Scenic on Eglinton, 35 Brian Peck Cres: Ravine Views at Leslie and Eglinton

Scenic on Eglinton is the building I point to when a buyer says they want a condo that looks onto trees instead of other condos. Its curved towers sit on the lip of the Don Valley at Leslie and Eglinton, and the ravine side gets views you cannot get anywhere near this price in midtown. The trade-off is a large building with a fee that covers less than you might think. I’m Jatin Dua, RE/MAX Quantum Realty.

Curved towers that follow the valley

Most condo towers are boxes. Scenic on Eglinton is not. Page + Steele, working with IBI Group, designed the towers with undulating, flowing balcony lines that follow the contours of the ravine below, and UrbanToronto singled out that river-shaped form when the first phases topped out in 2012.

The site sits where the land drops toward the Don River and Wilket Creek, so the east and south sides look out over valley parkland rather than across a street. Most suites were planned with floor-to-ceiling windows facing the valley. If you are looking here, the single most important question is which way the suite faces. A ravine-facing suite and a suite facing Eglinton are different products.

Aspen Ridge Homes built it, and the project won the Ontario Home Builders’ Association Highrise Project of the Year award in 2009, while it was still in sales. Interiors were by Mike Niven Interior Design. Suites were marketed with 9-foot ceilings, granite kitchen counters and five appliances.

One address, more than one tower

Scenic on Eglinton was planned as three phases, each its own tower, on a shared site between Laird and Leslie. The sources do not agree on the heights. UrbanToronto’s database lists towers of 16, 12 and 18 storeys, its 2012 construction report described the first two phases topping out at 18 and 14, and condos.ca lists this address at 16 storeys.

The 364 suites condos.ca lists for 35 Brian Peck Crescent line up closely with the 217 and 146 suites UrbanToronto gives for the first two towers, which share a podium. My reading is that this corporation covers those first two towers, and that the third, taller tower at the east end of the site is a separate building. Confirm it with the status certificate, because it decides which amenities, reserve fund and board you are buying into.

Condos.ca lists suites from about 523 to 1,340 square feet, from one-bedrooms through two-bedroom-plus-dens. The active listings as I write this are all one-bedroom, one-plus-den and two-bedroom plans, which is the bulk of the building.

Size matters for resale here. One-bedroom and one-plus-den suites are the most common plans, so they compete with each other every time several are listed at once. The larger two-bedroom-plus-den suites facing the valley are scarcer, and in my experience scarcity is what protects resale value in a big building.

What the amenities actually are

The amenity that people remember is the saltwater plunge pool with an arched waterfall feature. The developer also marketed a lobby built around a glassed-in landscape, a family activity room and a game room. Condos.ca lists concierge, a gym, an indoor pool, a party room and visitor parking.

A plunge pool is not a lap pool. If you swim for exercise, go and see it before you count it as a reason to buy. If you want somewhere to cool off and a gym in the building through a Toronto winter, it does the job.

In a building of more than 360 suites, the amenities are also busy. Visit on a weekday evening, check how the elevators and the gym cope at peak times, and ask the concierge how party room bookings work. Those details tell you more about daily life here than the brochure did.

The ravine, the trails and Eglinton

The real amenity is outside. The valley parkland at the edge of the site connects by trail to Edwards Gardens and Sunnybrook Park, and the developer pitched exactly that: acres of green space at the edge of Leaside. For anyone who runs, cycles or walks a dog, that daily access is the strongest argument for this building.

Leaside’s Bayview Avenue shopping strip is a short drive west, and the Don Valley Parkway is close for anyone commuting by car. In 2012, UrbanToronto described Scenic as the first of what it expected to be a wave of intensification along the Eglinton Crosstown LRT route.

If that wave arrives, it cuts both ways. New transit and new buildings nearby add convenience and, over time, support values. They also add construction and new resale competition. The transit and walkability details are in the panel on this page.

Price per square foot, and a fee that covers less

Condos.ca puts the building average at about $779 per square foot. For a 2014 building with concierge, a pool and a ravine setting, I consider that reasonable, and it gives you room to compare against newer buildings along the Crosstown on a like-for-like basis.

Four suites were listed for sale as I prepared this page, asking from roughly $489,000 to $718,000 across one-bedroom, one-plus-den and two-bedroom plans. Their monthly fees ran from about $483 to $734, which works out to around $0.87 per square foot.

That fee looks moderate until you check what it includes. Condos.ca lists only heat and water. Hydro is not listed, and neither is parking, so ask whether the suite you want comes with a parking space and a locker, and what each adds. Compare total monthly cost, not the headline fee, against any building you are weighing it against.

Building specifications

Amenities at Scenic on Eglinton

The package is built for daily life rather than show: concierge, a gym, a party room and a small saltwater pool. The ravine trails next door do more for quality of life here than anything inside the building.

Jatin’s honest take on Scenic on Eglinton

Scenic on Eglinton — frequently asked questions

Looking at Leslieville, Riverdale, the Beaches, Danforth and Leaside more broadly? Start with my Toronto community guide — the neighbourhoods, what each pocket is like, and how they compare.