Harbour Square, 33 Harbour Square: The 1976 Original on the Water

33 Harbour Square is the building I bring up when a buyer wants to live on the lake for the lowest price per square foot on this strip. Campeau finished it in 1976, before almost anything else stood on the central waterfront, and nearly fifty years later it still has the ferry docks next door and suites that start where many new one-bedrooms top out. Its age is both the discount and the homework. I’m Jatin Dua, RE/MAX Quantum Realty.

The first tower of the Harbour Square project

In the 1960s and 1970s, the City, the Toronto Harbour Commission and Campeau Corporation agreed on one of the first big plans to turn the industrial harbour into a place to live. The project filled the old Bay Street shipping slip, moved the island ferry terminal to the east and produced the hotel now called the Westin Harbour Castle, Harbour Square Park and the Harbour Square condominiums.

33 Harbour Square is the earliest of the condominium towers, registered in 1976. Harbourside at 55 and 65 Harbour Square followed in 1980, and One York Quay came along in the early 1990s. The project drew criticism at the time for its scale and for how it shut off the water’s edge, but the residents who live here today mostly see the reverse: their building sits right on it.

Sources differ on the tower’s height. Condos.ca lists 45 storeys, while CondoInvestments gives about 106 metres, which would be unusually short for that many floors. If the exact floor count matters for a particular suite, confirm it from the plan.

No tiny suites, and that changes who buys here

The smallest suites here start at about 546 square feet and the largest reach around 2,146 square feet. There are no 350-square-foot investor studios, so the building tends to attract owner-occupiers, downsizers and people who plan to stay.

The listings I reviewed included a studio in the 500 to 599 square foot band, one-bedrooms, two-bedrooms and a two-plus-one. A 1970s one-bedroom often gives you a separate dining area, deep closets and a proper hallway, the things new towers trimmed away to hit a price.

Condition varies widely. Some suites have been fully renovated, others are close to original, and the price gap between them can be several hundred thousand dollars. Budget the renovation before you bid, and ask management what approvals the corporation requires for plumbing, electrical and flooring work.

If you are moving from a house, bring your furniture measurements to the showing. The larger plans here can take a full dining table, a proper sofa and a home office, which is rarely true of new downtown suites, and that alone can save you the cost and stress of replacing everything you own.

One fee, nearly every bill

The fee covers common elements, heat, air conditioning, hydro, cable TV, water, building insurance and parking. That is a much longer list than at any building finished in the last twenty years, where hydro is metered per suite and parking is extra.

Active listings showed fees from roughly $590 a month for a studio to about $1,545 for two-bedroom suites. Set those against the fee plus hydro, internet and parking at a newer building, and the gap narrows sharply. Cable TV is included, but that is less valuable than it once was; check what internet options the building has.

Bundled utilities also mean you share the building’s energy bill. Ask for the last five years of budgets and fee increases, and whether the board has plans for energy upgrades such as window replacement, which can lower costs over time but are expensive to carry out.

Daily life next to the ferry docks

Your front door opens onto Harbour Square Park and the waterfront promenade, with the Jack Layton Ferry Terminal beside the building. The Toronto Islands are a short ferry ride away in summer, and Queens Quay’s path runs east and west along the water. The financial district sits just north, past the Gardiner and the rail corridor.

From May to September, the ferry lines and festival crowds are part of the scenery, and weekends are busy. Winter is quiet and windy. Lower north-facing suites look toward the expressway, so favour lake-facing and higher suites if noise matters to you. Transit, schools and Walk Score are in the automatic panel on this page.

What 33 Harbour Square costs

Condos.ca puts the building average at about $728 per square foot, below Harbourside at about $825 and well below newer towers along Queens Quay. That discount is the building’s age showing in the price, and for a buyer willing to update a suite, it is the opportunity.

When I wrote this there were seven suites for sale and six for rent. Asking prices ran from about $400,000, through one-bedrooms around $660,000 to $850,000, to two-bedroom suites from about $800,000 to $1.38 million. That spread mostly reflects view and condition rather than size alone. Two suites of the same size and floor can be priced far apart because one has been rebuilt and the other has not, so compare like with like.

Price per square foot is only half the comparison. With hydro and parking in the fee, the right measure is total monthly cost against any newer building you are weighing. Ask me for the building sold report before you settle on an offer.

Building specifications

Amenities at Harbour Square

Pool, sauna, squash and a gym give you a full fitness routine without a club membership, which is rare in a building where the fees already include utilities. Concierge and security staff earn their keep at an address beside one of the busiest public spots in the city.

Jatin’s honest take on Harbour Square

Harbour Square — 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.