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Living Downtown

I

ILuvTO

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Had a couple of questions for those of you that live downtown, have lived downtown, or know a thing or two about the subject.

1. If you had to pick two or three condos to live in, which ones would you choose and why?

2. If you had to pick an area to live in, which would you choose?

I'm not really looking at this from an architectural perspective (ie prettiest building, prettiest neighborhood). But more from a perspective of how functional the building is, how well run it is, how close it is to amenities. And for the neighborhood itself, how safe it is, if enough important amenities are within walking distance.

Thanks in advance to those that reply. :)
 
1) St. Lawrence Market

2) The Village

3) Queens Quay West

I'm not too familiar with condos at St. Lawrence Market however I know that 25 The Esplanade has a great variety of spacious 1 and 2 bedroom apartments, many with terrific views, then there's Market Square (very spacious suites), King George Square, The Saint James, London on the Esplanade (new) and there are a couple of buildings along The Esplanade & Scadding Ave. that have medium and large spaces.

The Village has several great condos too. I lived in the Alexus (Alexander & Church) which is a well maintained small boutique building with mostly good sized one bedrooms/one + dens and there are two great two bedroom suite designs. The top two floors in the tower portion are two storey PH suites which vary in size but as I recall from the floorplans, they're all petty sweet especially the s/e corner suite previously owned by Toronto's leading interior designer, it's stunning. Most of the PH suites have a balcony + terrace spaces. 24 Wellesley has great sized suites as does The Lexington (across from Maple Leaf Gardens on Carlton), Radio City and there's a building on the south/east corner of Charles & Church (I can't remember the name or address) which has huge suites but they don't come up for sale very often so anyone who gets in there is gold.

At Queens Quay the sky is the limit. A few dozen low and highrise condos line this strip which I think is a great place to live, but it's pretty cold down there in the winter. Many of the newer buildings have smaller suites but some of the buildings built in the 70's, 80's & early 90's have huge spaces and great city or lake views. I prefer west of York Street as it's not as busy with people and it's the most beautiful part of Queens Quay West (IMO).

Hope that gives you some ideas.
 
I think it would be hard to say which building people want to live in. There's going to be pros and cons to each building. Unless you've lived at every building in downtown, it would be hard to say which is best. I've seen a few buildings and so far none is 100%.

As for amenities. If you mean close to restaurants, groceries and such, most places are walkable distance downtown. I think downtown is fairly safe? I don't feel like I will get robbed at gun point or knifed.

The area I enjoy to live in is probably near the harbourfront area and entertainment district. Course, once east bayfront is built up, I think that will be an exciting area too. The St. Lawrence market might be good too.
 
A big problem with Toronto is that you can't live in all the neighbourhoods you really like at the same time.


But that doesn't stop you from visiting them.
 
We have friends who moved here from Paris.

Their first year was spent in a rental condo at Yonge & Sheppard, and based on that experience they wanted to go back.

On the advice of a real estate agent they bought a place in St. Lawrence (I think they paid about $220K; it might be worth $280K now). Their attitude towards the city totally changed based on their experience there--it's close to downtown, close to the market, lots of restraunts, inexpensive.

Moral? Friends don't let friends lvie north of Bloor!
 
I agree that the St Lawrence Market area would be great...if I had to live somewhere else downtown I'd look there. That being said, I love where I live now: the District Lofts building on Richmond near Spadina. It's within walking distance to any number of restaurants and stores (and my work) and the building itself is (in my opinion) extremely well designed. It has two-level units that, on the top floor, span the width of the building so you have windows at both sides. It also has a full-time concierge (I didn't realize how handy a full-time concierge could be until I had one), a reasonably-well-equipped gym, no pool to waste condo fees on, and Michael Cera was living here while filming his recent Scott Pilgrim movie. What more could you want?
 
I love the Queen's Quay West area but actually prefer the area closer to Bathurst in the Fort York Area. It does not have the same level of retail as Queen's Quay closer to Bay or the St. Lawrence area but I love that it is generally a lot less busy than the more eastern range of Queen's Quay. I'm a walker and think NOTHING of a 1 - 1.5 km. walk to work, etc. so being a little further from the core doesn't bother me but I grant you that if you don't like to walk that kind of distance on a regular basis, you will not like the area as much.

It's getting a little more hectic with the airport but the majority of that traffic coms down Bathurst or comes along Queen's Quay or Lakeshore so I don't find it that bad.
 
I know it'll sound weird, but I don't like anything along queen's quay or lakeshore as there are so few amenities - no decent grocery store (save Loblaws which is waaaaay east of most condos), no decent restaurants or bars, and there's no street life a lot of the time except on weekends.

I do like St. Lawrence Market, King East, the Annex and Liberty Village (as it has the best of all worlds - every immediate amenity necessary - major grocery store, dental, liquor, dry cleaners, good pubs, bars, and restaurants - plus tons more on King/Queen West - and it's a 5 minute walk from the waterfront/easy car access to gardiner). The distillery district will be great (and just like Liberty Village) in about 5 years time but is currently a little island all of it's own.
 
It really depends on what you're looking for and what your price range is.

I mean I'd love to live in One St. Thomas but really that's not going to happen anytime.

Personally I think Yonge/Bloor-Wellsley area, St. Lawrence Market area, and Queen's Quay by York is good.

For Yonge/Bloor I'd go with one of the newer buildings to the East of Yonge or go for Bay St condos.

For St. Lawrence, 25 esplanade is a great building.

For Queen's Quay, Waterclub all the way.
 
UserNameToronto said:
We have friends who moved here from Paris.

Their first year was spent in a rental condo at Yonge & Sheppard, and based on that experience they wanted to go back.

On the advice of a real estate agent they bought a place in St. Lawrence (I think they paid about $220K; it might be worth $280K now). Their attitude towards the city totally changed based on their experience there--it's close to downtown, close to the market, lots of restraunts, inexpensive.

Moral? Friends don't let friends lvie north of Bloor!
Click to expand...
I wouldn't live at Yonge & Sheppard, but I personally know lots of people who love it up there.

I wouldn't move to Queen's Quay either, but I know lots of people who love it.
 
For condo living:

1)Freedville
2)Ideal Condos (College and Bathurst)
3)The Loretto (Brunswick Av), except the maintenance fees are outrageously high.
4)District Lofts or Glas around Adelaide and Spadina
5)Robert Watson Lofts @Dundas and Sorauren
6)Kensington Market Lofts
7)That place on Markham St where Leah McLaren used to live
8)That loft across from Trinity-Bellwoods Park on Queen
9)Noble St Lofts
10)Cube--College @Shaw
 
Crossing Yonge is a pain. If you work on the west side of yonge, and live on the east side, then you may grow to regret it. The traffic, one way streets, etc can add a lot of time to what should be a short commute. I work at university and queen, (on the west side of yonge) and because of that I wouldn't live on the east side of yonge.
 
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