Lawrence Square, 1455 Lawrence Ave W: Tennis, a Pool and All-In Fees

Lawrence Square is a building people tend to find by accident, usually because they confuse it with the shopping centre that carried the same name further east. It is a 1993 tower near Keele and Lawrence with an outdoor pool, a tennis court and roomy two-bedroom suites, and it is one of the more affordable ways to get a real two-bedroom in this part of the city. I’m Jatin Dua, RE/MAX Quantum Realty.

Not the mall: where this building actually is

The Lawrence Square name causes confusion. The building at 1455 Lawrence Avenue West has nothing to do with the former Lawrence Square shopping centre at Lawrence and Allen Road, which RioCan rebranded as the Lawrence Allen Centre in 2019. This tower is well to the west, near Keele Street, at the northern edge of Amesbury.

Amesbury is a mostly residential pocket of the old North York bounded by Lawrence Avenue to the north and Keele Street to the east, with the Black Creek valley and its parks running through it. The Amesbury Community Centre and the Amesbury library branch are both on Lawrence.

Daily life here is practical rather than polished. You get a quieter residential setting than you would on Eglinton or Weston Road, and you rely on the bus network or a car for most errands. The automatic panel on this page shows the nearest transit and the actual walking distances.

Two-bedroom suites, and a lot of them

Suites at Lawrence Square are reported from about 678 to 1,096 square feet. There are no tiny studios here, and the smallest units are larger than many new one-bedrooms. That size range points to a building planned around one-bedroom-plus-den, two-bedroom and larger two-bedroom-plus-den layouts.

Resale supply reflects that. At the time of writing, every suite listed for sale was a two-bedroom in the 800 to 899 square foot range, which suggests a common floor plan stacked through the tower. That is useful for buyers, because it means real comparables exist and you can judge one unit against several others on floor, view and condition.

The flip side is that so many similar units listed at once creates competition among sellers. If you are buying, that gives you choice and negotiating room. If you are selling, condition and presentation matter more than usual.

Older two-bedroom plans like these usually have the bedrooms on opposite sides of the living area or at least separated by a hallway, which is what roommates and families with older children want. Ask for the floor plan of the exact unit, because balcony size, exposure and whether there is a second full bathroom vary from stack to stack.

The fee and what it covers

The fee here includes cable TV, common elements, heat, hydro, building insurance, parking and water. Hydro in the fee is the detail to notice. In most newer buildings it is a separate bill, so the comparison between an older all-in fee and a newer base fee is rarely apples to apples.

Across current listings, fees average about $1.06 per square foot. The two-bedroom suites on the market all carried the same fee, just over $900 a month, which tells you the fee is set by unit share rather than by negotiation, and that a common plan really does repeat through the building.

Air conditioning is not on the published inclusion list, so ask how suites are cooled and who pays for it. Bulk utilities also mean energy price increases flow into the fee for everyone, so request the last five years of budgets and fee changes.

Pool and tennis in a 1993 tower

An outdoor pool and a tennis court are unusual in a 155-suite building, and they are a big part of what Lawrence Square offers in summer. Add a sauna, a party room, bike storage, visitor parking and permitted barbecues, and the package is better than its price suggests.

At 33 years old, those features also carry maintenance costs. Outdoor pools need resurfacing and new equipment, tennis courts need resurfacing, and the building’s original mechanical systems, windows and garage membrane are all approaching replacement age. The reserve fund study will tell you when each is expected and whether the money is there.

A 155-suite corporation sits in the middle when it comes to sharing those costs. It is large enough that a pool resurfacing is not ruinous per owner, but small enough that several big projects landing close together can push fees up quickly. Board minutes from the last two years will show you how the corporation has been pacing that work and whether owners have been told about anything coming.

Pricing: a large two-bedroom for a modest price

The building average sits around $471 per square foot, which is among the lower figures I see for high-rise condos in northwest Toronto. Larger suites, the building’s age and an all-in fee all pull the per-square-foot figure down.

At the time of writing, five suites were listed for sale, asking from $350,000 to $459,999, with fees of just over $900 a month and an average of about $1.06 per square foot including hydro and heat.

A spread that wide across similar-sized units usually reflects condition, floor and view more than anything else. A renovated suite on a high floor and an original one lower down can be a long way apart. When I price a unit here, I start with the most comparable recent sales of the same plan, then adjust. My building sold report sets out those comparables.

Building specifications

Amenities at Lawrence Square

An outdoor pool and a tennis court give Lawrence Square a summer-focused amenity package that very few buildings this size still offer. In winter you are mostly left with the sauna and party room, so do not buy here expecting a full indoor gym circuit unless you confirm one exists.

Jatin’s honest take on Lawrence Square

Lawrence Square — frequently asked questions

Looking at Downsview, Weston, York University Heights, Rexdale and northwest Toronto more broadly? Start with my Toronto community guide — the neighbourhoods, what each pocket is like, and how they compare.