Leaside Towers

A nice friendly neighbour hood. Been living here for years!

We first moved here in 2004 and moved out in 2009 thinking we might try another neighbourhood. After 8 years away in several different areas of the city from Dufferin Grove to the Annex to the Distillery, we decided to come back. We were not disappointed.

Some things haven't changed since we left: the neighbourhood remains very diverse and well-served by transit. During rush hour you might see a bus come by every 2-3 minutes. Views from the building still are lovely seeing miles in every direction. As it's an old building it's well built. It is quieter here than any place we've lived in the city including a single family home.

Other things have changed: The buildings themselves are more diverse culturally and also age-wise. There are lots more young families and children in the building than before. Apparently from the comments here and from neighbours I hear that the elevators got very bad. They're in the process of being fixed and the ones serving our floor have all been overhauled and work beautifully. It's a tough go, though, while they're being replaced with one out of service during repair, one possibly on service for moving you end up with one elevator serving 24 floors.

Also since we left, other stores have opened. The Food Basics remains, but Iqbal Foods has expanded a bit and has nearly any Asian food, spice, or produce you desire. On the other side of the river is Sunny which has Asian foods. As someone who likes to cook foods from around the world, I can find nearly any ingredient I need to cook anything I like within a 10 minute walk from home.

The library and community centre are also very close by and since we left the library has been expanded. A few hundred metres away is the Don Valley with lots of green space and bike trails leading in many directions. The Don Trail south to the lakeshore is undergoing a bit of construction but hopefully it will be fixed soon. It can also be taken East to Victoria Park Station, or north to just a bit north of Steeles with only a short diversion to the road near York Mills.

As for the price, it's quite affordable and we definitely get more value than we've recently found closer downtown. Our last apartment was less than half the size of this one. At the same time, the rent it listed for after we left was almost 70% higher.

Overall, for us anyway, this is a perfect mix of location, space, apartment quality, and value and we are unlikely to move for the forseeable future as a result.