One Park Place South, 55 Regent Park Blvd: Squash Courts and Heat Included

One Park Place South Tower is the building I suggest to buyers who want downtown space and a serious amenity package without a downtown premium. It is a 2015 Daniels tower in the rebuilt Regent Park, designed by Hariri Pontarini, with a shared club that includes squash courts and a half-court gym. Fees cover heat and water, and prices per square foot sit well below the core. I’m Jatin Dua, RE/MAX Quantum Realty.

Part of the Regent Park rebuild

One Park Place is two towers on a full city block: this 29-storey South Tower at 55 Regent Park Boulevard and a 25-storey North Tower at 170 Sumach Street. When it was marketed, Daniels described the South Tower as the tallest building in Regent Park. Both are part of the multi-phase revitalization of Regent Park into a mixed-income neighbourhood with a restored street grid.

Hariri Pontarini Architects designed the complex. The red-brick podium is meant to echo the older building fabric of the east end, and the towers above use spandrel glass with deep mullions. White mullions run past the roofline to hide the mechanical penthouse and give the towers a distinctive cap, and slender white fins tie the podium to the towers.

The architects say about half of the building surfaces are solid rather than glass, which helps with heat loss and gain. The project targeted LEED Gold and included green roofs, bike storage and parking wired for electric vehicles. Ask whether certification was achieved if it matters to you.

The amenity club is the reason to look

Daniels marketed more than 45,000 square feet of indoor and outdoor amenity space under the name Club Uno. That includes a half-court gymnasium, two squash courts, weight and cardio rooms, a yoga and Pilates studio, a party room, a billiards room, a screening room, a dining lounge and lounges, plus a gardening terrace on the fifth floor and a rooftop terrace with barbecues.

That is an unusually complete package. Squash courts and an indoor court are rare in a condo at this price point anywhere in the city, and they are the kind of amenity that genuinely replaces a gym membership. Confirm in the declaration which spaces belong to this corporation and which are shared with the North Tower, and how the shared costs are split.

The fifth-floor gardening terrace deserves a mention: residents can grow their own plants on a podium-level roof, which is a small thing that makes a tower feel more like a neighbourhood.

Suites, from studios to townhomes

Suites run from about 373 to 1,547 square feet, from studios to three-bedrooms. At launch, Daniels specified laminate flooring and kitchens and bathrooms designed by Cecconi Simone. The project also included 17 townhomes along St. David and Sumach Streets; check whether a townhome you are considering sits within this corporation or another.

Current listings show the range: compact studios, a cluster of one-bedroom-plus-dens and two-bedrooms in the 600 to 899 square foot range, and the occasional three-bedroom. Views are a big part of value here, with upper floors looking west to the downtown skyline and south toward the lake.

Daniels’ rental arm also advertises suites for lease in the building, so a share of units is likely held as rentals. Owner-occupiers should expect a steady flow of tenants and check the owner and renter mix in the panel on this page.

Daniels sold this building with a gradual deposit plan, $3,500 on signing and $1,000 a month until 5 percent was paid, with launch prices from $199,900. That made it one of the more accessible new condos downtown at the time, and many original owners were first-time buyers. That history helps explain why there is a good spread of suite sizes and a broad mix of owners today.

Daily life in Regent Park

The neighbourhood around the building is being rebuilt in phases. Daniels points to Daniels Spectrum, a community arts and cultural centre, the Regent Park Aquatic Centre and a six-acre central park as the anchors nearby, along with new shops and restaurants that have come with the revitalization.

The revitalization is still underway, with further phases planned, so expect construction somewhere nearby for years. Regent Park also remains a mixed-income community by design, with condos, market rentals and social housing side by side. For many buyers, that mix is exactly the appeal. The data panel on this page covers transit, schools, parks and Walk Score.

A discount per square foot, with heat in the fee

The building averages about $822 per square foot, a clear discount to the downtown core and to the newer towers around St. Lawrence and the King East corridor. You are trading proximity to the core for more space, more amenity and a neighbourhood that is still maturing.

Fees across current listings average about $0.97 per square foot. That looks middle of the road, but it includes heat, air conditioning and water, plus a very large amenity program. Once you add a separate heating and water bill back onto a building that excludes them, this fee compares well.

At the time of writing, studios were asking from about $309,000 to $320,000, one-bedroom-plus-dens from about $539,000 to $585,000, and two-bedroom and two-plus-den suites from about $619,000 to $709,000. Monthly fees on those listings ranged from roughly $326 to $826. My building sold report shows what has actually closed.

Building specifications

Amenities at One Park Place South Tower

This is a sports-club amenity package rather than a lounge-and-gym one. If you play squash or basketball, it is worth real money each month; if you will only use the gym, you are still paying to run the courts.

Jatin’s honest take on One Park Place South Tower

One Park Place South 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.