Home of the Week: A downtown condo with its own rink
A loft-style space next to the Thompson Hotel
Home oif the Week, 55 Stewart St., Toronto. Asking Price: $729,900 Roberto Marcogliese was looking to put down some roots in 2010, having moved to Toronto from Montreal. So he did what any young professional does – went condo shopping. At the time, Freed Developments had finished the Thompson Hotel and its adjoining residential building. And one of the floor plans in 55 Stewart really caught Mr. Macrogliese’s eye. 'I wasn’t looking for that size of a unit but I just fell in love with the floor plan,' he says.
For Mr. Marcogliese, the most alluring aspect of the layout is that there is no wasted space. There are no pillars, no unnecessary corners and, unlike other condos, there is no long hallway eating up a lot of space. Instead, the unit is divvied up into private living areas on the corners: The den is in the northeast end, the guest bedroom in the northwest end and the master suite (complete with a walk-in closet and four-piece bathroom) along the southeast end and the balcony is the southwest corner. The rest of the space houses a living room, dining room and a German-designed kitchen.
Combined with the roominess, the layout gives the condo the feeling of being a detached home compressed onto one floor.
One of the perks of the unit is that it’s housed in a building that shares amenities with the Thompson Hotel. Residents of 55 Stewart have access to the gym, yoga studio and the crowning jewel of the luxury hotel: its rooftop bar and pool. And Mr. Marcogliese points out, you can also pay for the hotel’s room service to be delivered to your door, or have their cleaning staff pick up after you. Plus there are three restaurants at the bottom of your building: the Thompson Diner, Scarpetta and Wabora Sushi.
The biggest bonus that the condo offers is its layout. With the bedrooms being off in opposite corners of the unit and the centre of the home a big, communal space, Mr. Marcogliese says it’s a perfect condo for entertaining.
'You don’t have a ton of excess space in the master bedroom that takes away from the entertaining area,' Mr. Marcogliese says.