Riverside Square, 665 Queen St E: A New Street on Toronto’s First Ballpark

Riverside Square is what I point to when someone asks me how much Queen East has changed. A few years ago this block was a car dealership, a parking lot and two tired warehouses; now it is a new street of condo towers with a park on Queen and a rooftop pool on top. It is the biggest and newest option in Riverside, and it comes with the trade-offs every large new building has. I’m Jatin Dua, RE/MAX Quantum Realty.

A master-planned block, not a single tower

Most buildings on this stretch are one mid-rise on one lot. Riverside Square is different: Streetcar Developments and Dream assembled about 4.5 acres between the Don Valley Parkway and Broadview, south of Queen, and planned it as five buildings in two phases. UrbanToronto reported that the site held a Toyota dealership with a large surface lot and two aging warehouses before demolition began in 2016.

The project cut a new street through the middle, Baseball Place, named for the fact that Toronto’s first baseball grounds stood here. A revised plan in 2015 moved the main public space north so a new park sits right on Queen Street, in front of the first tower, with cafes and restaurants planned along Baseball Place. That park is the reason the building feels connected to the street rather than walled off from it.

One thing to understand before you shop: condos.ca groups several addresses under one listing page, showing 913 suites and 14 floors. The phase one tower is 14 storeys, but the second phase includes a taller tower, reported at about 20 storeys. The corporation number on condos.ca is TSCC-2823; with a project this size, confirm which corporation and which building your suite belongs to, because the status certificate, reserve fund and fees are tied to that corporation.

RAW Design’s tilted tower and the brick base

RAW Design gave the phase one tower a tilted massing and a pitched roofline, so it reads as a series of shifting volumes instead of a plain slab. The lower floors sit on a brick base that picks up the warehouse and storefront brick of Queen East, and the upper floors step back and turn to glass, white metal panel and spandrel. The plan also kept the brick east wall of the century-old building next door visible, which is a nice gesture to the street.

Giannone Petricone Associates joined RAW for the later phases, and the taller second-phase tower uses a variation of the first tower’s design, so the block reads as a family. Seven Haus Design did the amenity interiors.

Inside, the launch materials promised 9-foot ceilings, exposed concrete and engineered hardwood. Suites run from about 395 to 1,550 sq ft on condos.ca, which tells you this is mostly a building of compact one-bedrooms and two-bedrooms, with a smaller number of larger plans. At the bottom of that range, check the floor plan carefully; a 400 sq ft one-bedroom lives very differently from a 550 sq ft one.

Living next to the Don Valley Parkway

Here is the honest part. The site backs onto the DVP, and the west-facing suites look over the parkway and the Don Valley toward the downtown skyline. That view is the best thing about the west side, and the traffic noise is the cost. Visit at rush hour and stand on the balcony before you decide.

UrbanToronto also reported that the old steel-framed warehouse to the west was being converted into a base for several car dealerships facing Eastern Avenue and the parkway. So the immediate neighbours are still partly commercial. South-facing and lower suites deserve a look at what they actually face.

The bigger change is transit. Metrolinx is building the Ontario Line through this part of the east end, including Leslieville Station at Queen and De Grassi just east of here. Expect construction disruption on Queen East while it is built, and better rapid transit when it opens. The automatic panel on this page shows the transit you can use today.

For daily errands, the original plan put a grocery store on site and food and drink along Baseball Place. Retail in a new block fills in over years, not months, so walk the street and see what is actually open now rather than relying on old renderings.

What Riverside Square costs to own

Condos.ca puts the average around $916 per sq ft, which is in line with newer buildings on Queen East and below what brand-new assignment and developer inventory has been asking. Because there are many suites, there is real choice: 12 were listed for sale and 14 for rent at the time of writing.

Across the current listings, one-bedrooms and one-plus-dens were asking from about $400,000 to $538,000, and two-bedrooms from about $559,000 to $749,000. Most of the two-bedroom listings sit in the 600 to 799 sq ft range, so expect compact two-bed plans rather than family-sized ones.

Fees on active listings averaged about $0.98 per sq ft, roughly $390 to $730 a month depending on size. That is not low for a 2020 building, but the inclusions matter: heat, air conditioning and water are all in, alongside common elements and building insurance. Hydro is usually separate, and parking is not listed as included, so ask whether a space and locker come with the suite and what they cost. For what has actually sold here, use my building sold report.

Building specifications

Amenities at Riverside Square

The planned package was generous: a rooftop lounge opening onto a terrace with a pool and cabanas looking at the skyline, a gym, party room, guest suites and round-the-clock concierge. That is a lot to run, and in a building this size it is shared by many residents, so ask how busy the rooftop gets in summer and whether the pool and guest suites are open and bookable.

Jatin’s honest take on Riverside Square

Riverside Square — frequently asked questions

Looking at Leslieville, Riverdale, the Beaches, Danforth and Leaside more broadly? Start with my Toronto community guide — the neighbourhoods, what each pocket is like, and how they compare.