Pace Condos, 159 Dundas St E: Great Gulf’s Pool Tower at Dundas and Jarvis

Pace Condos is where I send buyers who want a newer downtown tower with a pool and a price per foot that still leaves room in the budget. Great Gulf built it at the southwest corner of Dundas and Jarvis, the project that started the remake of that intersection. The trade-off is the corner itself, and you should walk it at night before you decide. I’m Jatin Dua, RE/MAX Quantum Realty.

The building that started the corner’s remake

When Great Gulf fenced off this site in 2011, the southwest corner of Dundas and Jarvis was a low, tired corner on the east side of downtown. Pace was the first of the new towers here, and within a few years three of the four corners had been rebuilt, with the fourth reserved for Ryerson University’s Faculty of Science, now Toronto Metropolitan University.

Christopher Hume, the long-time Toronto Star architecture critic, reviewed the building for Storeys in 2019 and gave it a B. His point was that the six-storey base does the hard work: clad in glass and dark masonry, broken up by rows of recessed balconies, it fits the street so well it looks as if it has always been there.

The detail most people remember is the orange underside on some of the balconies and on the entrance canopy. It is a small move, but it gives a glass tower some warmth and makes the building easy to pick out from Jarvis Street.

Sources disagree on the height

Condos.ca lists 35 floors and 272 suites and a 2016 build year. UrbanToronto’s project thread and Hume both describe a 42-storey tower of about 146 metres, and Hume gives 2014 as the completion year. The corporation was registered in April 2016.

Differences like this usually come from how floors are counted, mechanical levels, or phased occupancy versus registration. The suite count is the number that matters most to you, because it decides how many owners share the costs. I would confirm it from the corporation’s registered documents rather than trust any single listing site, including the data on this page.

The same caution applies to the build year. A tower can welcome its first residents a year or more before the corporation is registered, which is often why one source says 2014 and another says 2016. For you as a buyer, the useful date is registration, because that is when the owners’ corporation took over from the builder and the warranty on the common elements began.

Suites built for one or two people

Condos.ca puts the suite range at about 502 to 900 sq ft. That is one-bedrooms, one-plus-dens and compact two-bedrooms, with nothing large. It is a building for singles, couples and investors, not for a family that needs a third bedroom.

The recessed balconies Hume liked on the base are a practical plus as well as an architectural one. A recessed balcony is more sheltered from wind and neighbours than one that projects out from the face of the tower, which makes it more usable in spring and fall.

Because the suites are compact, the layout matters more than the square footage. In a 550 sq ft one-bedroom, a long narrow plan with the kitchen along the entry wall lives very differently from a squarer plan with the bedroom set beside the living room. Bring the floor plan to the showing and picture where your furniture actually goes.

Views depend on direction. North-facing suites look over Dundas toward the campus and the towers around Yonge; south and west suites look toward the core. The lower floors face close neighbours, so check what is across from the suite.

Living at Dundas and Jarvis

You are a short walk east of Yonge-Dundas Square and the Eaton Centre, with Toronto Metropolitan University to the north-west and St. Michael’s Hospital to the south-west. The automatic panel on this page covers transit and walkability.

This part of Downtown Yonge East is still changing, and the street life is mixed. Some buyers love the energy and the price; others decide it is not for them. Walk the block in the evening and on a weekend before you buy, and look at how the lobby and entrances are managed.

The direction of travel is clear, though. The new towers on the other corners and the university’s growth east of Yonge have brought more residents, students and shops to the intersection over the past decade.

For a student or faculty member, that university growth is the main reason to buy here. For an investor, it is the main source of tenants. Either way, the demand that drives this building is tied to the campus and the hospitals, which tends to be steadier than demand tied to any single employer or office district.

What Pace costs

Condos.ca puts the building average at about $789 per square foot. That is well below the newer towers around Yonge and College and most of the Financial District, and it reflects the location east of Yonge as much as the building itself.

Supply was thin when I checked: two suites were listed for sale and four for lease, so there is no asking range worth quoting. With 272 suites, it is normal to wait a while for the right plan in this building.

Condos.ca lists heat and air conditioning in the fee, which helps compare Pace with towers where you pay for your own heating and cooling. Parking is not listed as included, so confirm whether a suite has a space and what it costs. For real comparables on a specific plan, I can run my building sold report.

Building specifications

Amenities at Pace Condos

An outdoor pool and rooftop deck are the headline here, which is unusual at this price per foot. A pool is a real summer amenity in a building of small suites, but it is also one of the costliest things a corporation maintains, so check what the reserve fund study sets aside for it.

Jatin’s honest take on Pace Condos

Pace Condos — 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.