I often get asked, “Which is your favorite building in the city?”  It’s not an easy question to answer.

On the one hand, I’m biased towards my own building.  On the other hand, how can I not say that I’d love to live at 10 Belair Street in Yorkville?

I’ve mentioned this building in passing before, but today I’d like to do a whole feature on 15 Stafford Street…

After completing the C.N. Tower Stair Climb a few weeks ago, I was having brunch with my brother and his co-workers who also labored up the 144 flights of stairs, and one of them asked me, “So what’s the best building in town right now?”

I really didn’t know how to answer that.

I asked him, “What do you mean by best?”

He replied, “Well where would you want to live, or where would you want to sell to a client right now?”

It wasn’t a question I could answer with ease.  Is price a factor?  How about time?  Is this completely theoretical?  Do you mean if they were giving away units for free all over the city, in which building would I choose?

I love living at King’s Court near the St. Lawrence Market, but there are other buildings across the city that I also admire.

I have since given the question a lot of thought, and I’ve made a decision as to which is my “favorite” building in the city.

The decision comes with a couple of conditions, however:
1.  Price is a factor.  I can’t choose a luxury building with million-dollar suites if I can’t afford it.
2.  I’m assuming the unit is for me which would mean I’m looking for a 1-bedroom or 1-plus-den.
3.  I’m only looking in the downtown core.

This brings me to 15 Stafford Street.

I’ve always been a huge advocate of outdoor space, more specifically patios in small or large condominiums, but I consider 15 Stafford Street to essentially have a five-acre backyard.

Look at this picture again:

In the background is 15 Stafford Street, and in the foreground is Stanley Park.  Notice how the top three levels of the building are staggered?  This is because they all have large outdoor terraces, as do all the ground floor units in the building as well.

Now, I should back-track here for a moment and point out that while I love this building, I really only love the east-facing part of the building.  Perhaps that takes away from my whole “Favorite Building” award, but such is life.

Compare 15 Stafford Street to the miserable condos of City Place that I love to loathe on my blog, and think about how close you are to a lush park with sporting fields at Stafford Street versus how many acres of concrete and roadway surround CityPlace.

Every other Saturday, I get together with a group of friends to play touch-football for a couple of hours at Rolph Road School in Leaside.  Two weeks ago, I was hosting an open house at 833 King Street West, and as I parked my car I noticed that there was a group of guys already playing football here on the large field at Stanley Park.  It made me wonder if any of these guys lived at 15 Stafford Street, and/or how many of them live a stone’s throw away.

Living next to a park is great, but if you’re an athletic type such as myself, living next to a park with a baseball diamond, soccer field, and football/rugby field is an absolute dream!  Stanley Park also has tennis courts, but I’m not tall, thin, and terrible at hockey thus I’m not meant to play tennis…..(ouch!)

Stafford Street is located between Strachan Avenue and Bathurst Street and is a five-minute walk to Queen Street West.  While King Street West has become the “upscale” nightclub/restaurant district in the past couple of years with clubs such as West and Brant House and restaurants such as Brassai and Blowfish, Queen Street West is home to a vibrant retail area in between Spadina & Strachan.  There is also thriving nightlife in the area near Queen & Ossington, although this vibe is a little more low-key than the Brant Houses of the world.

The King West and Queen West nightlifes are so different and yet 15 Stafford Street is equidistant between the heart of both areas.

I enjoy a night out on the town as much as the next person, but the proximity to “the action” still doesn’t trump my love of the five-acre backyard behind 15 Stafford Street.  And as if Stanley Park isn’t enough on its own, Trinity-Bellwoods Park is a two-minute walk from 15 Stafford Street and is about fifteen times the size of Stanley Park.

Okay, so I’ve made it abundantly clear that there are two parks right near 15 Stafford Street and that King & Queen West are home to thriving retail and nightlife.  But what about the building itself?

Well first of all, I have always been a fan of mid-rise buildings, and 15 Stafford Street is a quaint ten-stories with only 142 units.  From an investment perspective, it’s nice to know that there are only 142 units (say 60 1-bdrm, 40 1-bdrm-plus-den, and 40 2-bdrm), and that there aren’t 500 units in the building with the exact same floor plan as yours.

Most of these units have very open layouts with functional floorplans and upgraded finishes.  I have yet to see a layout that I dislike.

I’ve seen a few “bland” units with no character, but the bones are there to build upon, and with the park glaring at you through the windows, you can buy a few new appliances, install some wainscoting in the bedroom, crown moulding throughout the unit, and give the condo a makeover with some snazzy paint choices and voila!  You’ve got a gorgeous condo in a one-of-a-kind park setting with only a handful of units that are anything like yours.

I’d almost go as far as to say that your condo would be one-of-a-kind.

I keep coming back to the idea of the east-facing units and the park sitting right outside.

I have never thought the “view” is all that important when it comes to a condo, but that’s because most condos don’t have a great view, or have a view of nothing but the downtown core and more buildings in the distance.

But how many buildings in the city look out to a park?

How many buildings have a clear view of nothing but grass for 400 metres until you see the next building?

Short of living at 383 Ellis Avenue in High Park, I just don’t know of any other building in the city that has comparable greenspace at your fingertips.

Are there any drawbacks to the area?  Well, Freed Developments owns just about every square inch of land that isn’t already a condo, and they’re building with reckless abandon.  There is also the occasional “smell” blowing in the wind due to the slaughterhouse at Wellington & Tecumseh, but I’ve never personally witnessed this.

Add it all up, and I absolutely LOVE 15 Stafford Street or “Wellington On The Park” as it was first named when plans called for the building to front on Wellington Street.

Now how to I tell the people in my building that I don’t consider King’s Court to be the best of the best?  Sometimes, the truth hurts…