O2 Maisonettes, 220 George St: Two-Storey Homes in a 50-Suite Building

O2 Maisonettes is the building I show to buyers who want stairs inside their condo. Most of the suites at George and Shuter are two-storey maisonettes, the building has only about 50 homes, and it trades at a price per square foot that most of downtown left behind years ago. The reasons for that discount are worth understanding before you fall for the layout. I’m Jatin Dua, RE/MAX Quantum Realty.

A building designed around the maisonette

Most condos treat a two-storey suite as a novelty reserved for the podium or the penthouse. At O2 it is the main event. When the project launched in 2013 as the successor to an earlier proposal called Oxygen, the developers pitched it as a collection of maisonettes and flats arranged around a private courtyard, with a minority of smaller one-level suites.

A maisonette lives more like a townhouse than an apartment. Living space and kitchen sit on one level, bedrooms on the other, and you get a real separation between where you entertain and where you sleep. For couples who work from home, or for anyone who has lived in a one-level condo and hated hearing the television from bed, that matters more than an extra amenity floor.

The trade-off is the stairs. They eat floor area, they make moving furniture harder, and they do not suit everyone as they age. If you are buying for the long term, picture yourself carrying laundry up and down them for ten years.

Sizes, ceilings and the storey-count question

Suites range from about 538 square feet to roughly 2,518 on condos.ca. The launch coverage quoted 550 to 2,185 square feet, so some larger combined or upper-level suites appear to have come later. That top end is unusually large for a building this small, and it is where O2 offers something you cannot easily find in new downtown towers.

Ceiling heights were advertised at 8 to 9 feet, which is standard rather than lofty. In a two-storey suite the volume feels bigger than the number suggests, but do not expect double-height living rooms unless a specific listing shows one.

Sources disagree on the height. Condos.ca lists 10 floors and 50 suites, while UrbanToronto and the 2013 launch coverage describe 14 storeys and 53 suites. Part of the gap is likely the way two-storey suites get counted as floors, and part may be changes during construction. Check the registered declaration if the exact numbers matter to you.

The fee is small because the inclusions are small

Condos.ca lists only common elements and building insurance in the fee. Heat, cooling, water and hydro are not shown as included, so budget for them as separate bills. A two-storey suite with glass on two levels can cost more to heat and cool than a compact one-bedroom, so ask the seller for a year of utility statements.

The amenity package is deliberately modest: a gym, a party room, a rooftop deck with barbecues, and concierge and security. The 2013 coverage pointed out that a lighter amenity list should help keep fees down, and that has generally been the logic of the building. You are paying for the suite, not for a pool you will never use.

With only about 50 owners, every major repair is split among fewer people than in a 400-suite tower. That cuts both ways. A small corporation can be well run and responsive, but a roof or garage repair hits each owner harder. The reserve fund study is the document to read here.

George Street is in the middle of a long change

O2 sits at the south end of a stretch of George Street that the City of Toronto has been planning to rebuild for years. The George Street Revitalization covers the block between Dundas and Gerrard, replacing the old Seaton House with a long-term care home, a smaller shelter, a transitional care facility, some affordable housing and a community hub, plus streetscape work meant to link Moss Park to Allan Gardens.

That project has moved slowly, and its timeline has shifted more than once. For a buyer, it means the immediate area is still in transition. Walk the block at different times of day before you commit, and look up the city’s current schedule for the George Street work rather than relying on any agent’s promise about when it will be finished.

The upside is location. You are in the downtown east, within reach of the St. Lawrence area to the south and Church Street and Yonge to the west. The panel on this page covers transit, schools and nearby parks.

Why O2 trades at a discount per square foot

The building average on condos.ca is about $557 per square foot. That is well below most downtown condos, including many in the same postal area, and it is the main reason buyers look here.

Three things push the number down. Large two-storey suites always trade at a lower price per square foot than compact one-bedrooms, because buyers pay for rooms rather than raw area. The fee leaves utilities to owners. And the George Street block still carries a discount while the city’s redevelopment is incomplete. When you compare O2 to a nearby tower, compare total monthly cost and suite type, not just the per-foot price.

At the time of writing there was one suite for sale and one for lease, so active listings do not give a useful range. With a building this small, I pull every sale of the same suite type over the last two or three years before advising on an offer. My building sold report is the fastest way to see those trades.

Building specifications

Amenities at O2 Maisonettes on George

This is a short list by design: a gym, a party room and a rooftop deck with barbecues, with concierge and security at the door. If you want a pool and a theatre room, this is not your building; if you want a lower fee and more space inside your own suite, it might be.

Jatin’s honest take on O2 Maisonettes on George

O2 Maisonettes on George — frequently asked questions

Looking at Church–Wellesley, Corktown, Moss Park and Cabbagetown more broadly? Start with my Toronto community guide — the neighbourhoods, what each pocket is like, and how they compare.