Homes for Sale in Bay St. Corridor, Toronto, ON

Bay Street is to Toronto what Wall Street is to New York. While the streets themselves are home to more than just office towers, the names evoke thoughts of business people in suits arguing about high-stakes deals. Basically, when you hear someone works on Bay Street, they’re very likely employed in the financial sector. Of course, there are some exceptions to this rule, such as the large, successful law firms that are also situated along Bay.

All that to say the Bay Street Corridor is both dense and bustling. While businesses along Bay stretch all the way down to the lakeshore, the Corridor runs from St. Mary Street (just south of Bloor) to Dundas, and stretches from University to Yonge.

Besides businesses and banks, the neighbourhood is also home to everything from fast food to healthy lunch spots, plus sit-down restaurants suitable for business meetings, and of course plenty of spots for happy hour drinks. Lots of cafés can also be found along bay, servicing both bankers heading to the office at ungodly hours and freelancers who happen to live in the neighbourhood.

Housing isn’t the only dense element on Bay Street. The shopping in the neighbourhood is also concentrated in a number of malls. The College Park shopping centre is home to two grocery stores, a pharmacy, a dollar store, and a Service Ontario. The Eaton Centre is also located at the south end of the neighbourhood near The Village.

The Discovery District, a district known for its high concentration of hospitals and medical research facilities, also cuts through Bay Street. Women’s College Hospital is just northwest of Bay and College, while the Peter Gilgan Centre for Research and Learning (associated with the Hospital for Sick Kids) is on Bay, south of Gerrard. Additionally, Part of the University of Toronto campus is also located on Bay Street, adding a younger demographic into the profile of the neighbourhood’s residents.

Bay St condos for sale are just as well known as the large financial buildings that reside beside them, and in many cases, are home to the people who work there.

Bay Street was formerly known as ‘The Ward,’ and was heavily populated by Eastern European Jewish immigrants prior to the turn of the 20th century, with Italians moving in soon after that. Following the migration of these groups into neighbouring areas like Kensington Market, Chinese immigrants took over as the primary inhabitants of the Ward. The neighbourhood transformed yet again in the mid-20th century, following the construction of the new City Hall.

Today, visitors to Bay Street are hard-pressed to believe the neighbourhood was basically once Toronto’s own veritable slum. The area is home to more than 40 condos, many of which were constructed during the 1990s. Most of these are high rises, and they’re mostly on the newer side. Bay Street condos tend to have high price tags, which makes sense, as they’re geared to residents who work in the financial sector.

When we mentioned high density, we meant it: most Bay Street condos are home to hundreds of units. One Thousand Bay consists of 458 suites, Horizon on Bay boasts 475, and the Five Condos is broken up into 493 condos. And in case those numbers didn’t get the point across, the U Condominium at 1074-1086 Bay is filled with over 1,000 homes.

Condos don’t get more pedestrian friendly than Bay Street condos — anything that residents could need is walkable, including Toronto’s three downtown subway lines. Yonge and University are about equidistant from Bay, with subway stops situated along both of these streets. Even more convenient for those heading out of town is the Greyhound bus station, which is located at Bay and Edward.

The Locals: The opposite of slackers and homebodies – for the most part.

Code of Conduct: If you want to fit in, grab your briefcase and walk like you’re on a mission.

What You’ll Find: Peak hours at Starbucks that start at 6:00 am and continue well past 9:00.

What You Won’t Find: A relaxed atmosphere.

The Homes: High-density, high-rise condos filled with high-powered residents.

Sealing the Deal: The vivacity of this neighbourhood is hard to beat.