Margaret Atwood just sold a triplex in Trinity Bellwoods

Margaret Atwood is best known for her achievements on the page (and, lately, for her TV work), but she’s also a savvy real estate investor. She has owned a home in the Annex since 1985, long before the neighbourhood became the high-priced haven it is today. And, until recently, she also had an ownership stake in a triplex near Dundas Street and Ossington Avenue, which sold late last week for $1,575,000.

Atwood bought the property, at 134 Harrison Street, jointly with two other people: her daughter, Jess Atwood Gibson, and Daniel Borins, an artist whose works include a few notable public sculptures. The 2,580-square-foot house is split into separate units. The main floor is an owner’s suite with one bedroom and one bathroom. There’s another one-bedroom unit in the basement. The third and largest unit sprawls across the upper two storeys of the house. It has two bedrooms on the second floor, and a large, loft-style living room on the third. The interior of the house is decorated with pops of colour: there’s a yellow claw-foot bathtub, and one of the kitchens is festooned with bright orange tile.

The Atwoods and Borins bought the property for $530,000 in 2007. They listed it for $1,275,000, and it sold in a week, for $300,000 over asking. The sale is set to close in June.