DO NOT LIVE HERE!! I lived at 15 Dundonald Street for about one year while it was under the…read moremanagement of MetCap Living. My advice to anyone considering living here would be to find somewhere else. When I saw the building I figured, "meh, it's not the nicest looking, but how bad can it be?" It is horrible. Almost everything about it is so bad that I actually requested an early end to my lease.
Pros: Good proximity to the Eaton Centre, University of Toronto, the museums, grocery and liquor stores, subway station, and more. The building offers an outdoor pool, tennis court, basketball court, and a gym (however, see below). I only interacted with the building staff on two occasions, but they were really sweet and helpful.
Cons: (General): First, the building has no AC and gets very hot in the summer. The building is noticeably run-down, with faded/chipped paint on the exterior, an overall dingy feeling, a dirty parking garage, stains in the stairwells, peeling wallpaper in the hallways, and units that have scratched floors, marks all over the walls, and baseboards that have pulled away from the floors to reveal cracks all over. Outside the building, I have had to step over drug needles and tourniquet bands on several occasions. The electrical outlets are not secured properly and push into the wall when you try to plug things in, in one case giving me an electrical shock. The building gym is windowless and poorly lit, feeling almost dungeon-like and the equipment is so limited as to be essentially useless - they offer one cable machine, a limited number of dumbbells, two bikes, and two broken treadmills. (Safety): In terms of safety, the building doesn't have an overly safe feeling. There is no concierge and the building door frequently had issues with automatically shutting, so anyone from the streets could walk right in. In one instance an intoxicated man got into the building and showed up at my door. He wouldn't leave despite me repeatedly asking him to, and kept insisting that I let him into my apartment. I needed to phone the police. In another instance, I encountered a homeless man from the streets who got into the building's parking garage because of its lack of security. (Landlord/Management): Never in my life have I encountered management as poor as this. During the coronavirus pandemic (of 2020) the building rightfully closed down public amenities, including their tennis court. However, well after provincial reopening (over two months later) and they had still not opened the court. This was disappointing to me as it was one of the features that I enjoyed about the building. I sent various emails, and spoke to the building employees, the building manager, MetCap customer service, and the property manager, and at every turn I was ignored or else received a response blaming other departments for the lack of information. After months of being ignored I contacted FMTA, who informed me that their actions highlighted those of a lazy company trying to get away with as little work as possible, and suggested I pursue loss of service charges through the Landlord and Tenant Board. I mentioned this to the property manager hoping it would prompt a response...and I was still ignored. Suffice to say, there is an overwhelming feeling that this company couldn't care less about your living situation as long as they get your money. (Bugs): One last thing to note: I was fortunate to see no bugs in my unit, although my neighbours did tell me that they frequently see cockroaches. My advice would be to consult a bug-registry website for this building because most testimonials about bugs here are incredibly damning, citing frequent cockroach and bedbug infestations.