One Park Place North, 170 Sumach St: Regent Park’s First Daniels Tower

One Park Place North Tower at 170 Sumach Street is the building I point to when someone says they want downtown east value without buying a construction site. It was one of the first market condos in the Regent Park revitalization, it looks straight onto the new park and aquatic centre, and its fee covers more than most towers its age. The suites are small, though, and that matters more than the view. I’m Jatin Dua, RE/MAX Quantum Realty.

A Hariri Pontarini tower that was built to use less energy

Hariri Pontarini Architects designed One Park Place for Daniels as a two-tower project on a full city block: this 25-storey north tower and a 29-storey south tower that followed in 2015. The base is red brick with white precast piers, a deliberate nod to the brick character Regent Park had before the 1950s housing blocks replaced its street grid.

The towers themselves are not the usual floor-to-ceiling glass. UrbanToronto reported a skin of roughly 60% aluminum spandrel and 40% vision glass, and the architects say about half the wall is solid to cut heat transfer. The project targeted LEED Gold. In practice that means somewhat smaller windows than a 2014 glass tower, in exchange for heating and cooling loads that should be lower.

The detail you notice from the street is the top: white mullions run past the roof to hide the mechanical penthouse, giving the tower a clean cap instead of a box on the roof.

It also changed what people expected from Regent Park. Daniels started marketing early, before construction was far along, which UrbanToronto noted was unusual at the time. The bet was that buyers would come to a neighbourhood many had written off, and the resale record since 2014 is the evidence on whether it worked. The data panel on this page shows the last 12 months.

Small suites, so choose the layout carefully

Suites here run from about 347 to 998 square feet. That is a compact range. The smallest units are studio-sized, most of what trades is one-bedroom, one-plus-den and two-bedroom, and there is very little above 900 square feet.

With suites this size, layout matters more than finishes. I look for a usable den with a door or at least a wall, a kitchen that is not running along the only living-room wall, and a balcony that does not swallow the living space. Two suites with the same square footage can feel very different here.

Check which side of the building the suite faces. North-facing suites look over the park and pool; others look over the rest of the revitalization, where the view depends on what gets built next.

The solid-wall design also affects how a suite lives. Expect window bays separated by spandrel panels rather than one continuous sheet of glass, so furniture placement is easier and the suite is less of a greenhouse in July. Buyers who want full glass walls should look at newer towers; buyers who want lower cooling bills and more wall space may prefer this.

Amenities with a community angle

Daniels planned this building with more than a party room. UrbanToronto reported a half-court basketball gym on site and gardening plots on the podium roof, alongside the usual concierge and meeting and party rooms. Green roofs and landscaped terraces were part of the sustainability plan.

Ground-floor retail was meant to bring back street life on Dundas and Sumach that the old housing project had lost. Ask what is open at grade today, because retail tenants change and the mix affects daily life more than the brochure did.

The building has a pet restriction on record. Get the exact rules from the declaration and rules in the status certificate before you bring a large dog.

Living in the new Regent Park

The building sits on the south side of Dundas facing the six-acre Regent Park and its aquatic centre to the north. Daniels Spectrum, the arts and cultural centre, is part of the same revitalization, and a farmers market started nearby while the first towers were going up.

This is still a neighbourhood in transition. Regent Park was Canada’s oldest and largest social housing community, and its rebuild into a mixed-income area has run in phases for nearly two decades. That brings ongoing construction nearby, but it also means new parks, community facilities and retail keep arriving.

The south tower at 55 Regent Park Blvd shares the block, the architecture and much of the street life, but it is a separate corporation with its own budget and reserve fund. If you are comparing the two, compare the status certificates as well as the suites.

Transit, schools and walkability are in the data panel on this page, so I will not repeat them here.

What 170 Sumach costs, and what the fee covers

condos.ca puts the building average at about $796 per square foot. That is below the newer towers to the south, such as St. Lawrence Condos at 158 Front at about $894 and Axiom at 460 Adelaide at about $862. You give up some newness and amenity space, and you get a lower entry price and a park view.

Current fees on active listings work out to roughly $1.00 per square foot, which looks high until you read the inclusions: common elements, heat, air conditioning, building insurance, parking and water. Most towers finished in the last few years bill heat and cooling to your own meter. Confirm whether the suite you want actually comes with a parking space, since that inclusion only helps if you own one.

Investors should run the numbers with the fee as it is, not as it might be. Bundled heat and cooling mean a renter’s bills are low, which helps a listing, but the owner carries those costs through the fee. Ask how the fee has changed over the last few years before you assume today’s figure holds.

At the time of writing there were three suites for sale, a one-plus-den and two two-bedrooms, asking between $478,000 and $620,000, and one for rent. The data panel shows what has actually sold over the last 12 months.

Building specifications

Amenities at One Park Place North Tower

The amenity list is practical rather than flashy: concierge, meeting and party rooms, and, unusually, a half-court basketball gym and garden plots on the podium roof. With the park and aquatic centre across the street, you do not need a pool in the building.

Jatin’s honest take on One Park Place North Tower

One Park Place North Tower — frequently asked questions

Looking at Church–Wellesley, Corktown, Moss Park and Cabbagetown more broadly? Start with my Toronto community guide — the neighbourhoods, what each pocket is like, and how they compare.