College Park North Tower, 763 Bay St: 51 Storeys Above the Park

The North Tower at 763 Bay is the building I suggest to buyers who want a big-building amenity package, a park at the back door and a fee that covers almost every utility. It is the first and tallest of the two original Residences of College Park towers, with 51 storeys and more than 650 suites. What you have to accept is scale: this is a very large community, and it behaves like one. I’m Jatin Dua, RE/MAX Quantum Realty.

The first phase of a three-tower community

Canderel Stoneridge built the Residences of College Park as two steel-and-glass towers on Bay Street with about 1.1 million sq ft of residential space. The North Tower at 763 Bay came first, starting construction in fall 2003. The South Tower at 761 Bay followed at 45 storeys, and Aura at Yonge and Gerrard, opened in 2014, became the third phase.

Graziani + Corazza Architects designed both original towers, with Cosburn Nauboris as landscape architects. The North Tower stands about 155 metres to the roof, and each tower has six elevators.

Sources differ on the details. UrbanToronto counts 658 suites in the North Tower, while listing data gives 655. UrbanToronto puts registration in spring 2006, while listing data gives 13 July 2007 for TSCC-1866. Use the status certificate for the dates that matter legally.

Layouts, from studios to Grandview suites

The range here is unusually wide. Suites start at about 429 sq ft for a bachelor and run through one-bedrooms, one-plus-dens and two-bedrooms to the larger Grandview plans of about 1,600 sq ft, with listing data showing a top-end suite of about 4,096 sq ft.

Most of what trades is one-plus-den between about 600 and 900 sq ft. That is the plan I would focus on for resale: it suits a young professional, a couple or a student with a parent co-signing, and it is the deepest pool of buyers when you sell.

At 51 storeys, floor and direction drive value more than finishes do. Upper suites facing south get the skyline, west-facing suites look toward Queen’s Park and the university, and lower suites on the park side look over the trees. Ask which plan and stack a listing is in, because two suites with the same square footage can be very different homes.

Bay and College, with a park behind you

The building backs onto roughly three acres of landscaped park space behind the College Park complex, which is rare at this density. A third-floor landscaped garden adds outdoor space inside the building too.

Out front is the Bay and College corner: hospital row on University Avenue a few minutes west, Toronto Metropolitan University and the Yonge Street shops to the east, the University of Toronto to the north-west and the Financial District a straight line south down Bay. For medical staff and students, it is hard to beat.

The trade-off is that Bay Street is a busy arterial and the block is surrounded by towers. Lower suites facing Bay hear the traffic, and some views have been narrowed by newer buildings nearby. Transit, schools and parks are in the data panel on this page.

What living in a 650-suite tower is really like

Six elevators for more than 650 suites is a reasonable ratio, but the morning rush and the first of the month still test it. Move-ins and move-outs need booked elevator time, and in a building that rents heavily to students, September is busy. Ask the property manager how many elevator modernizations have been done and when the next is planned.

Scale has real benefits. A large building spreads the cost of the concierge, the pool and the security staff across many owners, which is how a fee this inclusive stays workable. It also means there is almost always a suite for sale or for rent, so you can compare layouts and floors side by side before you choose.

The governance side matters just as much. With hundreds of owners, board elections, rule changes and big repair decisions move slowly. Read the last year of board minutes in the status certificate package to see what the board is working on and how owners are kept informed.

Pricing and fees at 763 Bay

The building average sits around $925 per square foot, above its sister South Tower at about $855 and level with Aura at about $905. The North Tower’s mix of larger, higher suites helps explain why it averages higher than the South Tower. Newer glass towers nearby, such as Burano at 832 Bay at about $914 and Lumière at 770 Bay at about $924, sit in the same band, so you are paying a mature-building price that is close to newer stock.

There is real choice right now: six suites for sale, asking from about $430,000 to about $1,000,000, with one-plus-dens asking between the mid-$600,000s and about $760,000.

Fees on active listings average about $1.11 per square foot, or roughly $340 to $1,200 a month depending on size. That is high on paper. But here the fee includes hydro, heat, air conditioning, water, building insurance and parking where the suite has a space, plus a pool and a large amenity package. Compare all-in monthly costs, not just the fee line, before you rule it out. A large tower with hydro in the fee also takes away one of the hardest costs to predict for a first-time owner.

For recent sold prices and rents, see the data panel or my building sold report.

Building specifications

Amenities at College Park North Tower

The amenity list is long, with an indoor pool, whirlpool, sauna, gym, yoga studio and theatre. One listing site also says North Tower residents have access to the 18,000 sq ft Parkview Club with a full lap pool; I could not confirm that arrangement from an official source, so ask management before you count on it.

Jatin’s honest take on College Park North Tower

College Park North Tower — 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.