The Elegance, 65 Skymark Dr: Big 1982 Suites, Utilities in the Fee

The Elegance at 65 Skymark Drive is the building I show people who are leaving a house and refuse to downsize into a box. The smallest suites here start around 1,443 square feet, and the monthly fee covers almost every utility you would otherwise pay yourself. The trade-off is age: this is a 1982 tower, and you are buying its maintenance history as much as its floor plan. I’m Jatin Dua, RE/MAX Quantum Realty.

A house-sized floor plan in a tower

The defining number at The Elegance is the minimum suite size. Listing data puts the range at about 1,443 to 2,602 square feet, which means there is no such thing as a small unit here. Most new towers in the city top out where this building begins.

That size reflects when it was built. In my experience, towers of this era in North York were aimed squarely at owners leaving detached homes, and the plans tend to keep a defined dining area, a separate living room and real closet space. If you are moving a dining table for eight and a lifetime of furniture, this is one of the few condo formats that will take it.

The Skymark name on this stretch of Don Mills goes back to Tridel’s first Skymark tower at Finch and Don Mills, completed in 1977 with suites of roughly 1,000 to 2,200 square feet, according to a Canadian Condominium Institute profile. I could not confirm who developed 65 Skymark itself, so treat any developer claim you see in a listing as something to verify.

The fee looks high until you read what it covers

The Elegance includes common elements, heat, hydro, air conditioning, cable TV, building insurance, parking and water in the monthly fee. That is close to the complete list. In most buildings, hydro alone on a 1,500 square foot suite is a real monthly bill, and parking is often extra.

So when you compare this fee to a newer building, do the honest version of the maths. Add back the hydro, the heating and cooling, the cable and the parking that you would pay separately elsewhere, then compare. Bundled utilities also make your monthly costs predictable, which matters to buyers on a fixed income.

The other side of an all-inclusive fee is that you share the building’s energy bill with every neighbour. If the corporation has not modernised its heating and cooling equipment, everyone pays for that inefficiency. That is a question for the reserve fund study, not the listing.

What a 1982 building asks of you

A tower this age has already been through at least one cycle of major replacements, or it is in the middle of them. The CCI profile of the original Skymark tower nearby lists the kind of work these buildings face around the 40-year mark: elevator refurbishment, garage waterproofing, replacing in-suite fan coils, a new emergency generator and an exterior coating with new window caulking.

I am not saying The Elegance has or has not done any of that. I am saying those are the line items you look for in the status certificate and reserve fund study. A building that has already paid for its big projects can be a better buy than one that has deferred them, even if the fee looks the same today.

Del Property Management is listed as the manager here, as it is at the Classic and the Excellence next door. That gives you an easy way to compare how three neighbouring corporations under the same manager have handled their capital plans.

Daily life on Skymark Drive

Skymark Drive is a quiet internal street lined with large towers set back on landscaped grounds, just east of Don Mills Road. It feels more like a planned community than a city street, which suits people who want calm rather than nightlife.

Practically, this is a car-friendly location. Highways 404 and 401 are a short drive, and the area’s shopping is spread out rather than on your doorstep. Transit, schools and nearby stores are covered in the data panel on this page; check them against your own routine before you fall for the floor plan.

The neighbours matter here too. Skymark Drive holds several large towers of different ages, so the street has a settled, long-term population rather than a churn of investors. That shows up in how rarely suites come to market, and it is part of why buyers who get in tend to stay.

Pricing: lots of space per dollar

The building average sits at roughly $449 per square foot, one of the lowest figures I see for a well-located Toronto tower. That number reflects two things at once: very large suites, which always price lower per foot, and the age of the building.

There were no active listings when I checked, so I cannot give you a current asking range. That scarcity is normal for a 201-suite building where owners tend to stay a long time. If you want to buy here, it is worth setting up an alert and being ready to move.

When you compare the fee, convert it to a per-square-foot figure and then subtract what you would pay for utilities and parking elsewhere. On a 1,500 square foot suite, the bundled hydro, heat and parking can be worth several hundred dollars a month. For a clear picture of recent trades here, the sold report on this page uses aggregates only.

Building specifications

Amenities at The Elegance

Having both an indoor and an outdoor pool, plus a sauna, gives you a year-round swim routine without a club membership. Concierge and a security guard suit owners who travel or spend winters away and want someone watching the door.

Jatin’s honest take on The Elegance

The Elegance — frequently asked questions

Looking at the Junction, Corso Italia, Hillcrest Village and west-central Toronto more broadly? Start with my Toronto community guide — the neighbourhoods, what each pocket is like, and how they compare.