Regency Court, 5800 Sheppard Ave E: An 81-Suite Mid-Rise in Malvern

Regency Court is what I suggest to buyers who want a condo in Malvern but do not want to live in a big tower. It is an 81-suite, eight-storey building from 1990 on Sheppard Avenue East, small enough that you will know your neighbours, with suites from compact one-bedrooms to nearly 1,500 square feet. Small buildings have their own risks, and I will walk you through them. I’m Jatin Dua, RE/MAX Quantum Realty.

A mid-rise in a tower neighbourhood

Much of the condo stock in this part of Malvern is in towers. Regency Court is eight storeys and 81 suites, with two addresses, 5780 and 5800 Sheppard Avenue East, on one corporation. That scale changes the living experience: shorter elevator waits, fewer people in the lobby and a board that is drawn from a small, familiar group of owners.

It also changes the economics. With only 81 suites sharing the cost of the roof, the garage, the elevators and the mechanical systems, each owner carries a larger share of every major repair than they would in a 300-suite tower. That is the main thing to understand before you buy here.

Promary Properties built it in 1990. There is little public information about the developer today, so the building’s own records are the best guide to how it was built and how it has been maintained.

Small corporations also depend heavily on a few engaged owners. When a handful of people serve on the board year after year, decisions can be quick and practical, or they can drift. Reading two or three years of board minutes is the fastest way to see which kind of building this is.

Suites from 686 to nearly 1,500 square feet

Recorded suites range from about 686 to 1,494 square feet, so the building covers one-bedroom-plus-den plans through large two-bedroom-plus-den suites. In a building this small, that range means there are only a handful of each plan type, and a specific layout may come up for sale only once every year or two.

Plans with a den give you flexibility: in a building of this era, a den is often large enough to use as a second bedroom or a proper office, so measure it rather than trusting the label. As in any building from 1990, many suites have been renovated by their owners, and many have not. Price the kitchen, bathrooms and flooring in the suite you are looking at, not an average.

Parking is included in the fee. If storage matters to you, confirm on the status certificate whether a locker is assigned to the suite before you make an offer.

Fees that vary more than most

Current listings show fees from about $632 to $1,191 a month. The range is wide because suite sizes are wide, and fees are allocated by each suite’s share of the common elements, so a large suite here can carry nearly twice the fee of a small one.

The fee covers common elements, heat, water, air conditioning, building insurance and parking. Hydro is not on the inclusion list I have, so budget for it separately and confirm how suites are metered; some older buildings bulk-meter electricity even when it is not listed as included.

Spread across the building’s suite sizes, that works out to roughly 80 to 95 cents a square foot. That is on the high side for east Scarborough, and in a small corporation I would want to know whether it reflects catch-up contributions to the reserve fund.

Life at Sheppard and Markham Road

This corner has more history than it looks. In the 1800s, the centre of the original village of Malvern moved south to Sheppard Avenue and Markham Road, then known as Malcolm’s Corners. Today it is a busy suburban crossroads with plazas, groceries, restaurants and services within reach.

Highway 401 is close for drivers, and TTC buses run along Sheppard and Markham Road; the stop and station times are in the data panel on this page. Scarborough Town Centre is a short drive west.

The longer-term change is transit. The Scarborough Subway Extension is bringing Line 2 to Sheppard Avenue and McCowan Road, with a planned connection to a future Sheppard subway extension. That terminal is several kilometres west of here, so it will help, but it will not put this building on the subway map.

Regency Court pricing in context

The building average sits around $464 per square foot, which is modest by Toronto standards and typical of condos of this age in east Scarborough.

When I checked, three suites were for sale with asking prices from $399,900 to $479,000, and none were for rent. With so few listings at any time, asking prices can swing widely from month to month, so recent sold data matters more here than in a bigger building.

The value question in a small building is always total cost. Add the fee, hydro and a realistic allowance for any future special assessment to the mortgage, then compare that to a suite in a bigger tower nearby. The status certificate will tell you whether that allowance needs to be large.

For a direct comparison, Sheppard Place at 5580 Sheppard Avenue East is a short walk west. It is older, taller and has smaller suites with lower fees, so it suits a different buyer. Seeing both in the same afternoon is the quickest way to decide which trade-off you prefer.

Building specifications

Amenities at Regency Court

The amenity list is short: a gym, a sauna and security. There is no pool to fund, which keeps one of the most expensive shared facilities off the budget, but it also means the fee is not buying much in the way of extras.

Jatin’s honest take on Regency Court

Regency Court — frequently asked questions

Looking at Scarborough Bluffs, West Hill, Guildwood, Woburn, Malvern and Rouge more broadly? Start with my Toronto community guide — the neighbourhoods, what each pocket is like, and how they compare.