One Park Lane II, 195 St Patrick St: Big Suites, All Utilities In

One Park Lane II is the building I show people who say they want a downtown condo but cannot face a 550-square-foot box. The smallest suites here start above 1,000 square feet, the fee covers almost every utility, and you share a pool, squash court and rooftop with two sister towers. The trade-off is a building from the early 1980s, and you have to buy it with that in mind. I’m Jatin Dua, RE/MAX Quantum Realty.

One complex, three addresses

One Park Lane is not one building. It is three towers on the block north-west of Simcoe and Dundas: the east tower at 280 Simcoe Street, the west tower here at 195 St Patrick Street, and the north tower at 211 St Patrick Street. Dash Property Management’s page for the complex describes three phases and about 350 suites in all, joined by a shared glass-enclosed lobby with seating areas, a fish pond and a lot of greenery.

Sources do not agree on the basic numbers, and you should know that before you read a listing. Condos.ca lists this tower at 10 storeys and 88 suites; Dash describes the complex as three 14-storey towers built in 1981. Condos.ca gives a registration date of January 1982. I treat the corporation documents as the final word, and so should you.

The developer is not listed on condos.ca. One local condo site credits the original One Park Lane to Camrost-Felcorp and says its success led to phases II and III. That fits the timeline, but I have not seen it confirmed in a primary source.

Suites sized like houses, not condos

The single best reason to buy here is space. Condos.ca puts suites at roughly 1,055 to 1,497 square feet, and the complex is known for two-bedroom layouts with full eat-in kitchens, separate living and dining areas and real storage. Most of what has been built downtown in the last 15 years cannot compete on floor area at any price.

Expect early-1980s planning. That usually means enclosed kitchens rather than open islands, more hallway, and windows that are smaller than in a modern glass tower. Some suites have been fully renovated and some have not, and the difference shows up in price. Walk a renovated suite and an original one before you decide what yours is worth.

Penthouse-level suites do come up in this tower, and they are the ones to ask about if you want more light. Confirm square footage from the floor plan registered with the corporation rather than a listing, because older-building measurements vary between sources.

A fee that covers nearly everything

Condos.ca lists the fee as including common elements, heat, hydro, air conditioning, building insurance, parking and water. Dash goes further and says all utilities plus basic cable are included across the complex. That is an unusually complete package. In most newer buildings, hydro, heat and parking would be extra bills on top of the fee.

The flip side is that the monthly number looks big. With suites over 1,000 square feet and almost everything bundled in, the cheque you write each month will be well above what a small new-build one-bedroom pays. Compare total monthly housing cost, not the fee line alone, and the gap narrows a great deal.

Bundled hydro has one more effect: you have no direct control over your share of it. Owners who run air conditioning hard and owners who barely use it pay the same proportion. Ask how the building’s energy costs have trended and whether the board has studied sub-metering.

Daily life at Dundas and University

This is a quiet side street a few steps from one of downtown’s busiest corners. The Art Gallery of Ontario and Grange Park are close by, Chinatown and Kensington Market are to the west, and the University Avenue hospital row and the Financial District are an easy walk. For subway, schools and Walk Score, see the data panel on this page.

The complex works well for people who walk to work at the hospitals, the University of Toronto or the core, and for downsizers who want a big suite near the theatres. It is less suited to anyone who needs a quick highway escape on weekends, because the drive west or north starts in heavy downtown traffic.

How to think about price here

There is not much active supply in this tower: condos.ca showed one suite for sale and none for rent when I checked, so I am not going to quote an asking price. With that little activity, the honest benchmark is the sister tower at 211 St Patrick, where condos.ca puts the average around $572 per square foot. That is low for a downtown address, and it reflects the age of the complex and the high bundled fee.

Price per square foot alone will mislead you here. A suite over 1,000 square feet at a modest per-square-foot price is still a large dollar amount, and buyers in that range are often comparing against a house. When you weigh this against a newer, smaller condo, add back the hydro, heat and parking you would pay separately elsewhere, then compare total monthly cost.

For the actual recent sale and lease record in the complex, look at the data panel on this page or ask me for a building sold report. In a tower this small, a single renovated sale can move the averages, so I would look at several quarters before setting an offer.

Building specifications

Amenities at One Park Lane II

The amenities are shared across the three towers and are the kind a 1980s complex was built around: an indoor pool with a whirlpool, separate change rooms with steam and sauna, a squash court and a rooftop solarium. For a building of 88 suites, that is far more than you would otherwise get, because the cost is spread across roughly 350 households.

Jatin’s honest take on One Park Lane II

One Park Lane II — 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.