liberty St: Rooftop Terraces, Parking In

If a buyer tells me they want Liberty Village but cannot face another elevator lobby, this is one of the first complexes I pull up. These are stacked townhouses, built in 2005, where you unlock your own front door at street level and, on the right plan, climb to a private rooftop terrace with a gas line. The trade-off is stairs, and a 20-year-old roof over your head that you share the cost of. I’m Jatin Dua, RE/MAX Quantum Realty.

The first CanAlfa phase, and an address puzzle

CanAlfa built stacked townhouses on the east side of Liberty Village before any of the towers along East Liberty Street went up. Condos.ca describes these as the first residential properties on that side of the neighbourhood. This corporation, TSCC-1660, registered in March 2005 and is the earlier of the CanAlfa townhouse phases.

Addresses here are genuinely confusing. Condos.ca groups this corporation as 50 to 54 East Liberty Street and 46 to 50 Western Battery Road. Other listing sites lump several CanAlfa phases together under one long string of addresses running from East Liberty to Western Battery and Pirandello Street. The neighbouring phase on Western Battery is a separate corporation with its own budget and reserve fund.

So my first rule here is simple: confirm the corporation number on the status certificate before you compare fees or read a reserve fund study. Two suites a hundred metres apart can belong to different corporations with different finances.

Three levels, your own door and a roof deck

A Globe and Mail profile of a suite at 50 Western Battery Road gives a good picture of the larger plans. You enter at street level into a foyer and take the stairs up to an open living and dining room with the kitchen. Two bedrooms and a full bath sit on the next level, and the top level has the laundry and a door out to a rooftop terrace.

The listing agent in that profile called the rooftop terraces the main selling point, with a typical one around 400 sq ft, a water hookup, a gas line and real privacy. In a neighbourhood made up mostly of tower balconies, a 400 sq ft roof deck where you can host a dinner party is a rare thing.

Not every suite is like that. Condos.ca lists suites from roughly 347 to 1,526 sq ft, which means compact one-level units sit alongside the multi-level plans. Ask exactly what outdoor space comes with the suite you are looking at, and whether a terrace is exclusive-use common element or part of the unit, because that affects who pays to repair it.

What the fee covers, and what it does not

Condos.ca lists the fee as covering common elements, building insurance, parking and water. Heat, hydro and air conditioning are not on that list, so expect to pay your own gas and electricity bills, as you would in a house. That is the main reason the fee looks light next to a Liberty Village tower.

Parking appearing in the inclusions is worth noting; at the neighbouring CanAlfa phase it often is not. The Globe profile described a suite that came with parking in the shared underground garage and two lockers. Do not assume every suite has the same package. Confirm on the status certificate how many parking and locker units are attached to the suite you are buying.

With no pool, gym or party room to run, there is not much in the budget beyond the shared garage, the grounds, security and the building envelope. That envelope is the expensive part: stacked townhouses carry a lot of roof and terrace area per suite.

Daily life on East Liberty and Western Battery

You are on the east side of Liberty Village, a few minutes on foot from the neighbourhood’s cafés, restaurants, gyms and grocery stores. The Globe profile mentioned a 24-hour supermarket close by, and the data panel on this page covers transit and walkability in detail.

Around you, almost everything is a tower, and Liberty Village is one of the densest pockets of the city. Streetcars are crowded at rush hour and driving out of the neighbourhood at 5 p.m. tests your patience. What you get in exchange is a front door on the street and a roof deck in the sky, which very few homes in this part of Toronto offer at a condo price.

The same Globe profile described a strong sense of community in the complex. That fits what I see in low-rise townhouse corporations generally: fewer neighbours, more familiar faces, and owners who tend to stay longer.

What the townhomes cost

Condos.ca does not publish a building average per square foot for this corporation, and with plans from small one-level suites to three-level homes with roof decks, one average would mislead you anyway. Compare a suite only against similar plans in this complex.

When I wrote this there were two suites for sale and one for lease. The two sale listings asked between roughly $590,000 and $650,000, with fees of about $485 to $520 a month. That works out to roughly $0.63 per sq ft in fees.

Remember to add your own heat and hydro when you compare with a tower suite, where those are often in the fee. Ask the seller for a year of utility bills. On the other side of the ledger, parking listed as included is a real saving against buildings that charge for it separately.

With thin, varied comparables, a generic online estimate is unreliable here. For a proper read on a specific suite, I can pull the closest comparables through my building sold report.

Building specifications

Amenities at Liberty Village Townhomes

There is no gym, pool or party room here, and for the people who buy these suites that is the appeal. Your amenity is your own front door and, on the larger plans, a private roof deck with a gas line for the barbecue.

Jatin’s honest take on Liberty Village Townhomes

Liberty Village Townhomes — frequently asked questions

Looking at King West, Liberty Village and CityPlace more broadly? Start with my Toronto community guide — the neighbourhoods, what each pocket is like, and how they compare.