YC Condos, 7 Grenville St: The Pool on the 66th Floor at Yonge and College

YC Condos is the building students’ parents and young professionals ask me about because of one photograph: the infinity pool at the very top of the tower, looking south over the whole city. The pool is real and every owner can use it. What I want buyers to look at just as carefully is the size of the suites below it and the number of them that are rented. I’m Jatin Dua, RE/MAX Quantum Realty.

A pool where the penthouse would normally be

Canderel made an unusual decision at YC: instead of selling the top of the tower as the most expensive penthouse, it put the amenities there. The top floor, numbered 66, holds a 60-foot indoor infinity pool in a space of about 4,400 sq ft, with views south, east and west over downtown and the lake. The floor below, numbered 64, is a lounge with a fireplace, billiards, a dining room and a catering kitchen.

The floor numbering is worth understanding. The building reached a roof height of 198 metres with 62 storeys, but some numbers were skipped on the way up, so the top amenity floors carry the numbers 64 and 66. Condos.ca lists 61 floors. None of this changes the building, but it explains why sources disagree.

A second amenity level sits on the seventh floor on top of the podium, with a gym, indoor and outdoor yoga space, two private dining rooms each with its own terrace and barbecue, a lounge and an outdoor terrace overlooking Yonge Street. Burdifilek designed the amenity interiors throughout. Between the two levels, the amenity space adds up to roughly 17,400 sq ft.

The suites below: small, efficient, often rented

Most suites at YC are compact one-bedroom, one-bedroom-plus-den and small two-bedroom plans, sized for students, single professionals and investors. The penthouse collection, on floors 59 to 63, was the exception: suites of roughly 1,000 to 1,500 sq ft with about 10-foot ceilings, gas fireplaces and wraparound balconies.

Being steps from the University of Toronto, Toronto Metropolitan University and the hospitals on University Avenue, the building has a strong rental market. There were 17 suites listed for lease against 7 for sale when I checked. That is good for an investor’s vacancy risk and less good if you want a quiet, owner-occupied building.

Look at the active listings closely and you will see three-bedroom plans listed in the 800 to 900 sq ft range. That is a very compact three-bedroom, usually with small secondary bedrooms. Walk the plan before you decide it works for your family or your tenants.

If you are buying as an investor, the tenant pool is deep and steady because of the universities and hospitals. If you are buying to live here, look for a stack where owners tend to stay, ask the concierge how often move-ins happen on your floor, and look at the upper floors, where the suites are larger.

The podium and the corner

The tower sits on a podium at Yonge and Grenville with retail at street level and commercial office space above it, under the seventh-floor amenity terrace. The exterior is window wall with medium-grey mullions, with bands of projecting balconies alternating between dark-tinted and fritted glass. It is a clean, unflashy tower; the drama is saved for the top.

Yonge and College is one of the busiest intersections in the city. College subway station, the old Maple Leaf Gardens building, the College Park shops and Church Street are all close by, and the Yonge Street retail strip runs right past your door. Noise and foot traffic are part of the package, especially for lower Yonge-facing suites, so upper floors and west- or north-facing suites are calmer.

Grenville Street itself is a short, narrow side street lined with other towers, including Karma at 15 and 21 Grenville. Expect a lot of new neighbours in the area, and ask how close any planned tower is to the side you are buying on. The transit and walkability data for this address is in the panel beside this review.

What YC Condos costs

Seven suites were for sale when I checked. One-bedroom-plus-den and two-bedroom suites were asking roughly $629,000 to $888,000, and three-bedroom suites roughly $799,000 to $1.2 million. The spread within each bedroom count is large because floor height and view matter a great deal in a 62-storey tower.

Fees on the active listings averaged about $0.95 per square foot. Heat and air conditioning are listed as included, which brings your own utility bill down, but that is still a meaningful monthly cost on a small suite, and the top-floor pool is an expensive amenity to run and eventually renew.

Height is the biggest single driver of price in this building. A suite in the 50s with an open southern view and the same plan as one in the teens will ask noticeably more, and it should. When you look at the active range, separate it by floor before you decide whether a listing is fairly priced.

Condos.ca does not publish a building average price per square foot for YC, so I would not compare it to neighbours on a single number. Compare plans of the same size and similar height instead. My building sold report shows what has actually traded here. Ask for at least three recent sales of the same plan type before you make an offer.

Building specifications

Amenities at YC Condos

The amenities are the reason to choose YC over the towers around it. Every owner shares the top-floor pool and lounge, and the seventh-floor level covers the everyday gym and entertaining needs. With 639 suites and many short-tenure renters, ask how bookings, guest rules and crowding at the pool are managed.

Jatin’s honest take on YC Condos

YC 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.