Aquavista at Bayside, 1 Edgewater Dr: Lakefront Mid-Rise With a Pool

Aquavista at Bayside is the building I point to when a buyer wants to be on the lake itself, not a block back from it. It is a 12-storey Tridel mid-rise on the waterfront promenade, shaped like a U around a podium terrace with an infinity pool, and it is one of the few new buildings in Toronto where the lake is genuinely in front of you. Supply is thin and the price range is enormous, which tells you most of what you need to know. I’m Jatin Dua, RE/MAX Quantum Realty.

Built around a pool terrace facing the lake

Arquitectonica gave Aquavista a sweeping curve cut into its south side, which opens a large second-floor terrace toward the water. That terrace is the heart of the building: an infinity pool, shaded canopies, fire pits and lounge alcoves, with the suites wrapped around it in a U so that as many as possible see the lake.

On the east side, facing Aitken Place Park, the facade is carved into triangular alcoves and the building steps down in terraces as it approaches the water. East-facing owners get the park and, at the right height, the Toronto Islands as well.

Like Aqualina next door, it was designed to target LEED Platinum. Tridel and Hines built the two as the first two phases of Bayside, and they read as a pair, though Aquavista is smaller and sits closer to the water.

A small building with a wide range of suites

With 227 suites, this is a small building by downtown standards. Condos.ca lists sizes of about 548 to 1,432 sq ft, but the largest lake-facing and terraced suites are listed for sale without a size band, which suggests the upper end of the range runs higher than that figure. Treat the published range as a guide, not a ceiling.

The early plans also included an affordable rental component operated by Artscape, which was a requirement of the Central Waterfront plan. I would confirm in the declaration exactly how those units are held and how shared costs are divided, because it affects how the budget works.

The practical point for a buyer is that this is not a commodity building. A one-bedroom on a lower floor facing north and a lake-facing terraced suite are completely different products, and they do not price off each other.

Ask for the floor plan, the exposure and the size of any terrace before you compare prices. A terrace on the stepped east or south side can add hundreds of square feet of usable outdoor space that does not show up in the interior square footage, and that is often what you are actually paying for here.

On the waterfront promenade

Aquavista fronts Merchants’ Wharf, with retail and patios at grade, and the granite Waterfront Promenade running past toward Sherbourne Common and Sugar Beach. This is the waterfront Torontonians come to on weekends, and you live on it.

Unlike most waterfront condos further west, Aquavista is not separated from the lake by a highway or a wall of towers. Between you and the water there is the promenade and nothing else. Sherbourne Common is a few minutes west on foot, and Aitken Place Park is on the building’s east side, so you have two parks and the lake without crossing a major road.

That cuts both ways. Summer evenings bring people, and the promenade is busy. The neighbourhood behind you is still being completed, with more Bayside buildings and the Aitken Place Park area filling in, and daily errands are thinner than north of the Gardiner. The streetcar planned along Queens Quay East was still not running when I wrote this, so check the transit panel beside this review and decide whether that works for you.

The building’s small size works in your favour day to day. With 227 suites, elevator waits, move-in bookings and amenity crowding are far less of an issue than in the 600-suite towers of the core, and owners tend to know one another.

What Aquavista costs

Condos.ca puts the building average at about $978 per square foot, one of the highest in the eastern waterfront. That average is pulled up by the large lake-facing suites, which are rare and expensive. Do not read it as the going rate for a one-bedroom here.

Only three suites were for sale when I checked, and they spanned roughly $500,000 to $6.5 million, from a one-bedroom to large three-bedroom lake-facing suites. A range that wide tells you there is no single price for this building; there is a price for each view and floor.

Fees on those listings ran from under $600 to well over $3,000 a month, and condos.ca lists only common elements, building insurance and water as included. Parking, heat and air conditioning are not listed, so budget for them on top. A pool terrace on the podium is a real cost to maintain over time.

With so few listings, it can take time to find comparables. If you want a realistic value for a particular suite, my building sold report shows what has actually traded.

Building specifications

Amenities at Aquavista at Bayside

As planned, the package is resort-style: the infinity pool terrace, a fitness centre with spin and yoga studios and saunas, a screening room and a billiards lounge with a dining room and chef’s kitchen. For a 227-suite building that is a lot to maintain, which is worth keeping in mind when you read the budget. The upside is that the pool is outdoors and faces the lake, which is a very different experience from a basement pool in a downtown tower.

Jatin’s honest take on Aquavista at Bayside

Aquavista at Bayside — frequently asked questions

Looking at St. Lawrence, the Financial District and Downtown Yonge more broadly? Start with my Toronto community guide — the neighbourhoods, what each pocket is like, and how they compare.