toniochen

Hi,

Currently considering an opportunity to live and work in Toronto, my wife and 2 year old son would come over as well. Would work in financial district and therefore would be keen to live as close as possible to Toronto downtown at least for the first year, then we would have more time to consider other places more suitable to get more space, get better public school for the education of our son etc...

Any good place where we would live in Toronto downtown ?

Thanks,

magnumpi

Bellair near Bloor and bay is nice. Not cheap, but very nice area.

colchar

The further out you live the cheaper it will be. The Yonge & Eglington area might be an idea as you just have to jump on the subway down to the financial district (my brother lived there when he worked in the financial district).

JamesM

There is not really many bad areas in Downtown Toronto.

If you want more residential and don't mind using transit then definitely Yonge and Eg or on the Bloor/ Danforth line.

If you want a nice walk to work there are plenty of condo's in my neighbourhood near Front and Spadina. 2 bedroom condo's are typically in the $2000 to $2500 per month range.

Bay and Bloor is a little more lucrative and probably will cost a little more in rent.

What ever condo you look at be sure to negotiate. I have never paid the advertised rate for a condo. I've always been able to knock 10 to 15 percent off.

If you do look in my area I know a realtor who can take your specifications and line up 7 or 8 viewings in an evening. He is also a pretty good negotiator. It can take the hassle out of trying to call around and arrange the bookings yourself and certainly made my life easier.

MarylandNed

+1

I also lived at Yonge/Eglinton. Great area. I didn't work downtown but my wife did and it was an easy walk (or a short hop on the #97 bus) to the Eglinton subway station. We also went downtown for many different events e.g. sports, concerts, theatre, etc.

dbd33

Cabbagetown. Most of the other places mentioned are inner suburbs. Cabbagetown is actually in Toronto, you could walk to work.

toniochen

Right now this would be my first option, I'd like to walk to the office as I believe it's really a massive life changing factor in terms of stress and daily ability to spend time with family...I have seen a few interesting places in Spadina, I am not sure about any other places, a lot of the "waterfront" places seems south west and start to be quite far away for a walk... Do you mind PM the name of the Realtor you were mentioning...

JamesM

Anything west of Bathurst probably becomes a little too far to walk in the extreme cold or heat. My building just west (about 200 yards) of Spadina to Bay & Wellington is a 20 minute walk above ground. There is also some coverage of the walk by the underground path system too which can be useful in the extreme cold.

I have walked to work my last 3 years and it is one of the best qualities of life you can have if you are a working person.

I'll PM you the Realtors details when I get in from the office later. I know Jimmy Simmons (Realtor) from the local pub and he lives in the area so will look after you as if you move in he knows you'll see him around :-)

dbd33

If that's what you like, look also at the area around the (St. Lawrence) market. It's a bit short on green space which is why we eventually moved out to the Beach but it's handy for everything else.

Ben W Bell

I concur with JamesM. I also live in the CityPlace complex, though on the east side of Spadina rather than the west, right beside the Rogers Centre. For me it's a 13 minute walk to Adelaide and University where my office is. Financial centre, 20 minutes. I can get into the PATH system in a 4 minute walk and be indoors the rest of the time and underground if I wish. Anywhere on the waterfront is close easy walking to downtown as long as you don't pass Bathurst. We've been in this neighbourhood six and a half years and I wouldn't want to live elsewhere. More than happy here.

ultrarunner

All the aforementioned places are nice and all that, lived beside the Rogers Center myself in the past, but not exactly conducive to raising a kid(s)

However, nice locations to get to work and no need for a car

Jerseygirl

We are on Queens Quay on the HarborFront...my SIL works in the financial district...a 20 min walk to and from his office.

dbd33

I'm sure all these places are lovely but, if you can live north of the Gardiner, you can save yourself a walk to work and to restaurants and bars. You'd need a well placed high floor apartment to have a view of the lake but, if you could find one, you'd have a lot at your doorstep. I'd cheerfully move back to the Esplanade, or to Market Square. The other side of the highway, not so much.

(Excepting the actual Queen's Quay, of course, a place on top of that mall would be worth the trouble of having one's driver carry one back and forth for every meal).

Novocastrian

The nice thing about Spadina is that you can pretend that you're in Hong Kong.

ultrarunner

And just like Hong Kong, there is an Island airport nearby