This is the west tower of 1011 Lansdowne Ave., at the NE corner of Lansdowne and Dupont. This is the building that has been in the media a lot in the past.

- Toronto's Worst Landlords (NOW Magazine, March 2006)
- Down and Out at Lansdowne and Dupont (Globe and Mail, Jan 2006)
- Woman falls from 7th floor during police raid (CBC, Feb 2005)

The run-down 23-storey building is notorious for its many problems and past media reports have claimed that as more than half of the units within are vacant or occupied by illegal grow-ops, squatting crack dealers, prostitutes, and homeless.

I called Lansdowne Property Management to inquire about vacancy and ask some general questions about the building. I was told that of the 351 total units, just 6 are available (3 bachelor at $550, 1 one bdrm at $750, and 2 two bdrm at $950). Other units were being "cleaned or repaired" but how many was not known. When I asked about the building's reputation as being unsafe, and laden with drug and prostitution problems, I was told that 1011 Lansdowne did not see these problems to any greater extent than anywhere else.

Has the situation here drastically improved in recent months, or are the representatives at the rental office simply trying to get me to come for a tour in hopes that I'll be the next tenant?

(photo: Jerrold Litwinenko)