Seeking: temporary satellite office

May 14, 2011 11:08 AM

Please suggest extended stay accommodations in Toronto.

I'm looking for somewhere to stay in the Toronto area for 4-6 weeks, starting on May 24 (after the holiday weekend). If it matters, it's a residency thing while my next offer/visa in the states is being finalized. Let me describe what I'm after:

• Price: $3000/month (700/week, or 100 daily) is the most I want to spend
• Location: downtown, or easily accessible by subway/streetcar
• MUST HAVE internet access - a reliable connection I can VPN with; not wifi
• Prefer a suite/condo/apartment instead of a room in someone's house/couchsurfing
• Furnished, ideally with kitchen & laundry

After some surfing, I've come up with these possibilities so far:

• "Pearson area hotels" for under 100/night - I wonder how isolated I'll be out there though (I won't have a car)
• Some bachelor suites in the Yonge/St Claire area via torontosuites.com
• After looking through toronto.kijiji.ca, the Rogers Center out on King West might work
• One King West hotel would be amazing, with their extended stay rate right at the top of my price range. They probably need a 6 month commitment to get that rate, though

Please let me know if you have other ideas or endorsements/denoucements of the above. Thanks!

posted by ceribus peribus to Home & Garden (9 answers total)

Best answer: Three thousand per month? That sounds... pretty palatial, frankly.

If you're willing to slum it a little, I would find a reasonably civilized student sublet for around $1k/month or so for the rest of the summer (three months, by then?) explain the situation to the subletter and leave it empty for the rest of the summer. Tell the subletter they can use it for whatever they want after you've moved out.

This sort of thing.
posted by mhoye at 11:19 AM on May 14, 2011

UofT rents out their dormitory rooms as hotel rooms in the summer, and that timeline would probably work with their schedule. Some of their dorms are suites rather than individual rooms, thought I don't know if they rent those ones out.
posted by jacquilynne at 11:39 AM on May 14, 2011

Pearson Airport area is very isolating without a car -- it's a bus to the subway to another subway line to get downtown.
posted by criacow at 11:55 AM on May 14, 2011

Response by poster: Yeah, that's a lot more than I'd pay if I was moving there, mhoye, but you pay a premium for furnished and relatively short term. I used to live in a lakefront condo in the late 90s and paid less. Manhattan rents change you, man.

Student sublets might be worth looking at; I assumed they would already be gone by now or have something horribly wrong with them. I'll give craigslist a closer look.
posted by ceribus peribus at 12:07 PM on May 14, 2011

Best answer: I was looking for the same exact thing a couple weeks back and came across this company. They had a nice looking apartment available by the Rogers Center for $101 per night which I almost took but I ended up sorting out other arrangements instead.
posted by lazywhinerkid at 1:37 PM on May 14, 2011

I come to Toronto at least a part of every summer: there are always students and profs looking to sublet their apartments while they're away, as it saves storing everything and finding a new place every time you move.

This website is useful, Sabbatical Homes as are Craigslist sublet listings. You can also catsit/housesit/dogsit for someone.
posted by jrochest at 2:43 PM on May 14, 2011

Best answer: I and some colleagues stayed in the Toronto Suites - the place on Glen Elm is much nicer than the other building(s) they have and that's where I was. I found it convenient, comfy and an easy place to live. They have laundry equipment in the one-bed suite I had but someone came in once a week to change towels and bedsheets. They throw in goodlife gym membership too, or did a couple of years ago.
posted by jamesonandwater at 4:35 PM on May 14, 2011

You should be able to get a dorm room at UofT or Ryerson by then. Classes and exams will be in summer sessions
posted by Heart_on_Sleeve at 8:07 PM on May 14, 2011

Response by poster: Thanks for everyone's replies - I picked the most useful as best answers but they're all appreciated. Craigslist was a much richer resource than I thought it would be for this.
posted by ceribus peribus at 9:16 PM on May 16, 2011