Village by the Grange, McCaul St: 570 Suites With Hydro in the Fee

Village by the Grange is the building I mention when a buyer tells me they want to live downtown on a tight budget and never think about a utility bill. It is a 570-suite complex from the early 1980s on the block between McCaul and St Patrick streets, across from OCAD University and a short walk from the Art Gallery of Ontario. The suites are small, the building is old and the fee covers almost everything. Whether that suits you is the whole question. I’m Jatin Dua, RE/MAX Quantum Realty.

A whole block, not a single building

Village by the Grange is a mixed-use complex rather than one tower. Residences sit above and around a ground-level commercial concourse, with residential addresses on St Patrick Street and the shops and food court facing McCaul. It replaced the houses that once lined the east side of McCaul south of Dundas.

Dates vary by source. Wikipedia’s Grange Park entry gives 1980 as the year it was built, while condos.ca records 1983, which is when the corporation was registered. Both are probably right: construction finished and the condominium was registered later. Either way, this is a building of more than 40 years.

The commercial side has a following of its own. A 2005 blogTO piece called its food court the best in the city, praising the family-run stalls and low prices that drew OCAD students and office workers. Tenants have changed since then, so walk through it yourself, but the food court is still part of what makes the complex feel like a small village rather than a dormitory.

Small suites, and many of them

With 570 suites, this is one of the larger condominiums in the area. What comes up for sale is mostly one-bedroom suites under 600 square feet, and several of the current listings are under 500. These are compact, older plans, and you should expect original features in suites that have not been renovated.

Look closely at the condition of each suite rather than the building’s age alone. A renovated one-bedroom with updated kitchen, bathroom and flooring can feel very different from an original one a few doors down, and the price gap between them is often smaller than the renovation would cost you.

Because the complex is spread over several entrances, ask which elevator bank and lobby serve the suite, and which way it faces. Suites facing McCaul get the most activity from the concourse and the students across the street, so ask the seller what they hear in the evening.

The all-inclusive fee, explained

The fee here includes hydro and cable TV as well as heat, air conditioning, water, insurance and common elements. That is rare. Most downtown buildings bill hydro separately, and almost none still bundle cable.

That is why the fee per square foot looks high. Condos.ca calculates about $1.80 per square foot across current listings, which would be alarming in a building where hydro is separate. Here, you should subtract what you would otherwise pay for electricity and cable before you compare it with a newer building. For a small suite, the true gap is far narrower than the headline number suggests.

The trade-off is that you do not control those costs. When energy prices rise, the corporation pays and the fee follows. Ask for the fee history over the last five years and how the board budgets for utilities.

Also ask whether any suites are individually metered or whether the corporation has studied submetering, since that would change what your fee covers.

Living between the AGO, OCAD and Grange Park

The location is the reason to buy. OCAD University sits across McCaul, the Art Gallery of Ontario is just north on Dundas, and Grange Park, the green space behind the AGO, is a short walk away. Chinatown and Kensington Market are to the west and Queen Street West is a few blocks south.

The day-to-day reality is a student neighbourhood. The block is busy during the academic year, the food court and shops bring foot traffic, and late evenings on McCaul can be lively. If you want quiet, this is not the place. If you want a downtown address that you can walk out of into galleries, restaurants and transit, it is hard to beat at this price.

What Village by the Grange costs

Asking prices here are among the lowest I see for a condominium this close to the core. Four one-bedroom suites were listed for sale when I checked, all under 600 square feet, asking between $345,000 and $449,000. Fees across those listings ran from about $589 to $701 a month, all-inclusive.

Condos.ca did not publish a building average per square foot when I checked, so I would not quote one. What I would do is compare price per square foot against recent sales of similar-sized suites in the complex, and adjust for condition, since renovated and original suites trade at noticeably different levels.

For an investor, the low entry price and the all-inclusive fee make for a simple rental: tenants pay one number and the building handles the utilities. For an owner, the question is whether you are comfortable with a large, older complex and the repair cycle that comes with it. My building sold report can show you what has actually traded here.

Building specifications

Amenities at Village by the Grange

An outdoor pool and a sauna are unusual for a building this close to the core, and the security staff matter in a complex with several entrances and a public concourse. Ask how the pool has been maintained and what the reserve fund study says about it.

Jatin’s honest take on Village by the Grange

Village by the Grange — frequently asked questions

Looking at Queen West, Trinity-Bellwoods, Kensington and Little Italy more broadly? Start with my Toronto community guide — the neighbourhoods, what each pocket is like, and how they compare.