The Stewart Lofts, 32 Stewart St: A 46-Suite King West Boutique Loft

The Stewart Lofts is one of the smallest buildings I cover in King West: 46 suites behind white brick and tall glass on a side street between Portland and Bathurst. It was built by a civil engineer who ran his own construction, and it feels like it: plain, solid and focused on the suites rather than the lobby. I’m Jatin Dua, RE/MAX Quantum Realty.

An engineer’s building

Harhay is not a big-name developer, and that is the interesting part. A Globe and Mail profile from the building’s pre-construction period described Walter Harhay as a civil engineer who spent 17 years on dams, bridges, tunnels and towers, then started a small construction-management firm and moved into developing boutique lofts along King West. He acted as his own general contractor, which the article called unusual.

The Stewart Lofts was one of a short run of small Harhay loft buildings in the area, alongside Tecumseh Lofts and Abbey Lane Lofts. The same article quoted the project’s marketer saying Harhay’s buildings had ceilings of at least ten feet, when eight was typical at the time. That is the clearest statement of what this developer was selling: volume and structure, not amenities.

Ten-foot concrete, open plans and north terraces

This is a new-build soft loft from 2004, not a warehouse conversion. Suites are open plan with exposed concrete ceilings of about ten feet, concrete columns, exposed ductwork and tall warehouse-style windows. Finishes were reported as hardwood floors and good-quality cabinetry, though after two decades every suite will have been updated, or not, at its owner’s discretion.

Suite sizes run from roughly 505 square feet to a little over 2,000. Suites on the north side generally have private terraces, which is worth asking about specifically, because outdoor space is the feature that separates one Stewart Lofts suite from another more than anything else. The top of the building is reported to include a large penthouse with its own outdoor pool. That is one private suite, not a building amenity.

Because the plans are open, the smaller suites live larger than their square footage suggests: with ten feet of ceiling and tall glass, a 600-square-foot suite here feels very different from the same area under an eight-foot ceiling. The flip side is acoustics and privacy. Open plans with concrete and hard floors carry sound, and bedrooms in smaller suites may be partly enclosed rather than full rooms, so check how the sleeping area actually closes off.

Two numbers that do not quite agree

Sources disagree on the building’s exact size. Condos.ca lists eight storeys and 46 suites; another loft guide lists 47 lofts, and the Globe profile, written before construction began, described a 47-unit project with a tenth-floor penthouse. Plans often change between sales and completion, and the registered corporation is the record that counts.

I mention it because, in a building this small, one suite is more than 2 percent of the building. Ask for the status certificate early and read the declaration for the actual unit count, which suites have exclusive-use terraces, and how costs are shared.

Living on Stewart Street

Stewart is a short street one block south of King, which gives you King West’s restaurants and bars a minute away without a King Street address. The neighbourhood is loud on weekend nights, and one loft guide describes heavy King traffic at peak social hours, so the side-street location is a genuine advantage, but not total silence.

King Street itself changed after council made the King Street Transit Priority Corridor permanent in 2019, putting streetcars ahead of through-traffic. For a resident without a car, that is useful. The building has a parking garage, but confirm whether any given suite actually comes with a spot, and whether a locker is included.

A building this size also means a very small community. Forty-odd households share the elevator, the garage and the annual meeting, so the board is close to the owners and problems tend to get noticed fast. It also means fewer owners to share every bill, which is why the reserve fund matters even more here than in a large tower.

Pricing and fees at The Stewart Lofts

Condos.ca puts the building’s average at about $910 per square foot, at the upper end for a 2004 King West soft loft. In my view the ten-foot concrete, the north terraces and the scarcity are what support that figure; the amenity package does not.

Fees include common elements, building insurance and water. Heat and hydro are not listed as included, so budget for both and ask the seller for a year of utility bills. A fee-per-square-foot comparison against a building that includes heat, such as 66 Portland around the corner, will flatter the Stewart Lofts unless you add those bills back.

Think about the fee in terms of what it pays for. With no pool or concierge, a fee here mostly goes to insurance, water, building systems and the reserve fund. That is a healthy profile in principle, but in a small building it makes the reserve fund study the most important document you will read.

With 46 suites, there are often no suites for sale at all, and at the time of writing there were none. In a market this thin, a single sale moves any average, so I price suites here from the closest comparable sales in this building and in nearby boutique lofts, adjusted for terrace and floor. If you own here and want to know where you stand, book a call.

Building specifications

Amenities at The Stewart Lofts

Condos.ca lists a gym, party room and meeting room, while another loft guide calls the building no-frills with few amenities, so expect modest common spaces. In practice, the suite and its terrace are the amenity, and King West supplies everything else.

Jatin’s honest take on The Stewart Lofts

The Stewart Lofts — frequently asked questions

Looking at King West, Liberty Village and CityPlace more broadly? Start with my Toronto community guide — the neighbourhoods, what each pocket is like, and how they compare.