CitySphere, 801 King St W: Tennis Courts and All-In Fees at King West

CitySphere was on King West before King West was a brand. It went up in the early 1990s at King and Niagara, when the strip was still mostly warehouses, and it still has things almost no new tower offers: a tennis court, a jogging track and a fee that pays your hydro. The trade-off is a 30-plus-year-old building, and you have to buy it with that in mind. I’m Jatin Dua, RE/MAX Quantum Realty.

One of the first condos on this stretch of King

When CitySphere was registered in 1991, King Street west of Bathurst was light industry and parking lots. One property manager that rents suites here calls it one of the first condo buildings on King West, and that history shows in the design: a broad, red-brick building with a lot of land around it, rather than a slim glass tower on a tight lot.

Sources do not fully agree on the basics. Condos.ca lists Lomax as the developer and a 1991 registration, while Dash Property Management says the complex was built by Canadian Equity and Development in 1992. Dash describes 312 apartments in the 12-storey tower plus 26 townhouses, which adds up to the 338 suites condos.ca lists. Condos.ca’s own overview text mentions 27 storeys, which does not match its own floor count or any other source I found, so I would treat 12 storeys as correct.

The townhouses matter. If you want a front door and stairs inside your own home, but still want concierge and amenities, ask specifically for the townhouse units. They come up less often than the tower suites.

The red brick has aged better than a lot of the glass built since. Brick does not show streaking the way older window-wall towers do, and the wide, lower form is what left room on the site for a tennis court. What brick does need is periodic masonry and caulking work, so look for it in the reserve fund plan.

A tennis court in a downtown condo

CitySphere is one of very few Toronto condo buildings with its own tennis court. Add a jogging track, a rooftop terrace, a gym and a sauna, and you have an amenity package built for people who actually use it, not just for the brochure.

That is also the cost side. Courts and tracks need resurfacing, rooftop terraces need membranes, and a building of this age is past the first round of major repairs. A large amenity package in an older building is only a good deal if the reserve fund has kept up with it, so it is the first thing I would check.

Security is staffed: condos.ca lists concierge, a security guard and a security system. For a building this size on a busy street, a staffed front desk does a lot for parcels, guests and day-to-day calm.

Layouts from compact one-beds to large suites

The suite range is wide, from about 441 sq ft up to almost 1,500 sq ft. Current listings are mostly one-bedrooms and one-plus-dens in the 500 to 700 sq ft range, which is the core of the resale and rental market here.

Older buildings like this tend to have more practical rooms than new towers: real walls on bedrooms, proper closets, and kitchens that are not just a wall of cabinets. They also tend to have lower ceilings and older windows. Walk the specific suite and check the age of the windows, the in-suite heating and cooling equipment, and whether the kitchen and bathrooms have been redone.

Condos.ca flags a pet restriction. I could not find the details, so read the declaration and rules in the status certificate before you buy if you have a dog or plan to get one.

Living at King and Niagara

This is the quieter, western end of King West. You are a short walk from the restaurants and bars around King and Bathurst, but the immediate block is calmer than the strip east of Spadina. Queen West and Trinity Bellwoods are a walk north, and Liberty Village is south-west.

The King streetcar is at your door. For exact transit times, schools and Walk Score, see the data panel on this page.

The area keeps changing. New mid-rise condos keep replacing low buildings along King and Wellington, so ask what is planned on the blocks around you, and check which way a suite faces before you assume a view will last.

What CitySphere costs, and why the fee looks high

Condos.ca puts the building average at about $864 per square foot, which is below most newer King West towers. Current asking prices for one-bedroom and one-plus-den suites in the 500 to 700 sq ft range sit at roughly $499,000 to $520,000.

Fees on current listings run about $730 to $805 a month, or around $1.24 per square foot. That is high against a new tower at $0.70, but the comparison is unfair. CitySphere’s fee covers heat, hydro, air conditioning, water and parking. In most new buildings, hydro and heating or cooling are billed separately, and parking can be an extra charge.

Add a realistic monthly hydro bill and a parking fee back onto the cheaper building, and the gap shrinks a lot. That said, an all-in fee rises when the building’s energy costs rise, so ask the manager how the fee has moved over the last few years. For a full read on recent sales, see my building sold report.

Building specifications

Amenities at CitySphere

A tennis court and jogging track are almost unheard of in downtown condos, and they are the reason some owners stay here for decades. They also cost money to maintain, so check how well they are funded in the reserve fund study.

Jatin’s honest take on CitySphere

CitySphere — frequently asked questions

Looking at Queen West, Trinity-Bellwoods, Kensington and Little Italy more broadly? Start with my Toronto community guide — the neighbourhoods, what each pocket is like, and how they compare.