The Charles at Church, 628 Church St: New Tower Over a Heritage Base

The Charles at Church is one of the newest towers on the Church Street corridor, and it is the only one I know of that sits on top of a 19th-century-style brick building that was physically moved and put back. That heritage base gives it a street presence most glass towers here do not have. It also means you are buying into a building so new that the paperwork matters as much as the view. I’m Jatin Dua, RE/MAX Quantum Realty.

A glass tower standing on a moved heritage building

The thing that sets this building apart is at street level. The historic Manhattan building at 634 Church Street was moved on the site during construction and then restored as part of the tower’s base. Its tan brick, stone lintels, keystones and wood trim were kept, and it was given a new red standing-seam metal mansard roof.

Above that sits a 47-storey tower by BDP Quadrangle, rising about 152.7 metres. That height puts the upper floors well above most of the older Church-Wellesley stock, which is the practical reason people pay more for higher suites here.

For a buyer, the heritage piece is more than decoration. It keeps the corner at a human scale and gives the entrance a character that generic podiums on Yonge and Bloor lack. If you care about what your building looks like when friends walk up to it, this one stands out.

Brand new means the paperwork decides the deal

As of May 2025 the tower had topped off, with glazing and cladding nearly complete up to the top residential floor and interior fit-out still under way. Suites are now being offered for sale and lease, so the building is occupied. What I could not confirm is whether the condominium has formally registered and received its corporation number.

That distinction matters. Before registration, purchasers are typically in interim occupancy, paying an occupancy charge rather than owning title outright, and the first-year budget is still the builder’s estimate. Once the corporation registers, the owners take over, the reserve fund starts building on real numbers and fees can move.

If you are buying here, ask your lawyer and agent whether you are buying a resale from an owner, an assignment from an original purchaser, or remaining inventory from the builder. Each comes with a different contract, a different closing process and different warranty questions under Tarion.

New buildings also go through a settling-in period. Ask the property manager, once one is named, how many deficiency items are still open with the builder, whether the common-element inspection report is done, and how amenity booking and move-in rules work in practice.

Sizes, layouts and the unit count question

Recorded suite sizes on condos.ca run from about 556 to 778 square feet, but that range almost certainly covers only units with published sizes. Current listings include both two-bedroom and three-bedroom suites, and several of them have no size recorded at all. Ask for the builder floor plan with the exact square footage before you compare anything per square foot.

Sources also disagree on how many suites the building has. condos.ca lists 575 units; UrbanToronto’s 2025 construction update reported 428 new residential units. I am not going to pick one. The number in the declaration and the disclosure documents is the one that counts, and it affects how many owners share the cost of the building.

Living at Church and Charles

The building sits at the northwest corner of Church Street and Charles Street East, just south of Bloor Street East. It is on the line where Church-Wellesley Village meets Bloor-Yorkville, so you have the Village’s restaurants and bars to the south and the Bloor shopping strip to the north, all on foot.

This is one of the densest pockets of new towers in the city. UrbanToronto’s coverage places it near The One, One Bloor East and the Casa II and Casa III condos, and more cranes have been working the area. Expect construction nearby for years, and check which neighbouring sites could affect your view before you pay a premium for a particular direction.

Church Street itself is busy and lively at night, especially in summer and around Pride. That is a selling point for some buyers and a reason to choose a higher or north-facing suite for others.

What suites here are asking

There is very little resale history to anchor on because the building is so new, so I would treat any per-square-foot average for this address with caution until a year or two of closed sales builds up. The automatic data panel on this page shows whatever closed activity has been recorded.

At the time of writing there were five suites for sale, with asking prices ranging from $799,000 to about $1.32 million. Several of those asking prices end in 990, which is the way builders usually price remaining inventory, so confirm who the seller is. There were also ten suites listed for lease, which tells you a good share of early owners are investors.

Maintenance fees on the active listings ranged from about $584 to $950 a month. The listed inclusions are common elements, building insurance and water, which means hydro and in most cases heating and cooling are on your own bill. Because this is a first-year budget, I would not assume these fees are settled; ask whether they reflect the interim budget or a post-registration budget.

Building specifications

Jatin’s honest take on The Charles at Church

The Charles at Church — frequently asked questions

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