The Kingsway Regent, 30 Anglesey Blvd: 26 House-Sized Suites

The Kingsway Regent is not a condo for first-time buyers. It is 26 suites, most of them the size of a house, on a residential street lined with large detached homes, and it exists for people who want to leave their house but not the neighbourhood. If that is you, it is one of a very small number of options. I’m Jatin Dua, RE/MAX Quantum Realty.

Built for the downsizer who will not leave the Kingsway

Most condo buildings are designed around the one-bedroom buyer. The Kingsway Regent went the other way. Condos.ca records suites from about 1,478 to 3,332 square feet, so even the smallest suite is bigger than most two-bedroom condos in the city, and the largest is bigger than many detached houses.

That size is the reason the building exists. Anglesey Boulevard is a street of large detached homes in Edenbridge-Humber Valley, and for owners who have raised a family nearby, the choices for staying in the area without a staircase or a lawn are limited. A 26-suite building lets them keep the same streets, the same shops and the same neighbours.

The name on the corporation records, The Kingsway Regent, is listed as both developer and builder. That usually means a single-project company, and I could not find a published record of the firm behind it or an architect, so treat the building’s own maintenance history as the real reputation.

What the suites are like

Past listing descriptions for the building have mentioned nine-foot ceilings, crown moulding, hardwood floors, gas fireplaces, ensuite laundry and Juliet balconies. Those are typical late-1990s luxury finishes, and in many suites they will now be original or partly updated. Expect to budget for a kitchen or bathroom refresh unless the seller has already done it.

Penthouse suites are numbered on the fourth level, which fits the earlier description of a four-storey building better than the five floors condos.ca lists. The difference may be a ground or mechanical level counted one way and not the other. I could not settle it from published sources, so if the floor matters to you, ask on the viewing.

Large suites in a low building usually mean several exposures, and that is part of the appeal here. Ask which directions the suite faces, how much of the outlook is trees and houses rather than other buildings, and how many bedrooms have windows on more than one side. Those details matter more to resale in this building than an extra few square feet.

Parking is part of the fee, and at least some suites have come with two spaces and a locker. Do not assume the suite you are looking at has two. Check the status certificate for exactly what parking and storage is owned with the unit.

A small corporation, with the trade-offs that come with it

With 26 owners, the Kingsway Regent works more like a club than a typical condo. Owners can know each other by name, and resales come up only occasionally. Condos.ca lists a security guard and a security system, which matters to owners who travel for long periods.

The other side of a small building is cost-sharing. Every repair to the roof, the garage, the elevator or the windows is split among only 26 suites. A healthy reserve fund covers that, but a thin one means larger fee increases or a special assessment when something major comes due. I am not saying either has happened here; I am saying it is the first thing to check.

Orion Management is listed as the property manager. In a building this size, the manager and a handful of board members carry most of the work, so ask how long the current board has served and how decisions get made.

The neighbourhood is starting to change

The building’s setting has been one of the quietest residential pockets in Etobicoke, with golf courses, parks and the Humbertown shopping centre nearby. That is starting to shift. Humbertown is being redeveloped in phases into a mixed-use community, and the first phase, Edenbridge on the Kingsway by Tridel and First Capital, is a nine-storey building designed by Kirkor Architects.

For owners here, more nearby condo buildings are a mixed story. They bring more shops and services within reach, and over time they may also bring more choice for downsizers, which means more competition when you sell. A 26-suite boutique building with house-sized suites is still a different product from a nine-storey building with 183 suites.

The data panel on this page covers transit, schools and parks nearby.

Price per square foot looks low, for a reason

Condos.ca puts the building average at about $489 per square foot. That is low for Etobicoke, but it is what large suites in older buildings usually trade at. Price per square foot falls as suites get bigger, and buyers at this size are comparing the suite with the price of a house nearby, not with a downtown one-bedroom.

At that average, a 2,000-square-foot suite would work out to roughly $980,000. The real number for any one suite depends heavily on its finishes, its floor and how much renovation it needs. Treat the average as a starting point only.

Because so few suites trade, there may be only a handful of recent sales to compare against, and some may be years old. In that situation I also look at what nearby detached houses and the newer condos around Humbertown are fetching, so that a price is tested against the buyer’s real alternatives.

Only one suite was listed for sale when I wrote this, and resales here are rare. Monthly fees run high in dollars because the suites are large, and they include parking and water but not heat or hydro on the published list. For recorded sale figures, see the data panel on this page or ask me for a building sold report.

Building specifications

Amenities at The Kingsway Regent

There is no amenity floor to speak of, and buyers here do not want one. What you get is an elevator, a sauna, security staff and a garage, and the money a larger building would spend on a gym and a party room stays out of the budget.

Jatin’s honest take on The Kingsway Regent

The Kingsway Regent — 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.