Curio vs Reina: 799 or 689 The Queensway?

Published 30 August 2026 · Jatin Dua, Broker of Record, RE/MAX Quantum Realty

Side by side

The one difference that matters

Curio reached occupancy in September 2025. It is finished. You can walk the actual corridor, stand in the actual suite, see the actual view and read a real status certificate with real operating numbers rather than a developer’s first-year budget.

That removes a category of risk that no amount of due diligence removes from a building still being sold off plan: no completion risk, no interim occupancy period to carry, no deposit sitting in trust, no cancellation risk, and no gap between the rendering and the room.

In a market where the GTA recorded zero new condominium project launches in both Q1 and Q2 of 2026 and completed-but-unsold developer inventory hit a record 5,001 units, finished product is not scarce — which is exactly why the incentives on it are aggressive right now.

Where they are basically identical

Density is a wash: roughly 21 suites per floor against 22. Height is a wash at 10 versus 9. Both sit inside the 620–960 walkable service cluster — restaurants, dentists, groomers, cafés all on foot. Both are on the 80 Queensway bus and neither is walking distance to a subway.

Anyone telling you one has a dramatically better location than the other is selling. They are five minutes apart.

An address note

Curio appears in listings as both 799 and 801 The Queensway. Same building. If you are searching sold comparables, search both or you will miss half the data.

My read

If you can buy the finished one, buy the finished one. The premium you pay for certainty at Curio is, in my view, better value than the discount you get for uncertainty elsewhere — particularly for an end user who needs to move rather than an investor with a long horizon.

What would change my answer: a materially better price per square foot, a floor plan that genuinely suits you better, or a status certificate at Curio that reads badly. Get both certificates and compare them properly before you decide on anything else.

How to compare two buildings properly

These two are close neighbours on the corridor, which means the location variables are broadly similar and the decision comes down to the corporations and the specific units rather than to the address.

Buyers comparing two buildings on the same street almost always compare the wrong things — lobby finishes, amenity lists and the headline maintenance fee. None of those decide whether the purchase works out. Six things do.

1. The reserve fund against the age of the corporation. Both of these buildings are young enough that the fund is still accumulating and the budget has not been tested by a full operating cycle. Ask whether the first reserve fund study update has happened and what it did to the required contribution.
2. What each fee includes, and what is separately metered. Add your own estimated utility bills to whichever excludes them before comparing. Then divide by real usable square footage rather than the marketing number.
3. Three years of fee history for each. A young building whose fees have already jumped twice is telling you something the current number is not.
4. Whether the corporation is party to litigation. Construction deficiency claims are not unusual in newer corporations and they affect both fees and lender appetite.
5. Parking and locker ownership form. An owned unit, an exclusive-use common element, or a rental — only the first two convey with the sale.
6. What is proposed on the adjacent parcels. The corridor is still developing. The City of Toronto’s development application records are public, and a view or a quiet aspect that a filed application would remove is not something to pay for today.

And then the unit, not the building

Once the corporations are understood, the remaining variables are unit-level and they are the ones that move price most: exposure, floor, whether the outlook is protected, layout efficiency and whether every bedroom has a real exterior window, balcony depth, and where the unit sits relative to the elevators and the garbage chute. Two units with the same floor plan in the same building can differ substantially on these alone.

The status certificate answers the corporation questions definitively and the fee for it is capped at $100 including taxes under the Condominium Act, 1998. Order one for whichever building you choose, and have a lawyer read it — with ten to fifteen business days on the condition, because the corporation has statutory time to produce it.

Frequently asked questions

Sources

• City of Toronto — Planning and Development — current and proposed development along The Queensway corridor. Accessed 10 September 2026.
• Toronto Transit Commission — surface routes serving The Queensway and connections to Line 2. Accessed 10 September 2026.
• TRREB Market Watch, August 2026 — the Etobicoke average sale price of $1,049,793 across 243 sales. Accessed 10 September 2026.
• Condominium Act, 1998 — status certificates and the prescribed fee cap, reserve funds and reserve fund studies. Accessed 10 September 2026.

Related reading

• Curio Condos, 799 The Queensway — the full review
• Reina Condos, 689 The Queensway — the full building guide
• GTA Pre-Construction Market Report — Fall 2026
• Reserve funds and special assessments explained

Building specifications from the City of Toronto planning record, condominium registrations and developers’ published material — believed accurate but not guaranteed. Verify everything against the status certificate and disclosure statement before you sign. Not intended to solicit buyers or sellers under contract with another brokerage. E.&O.E.