NY Place, 17 Kenaston Gardens: Daniels’ Boutique Mid-Rise at Bayview

NY Place is the small building on a street of towers. Daniels built it in 2012 as an eight-storey boutique addition to its NY Towers community near Bayview and Sheppard, and it was launched with a Rent2Own program aimed at people without a large down payment. Today it is a quiet, compact-suite mid-rise whose fee needs explaining. I’m Jatin Dua, RE/MAX Quantum Realty.

A mid-rise in a high-rise community

Kenaston Gardens is the spine of the NY Towers community, the cluster of Daniels towers south-east of Bayview station. Most of the buildings on the street are 20-plus storeys. NY Place, at eight, was pitched in 2011 as a boutique building, and UrbanToronto’s coverage that year described a cafe in the lobby and retail at grade beside the entrance.

The design was by Michael Spaziani Architect. When the project was announced, a commenter on the SkyriseCities forum singled out its mix of glass, spandrel panel, brick and a limited amount of precast, which set it apart from the more precast-heavy buildings around it.

Small buildings have real advantages: fewer neighbours, a quieter lobby, shorter elevator waits and a board that is easier to get to know. They also spread fixed costs across fewer owners, which is one reason the fee per square foot here is higher than at the big towers next door. At about 14 years old, it is also entering the period where the first major reserve fund items start to show up in the plan.

The Rent2Own history

NY Place was launched with what Daniels marketed as Toronto’s only Rent2Own homeownership suites. As UrbanToronto described it at the time, part of the monthly rent went toward a down payment, helping buyers who did not have large savings get into ownership.

That history is worth knowing because it shaped who bought here first. A building launched to help first-time owners tends to start with a large share of owner-occupiers rather than pure investors. I have not seen data on how the ownership mix looks today, and the program itself is long finished, so treat this as background rather than a reason to buy.

Compact suites, built small on purpose

Condos.ca gives a suite range of about 475 to 866 square feet, so there are no large suites here. Everything for sale when I checked was a one-bedroom-plus-den, and most were in the 600 to 699 square foot band. Think of this as a building for singles and couples, or for an investor who wants an easy-to-lease suite near the subway.

Early reports of the project counted 140 to 142 suites, while condos.ca records 135 today. Final suite counts often change as plans are combined or reconfigured during construction, but if the exact number matters to you, the declaration is the authority.

I could not confirm ceiling heights. In a compact one-bedroom-plus-den, the den size and whether it has a door decide how useful it is, so look at the floor plan rather than the bedroom count.

Parking is unusually well supplied for a building of this size. A construction listing quoted on the SkyriseCities forum described about 159 parking spaces below grade for roughly 140 suites, plus about 1,300 square feet of retail at grade. That ratio is one reason parking is bundled into the fee, and it is worth confirming that a space is actually deeded or assigned to the suite you are buying, since in some buildings parking spaces can be sold or leased separately from suites.

Bayview and Sheppard, on foot

The location is the main reason people buy here. UrbanToronto placed NY Place a short walk from Bayview Village Shopping Centre and south-east of Bayview station on the Sheppard line. Kenaston Gardens itself is a local street, so you are close to Sheppard and Bayview without living on either.

Around you is a dense tower neighbourhood that has kept growing, including The Rockefeller and The Chelsea on either side, which the forum post at launch placed to the west and east, and newer buildings such as Lotus on the same street. The data panel on this page shows the exact transit, schools, parks and food nearby.

Price per square foot, and a high fee that buys more

Condos.ca puts the building average at about $667 per square foot. That is slightly below The Rockefeller next door at about $691, and well below newer Lotus on Kenaston Gardens at about $834. For a 2012 building close to Bayview station, that is reasonable pricing.

Fees are the catch. Active listings were carrying about $1.13 per square foot, with monthly fees ranging from about $733 to $831 across the four suites for sale I checked. That is high for a compact-suite building, though condos.ca lists heat, air conditioning and parking as included along with common elements, building insurance and water. Many newer buildings bill heat and parking separately, so add those back when you compare.

Asking prices across the four active listings ran from about $448,000 to $599,000. For an investor, the fee matters more than the price: on a small one-bedroom-plus-den, a fee over $700 a month takes a real bite out of rental cash flow. The data panel shows what suites here have actually sold and leased for.

Building specifications

Amenities at NY Place

There is no pool here, and that is consistent with an eight-storey building. The 2011 marketing described a party room with a bar, a home theatre and a fitness room; condos.ca lists a party room, media room, guest suites and a meeting room, so confirm what the gym looks like today.

Jatin’s honest take on NY Place

NY Place — frequently asked questions

Looking at Willowdale, Yonge & Sheppard, Bayview Village and North York Centre more broadly? Start with my Toronto community guide — the neighbourhoods, what each pocket is like, and how they compare.