One Watergarden Way: A 30-Suite Bayview Boutique With Suites to 3,900 Sq Ft

One Watergarden Way is a building most of North York does not know exists. Thirty suites on five floors, a concierge, and a size range that runs from a modest one-bedroom to suites close to 4,000 square feet. It is a house replacement for people leaving Bayview Village, and it is priced well below new construction per square foot. I’m Jatin Dua, RE/MAX Quantum Realty.

A boutique building from the bottom of the market

One Watergarden Way registered in September 1994. The Globe and Mail’s history of Toronto condos describes the early 1990s as a deep slump: prices fell more than 30 per cent and thousands of suites sat empty. Building a small, high-end condo in that market was a bet on a specific buyer, the established Bayview household that wanted to sell a house and stay in the area.

That shows in the product. Thirty suites on five floors, a concierge, and suites that run up to about 3,900 square feet. It is a building designed for owner-occupiers, and with two suites for sale and none for rent when I checked, it still behaves like one.

I could not find the developer or architect in any public source, and condos.ca leaves the developer field blank. The building has 30 years of history you can examine instead: the reserve fund study, board minutes and the record of past repairs tell you more than a developer’s name would.

Suites from 711 to nearly 4,000 square feet

Condos.ca lists suites from about 711 to 3,908 square feet. That is an enormous range for a 30-suite building. At the bottom you have one-bedrooms. At the top you have suites larger than many detached houses in the surrounding streets.

The large suites are the reason this building exists. For a downsizer who is not ready to give up a dining room, a family room and space for guests, there are very few condos in North York that offer this much floor area under one roof.

The spread also makes building averages misleading. A per-square-foot figure that blends a 711-square-foot suite with a 3,900-square-foot suite does not tell you much about either. Compare like with like. When you look at a suite here, ask for the floor plan, the exact square footage from the declaration or a measurement, and the suite’s share of common expenses.

What the fee covers in a 30-suite building

The fee includes common elements, heat, building insurance, parking and water. Hydro and air conditioning are not on the list, so budget for your own electricity, which in a very large suite can be a real number in summer.

Across the two active listings, fees ranged from about $941 to $2,924 a month. That range tracks suite size. A concierge, gym, sauna and car wash shared among only 30 owners is expensive to run, and the larger suites carry a larger share of that cost.

In a corporation this small, the fee and the reserve fund are closely connected. A major roof, window or garage project divided among 30 owners can be a heavy cost per suite. Ask for the reserve fund study and the last few budgets before you make an offer.

Small corporations also live and die by their boards. With 30 owners, a handful of engaged people make most of the decisions, which can mean careful, frugal management or, in a bad case, deferred repairs. Board minutes from the last year or two will show you which kind of building this is.

Bayview and Finch, day to day

The building sits near Bayview Avenue and Finch Avenue East, in a pocket of established houses and quiet residential streets. Daily errands mean a short drive or a walk along Bayview, and Bayview Village shopping centre and Highway 401 are a quick drive south. The data panel on this page shows the transit, schools and parks nearby.

This is a car-oriented location, and the amenity list reflects that: underground parking, visitor parking and an on-site car wash. If you want to live without a car, a building on the Yonge or Sheppard subway corridor will suit you better.

The upside of the setting is quiet. A five-storey building surrounded by low-rise streets has none of the construction, traffic and crowded sidewalks of Yonge and Sheppard, and for many owners coming out of a house nearby, that is exactly the point.

Pricing: well below new construction per square foot

Condos.ca puts the building average at about $604 per square foot. For a concierge building in Bayview Village, that is low. New construction in North York routinely asks far more per square foot, and very little of it offers suites over 2,000 square feet.

Part of that discount is age and part is location away from the subway. Some of it is simply that large older suites are hard to compare, so they sit outside the usual search filters and get less attention. That is where patient buyers find value.

When I checked, two suites were listed for sale, with asking prices from about $399,900 to $1,680,000. That range is wide because the suites are so different in size. With only 30 suites and slow turnover, the recent sales in the TRREB panel on this page are thin but more useful than any average.

Because the large suites are so rare, pricing them takes judgement. I would compare them against bungalows and townhouses in Bayview Village as much as against other condos. My building sold report pulls the recent sales here and in competing buildings.

Building specifications

Amenities at One Watergarden Way

A concierge in a 30-suite building means staff who know every resident by name, which is much of the appeal for downsizers. The gym, sauna and car wash are modest, but they cover the basics without the crowds of a 400-suite tower.

Jatin’s honest take on One Watergarden Way

One Watergarden Way — 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.