South Beach Condos and Lofts, 88 Park Lawn Rd: The Amenity Club Building

South Beach Condos and Lofts is the building I bring up when a buyer tells me they want a gym membership, a spa and a squash court without leaving home. Amexon built the two 27-storey South Beach towers around a very large shared amenity club, and 88 Park Lawn is one of them. You pay for that club in your fees, so the question is whether you will use it. I’m Jatin Dua, RE/MAX Quantum Realty.

A club with a building attached

Most condos on this stretch of Park Lawn compete on views. South Beach competed on amenities. Amexon marketed a roughly 30,000 sq ft amenity complex called the Shore Club, and the list is longer than anything else I see in Humber Bay Shores: an indoor pool with glass walls that open to a terrace, an outdoor reflecting pool with cabanas, whirlpools, steam rooms and saunas.

The fitness side is just as unusual. The marketing listed a gym, spin room, yoga studio, a boxing and martial arts room, a squash court, a basketball half-court and massage rooms. A separate lounge area, called Ocean Drive, held a screening room, library, business centre, party room and wine tasting space.

That was the developer’s plan at launch, and plans change during construction. Before you buy, walk the amenity floors yourself and confirm which spaces are open, which are bookable and which have been repurposed. A squash court that has become storage is not a squash court.

Miami styling, two towers and a retail strip

Arsenault Architects designed the towers with II BY IV Design Associates, and the brief was obviously Miami Beach. The glass towers carry fins at the top and crowns lit in green and blue at night, and a low separate podium with Art Deco details was meant to hold restaurants and shops facing the street.

UrbanToronto’s coverage at the time called the project a step dressier than the average Toronto condo, which matches what I see in the lobby and finishes. Amexon also planned a retail promenade of about 16,000 sq ft at the entrance to the community, including a café, a restaurant and a spa.

The retail took time to fill. The site sits across Park Lawn from the former Mr. Christie cookie factory, and that is the bigger story for anyone buying here now. More on that below.

Loft, Sobe, Sky and Penthouse suites

The suites were sold in four collections: Loft, Sobe, Sky and Penthouse. Sizes start around 454 sq ft for a compact one-bedroom and run to roughly 1,951 sq ft at this address, with the marketing describing a two-level penthouse of about 2,170 sq ft in the community. Expect nine-foot ceilings and floor-to-ceiling glass as the standard.

The original finish package included engineered wood flooring, stainless European appliances, marble in the ensuites and walk-in closets in many plans. Thirteen or fourteen years on, a lot of units have been updated, and some have not. Price the kitchen and floors you are actually buying, not the brochure.

Views split the building. Lake and Humber Bay Park exposures carry a premium, and the inland sides look over Park Lawn and the Gardiner. I always tell buyers to see the unit at night as well as during the day, because the highway side is a different experience after dark.

The street outside is about to change

The 11-hectare former Christie site at 2150 Lake Shore Boulevard West, owned by First Capital and CPP Investments, has a master plan for about fifteen towers of 28 to 70 storeys, a new GO station, parkland and space set aside for schools and community facilities. It is planned in phases over many years.

For South Beach owners that cuts both ways. A transit hub and new parks next door should help this pocket, which has always been car-dependent for daily errands. In exchange you get years of construction traffic on Park Lawn and some lost views on the north-facing sides. If you are buying a suite that looks toward the Christie lands, assume that view is not permanent.

Day to day, the draw here is the water. Humber Bay Park and the Martin Goodman Trail are at the foot of the street, and the amenity club covers most of what you would otherwise drive to. Groceries and errands are where you will feel the car dependence most, at least until the new neighbourhood next door is built out.

What it costs to own here

Active listings at 88 Park Lawn currently show fees of about $0.95 per sq ft. That is on the high side for Humber Bay Shores, but the inclusions are better than many neighbours: heat, air conditioning and water are all in the fee. When you compare it with a building that bills heat and cooling to your own meter, the gap narrows. Parking does not appear in the condos.ca inclusion list, so confirm how it is billed for the unit you are looking at.

Five suites are listed for sale as I write this. Asks for the one-bedroom and one-plus-den listings run from about $469,000 to $530,000. The larger two-bedroom-plus-den and three-bedroom suites on the market sit above that, with the biggest plans in a different price bracket altogether. Recent sold figures and price per sq ft for the building are in the data panel on this page.

My read on that spread is that the one-bedrooms are where the real competition is. Humber Bay Shores has a deep supply of one-bedroom suites, many in newer towers, so a South Beach one-bedroom has to win on condition, exposure and the amenity club. The larger suites are scarcer on this strip, and that is where I see this building hold its value best. If you are choosing between two similar units here, pay up for the better view before you pay up for the better finishes; finishes can be changed and views cannot.

Building specifications

Amenities at South Beach Condos and Lofts

If you would otherwise pay for a gym, a pool and a spa day, the Shore Club is the strongest argument for this building, and it is shared across the two South Beach towers. If you never use amenities, you are subsidising them every month, and you would be better off in a leaner building nearby.

Jatin’s honest take on South Beach Condos and Lofts

South Beach Condos and Lofts — frequently asked questions

Looking at Humber Bay Shores, Mimico, the Queensway and central Etobicoke more broadly? Start with my Toronto community guide — the neighbourhoods, what each pocket is like, and how they compare.