Prime Condos, 319 Jarvis St: Small Suites, Big Shared Spaces

Prime Condos at 319 Jarvis Street is a building designed around a simple idea: keep the suites small and put the space into shared rooms. You get a 6,500-square-foot gym and a 4,000-square-foot co-working floor, and in exchange the largest suite is under 800 square feet. Whether that works depends entirely on who you are. I’m Jatin Dua, RE/MAX Quantum Realty.

A tower built for the campus next door

Prime sits a few blocks east of Toronto Metropolitan University, and when the redesign went to the City in 2018, coverage noted it was aimed more at student housing needs. That shows in the suite mix and in the amenities: study pods, collaboration rooms and a 24-hour gym are what students and young professionals use most.

CentreCourt has built a run of towers on the Church and Jarvis corridors, including 411 Church and Grid Condos at Jarvis and Dundas. If you have toured one, you will recognise the approach: strong common spaces, compact suites and a design-led lobby. The company is a known quantity in this part of the city, which is worth something in a market full of first-time builders.

The tower rises about 148 metres. IBI Group broke the facades into three-storey sections with dark horizontal bands and warm-toned metal piers, and gold-coloured accents were added in the redesign.

The project first went to the City in early 2017 as a taller tower. A 2018 roundup of the Jarvis corridor described a 50-storey, roughly 165-metre plan with about 494 suites. What was built is 46 storeys and about 148 metres, but with close to 600 suites, which tells you the suites got smaller as the plan evolved.

That history explains the building you see today. The density went into compact plans, and the redesign added the dog run and the Juliet balconies. When you compare Prime with an older building on Jarvis, compare suite by suite and per square foot, not by bedroom count, because a one-bedroom here can be a good deal smaller than a one-bedroom from the 2000s.

Suites from 310 to 784 square feet

This is a building of studios, one-bedrooms, one-plus-dens and compact two-bedrooms. The size range tops out at about 784 square feet, so there are no family-sized suites, and most current listings are under 600 square feet.

The 2018 redesign gave every suite a Juliet balcony, which is a railing at an opening door rather than a balcony you can sit on. Check the floor plan for any suite you are considering: if outdoor space matters to you, confirm whether that suite has a usable balcony or only the Juliet rail.

In a sub-500-square-foot plan, storage is the issue you will feel first. Count closets, check whether the suite has a locker, and think about where a bike, a suitcase and winter gear go before you think about the view.

The shared spaces are the real floor plan

The co-working area is over 4,000 square feet indoors and out, with private collaboration rooms, individual study pods and open workspace. The fitness centre is about 6,500 square feet indoors and out, open around the clock, with space for cardio, weights, yoga and boxing.

There is also an off-leash dog area within the third-floor outdoor amenity space, which is a genuinely useful feature in a building of small suites near a busy street. The lobby was designed by Figure3 with Versace furnishings, polished stone, wood accents and a gold ceiling feature.

If you will use these rooms every day, a 450-square-foot suite here can feel bigger than a 550-square-foot suite in a building with a token gym. If you will not, you are paying fees for space you never enter.

Jarvis and Gerrard, day to day

Allan Gardens and its conservatory are across Gerrard to the north, the university is a short walk west, and Yonge Street is a little further. Jarvis is a wide, busy street, so suites on the Jarvis side hear traffic; upper floors and the quieter sides are worth a premium if you plan to live here.

This stretch of Jarvis has changed quickly, with several new towers completed or under construction between Queen and Bloor. Expect more cranes nearby for years. The small townhouse complex at 325 Jarvis and 390 George sits right beside this tower and is a very different way to live on the same block.

Price per square foot, fees and what the listings ask

Prime averages about $869 per square foot. That is a typical figure for a new downtown tower with small suites, because small suites always carry a higher price per foot.

Across seven current listings asking prices run from about $399,000 to $499,000. Studios and one-bedrooms under 500 square feet ask about $399,000 to $410,000, and one-plus-dens and two-bedrooms in the 500s and 600s about $480,000 to $499,000. With 14 suites for sale and 16 for rent, there is choice for buyers and competition for landlords.

Fees on those listings run from about $333 to $524 a month. The per-square-foot average calculated from listings is $1.33, which looks high, and I suspect it is skewed by the broad size bands used for the smallest suites. Work it out yourself from the suite’s actual measured size. I could not confirm what the fee includes, so ask for the breakdown before comparing.

Building specifications

Amenities at Prime Condos

Prime is one of the clearest examples of a building that trades suite size for shared space. Use the gym and co-working floor and the trade pays off; skip them and it does not. Tour them at a busy hour, such as a weekday evening, to see how crowded they get.

Jatin’s honest take on Prime Condos

Prime Condos — 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.