Gibson Square North Tower, 5168 Yonge St: Menkes, Pool and Heat in Fees

Gibson Square North Tower is the building I point to when a buyer wants North York Centre without paying new-build prices for it. It is one of Menkes’ twin 42-storey towers on Yonge at Park Home, finished in 2015, and its fee covers heat, cooling, parking and water at a rate that looks low next to its neighbours. The suites are generous for the period, and comparables are plentiful. I’m Jatin Dua, RE/MAX Quantum Realty.

Twin towers named after a farmhouse

Gibson Square is a pair of 42-storey towers, each about 138 metres, rising from a shared retail podium on the northwest corner of Yonge Street and Park Home Avenue. Menkes developed it and Rafael + Bigauskas Architects designed it. The north tower at 5168 Yonge is this building; the south tower is its twin and shares the same base.

The name comes from Gibson House, the 19th-century farmhouse behind the site that is now a City of Toronto museum. UrbanToronto’s construction coverage notes that Menkes planned a garden over the underground garage to sit alongside the heritage house and kept mature trees at the entrance. That green edge to the west is unusual on this stretch of Yonge, where most towers back onto other towers.

The towers are topped with torch-style canopy roofs, which makes them easy to pick out on the North York skyline. Across Yonge to the south and east sits the civic core of North York Centre, including the Moriyama and Teshima-designed towers of North York City Centre.

A pool on the podium roof and a two-storey lobby

The arrival is the strongest part of the design. The main lobby is two storeys high, with a central reception area close to nine metres tall and a sweeping staircase down to grade, and the driveway curves past a garden on the way in. It feels more like a hotel than most North York lobbies of its era.

The swimming pool sits in a lowered section of the retail roof, and the podium also carries a walled rooftop garden behind the lobby. The top floors of the podium include live/work townhouses, which give buyers a ground-related format inside a tower building. Double-height retail lines Yonge, so coffee and daily errands are at the door.

One thing to know: the amenities are shared across the complex, not built for one tower alone. That brings a bigger pool and more facilities than 442 suites could justify on their own, but it also means more people using them. Visit on a weekend evening before you decide how busy that feels.

Suites that run larger than the corridor

Condos.ca puts suite sizes at roughly 567 to 2,076 sq ft. That top end is far larger than most towers built along Yonge in the mid-2010s, and it is why I see downsizers here as well as first-time buyers. The current listings cluster in the 800 to 999 sq ft range, which in this building usually means a real two-bedroom rather than a one-bedroom-plus-den sold as one.

Because the building is a decade old, finishes vary from original builder-grade to fully renovated. Two suites of the same size can be very different purchases, so I always compare the kitchen, flooring and bathroom work before comparing price.

Ask for the floor plan and the direction the suite faces. Higher floors on the west side look over the Gibson House grounds and the low-rise neighbourhood beyond, while east-facing suites look back across Yonge to the civic centre and the towers around it.

Why the fee looks low

When I checked, the active listings showed fees around $0.69 per square foot, which is lower than many towers in North York Centre. What makes that number stand out is what it covers: common elements, heat, air conditioning, building insurance, parking and water.

In many newer buildings nearby, heating and cooling run on your own meter and parking is a separate monthly charge. Add those back and the gap between Gibson Square and a newer tower widens further in this building’s favour. Hydro for your own suite is not listed as an included item, so budget for it.

A low fee is only good news if the reserve fund is healthy. A twin-tower complex with a pool, a large garage and shared podium systems has real long-term costs, so the reserve fund study and how costs are split between the two towers matter here.

What Gibson Square North Tower costs

Condos.ca puts the building average at about $903 per square foot. That is a fair price for a decade-old Menkes tower on Yonge, and it typically sits below what new or nearly new towers in North York Centre are asking, while the fee includes more.

When I checked, six suites were for sale and four for lease. Asking prices ranged from about $659,000 to $1,099,000, and monthly fees on those listings ran from about $587 to $785. Most of that inventory sits in the 800 to 999 sq ft range, which gives you real comparables.

Leasing activity matters here too. Four suites were listed for rent when I checked, alongside the six for sale, which tells me there is a steady investor presence. For an owner-occupier that is normal for North York Centre; just know that you will share elevators with tenants as well as owners, and look at how the board manages move-ins and short-term turnover.

Asking prices are not sale prices. For what has actually closed here, use my building sold report, and compare per square foot after adjusting for floor, view and renovation.

Building specifications

Amenities at Gibson Square North Tower

The package is full-service: a concierge, a pool on the podium roof, a rooftop garden, a party room, a media room and guest suites, with retail along Yonge. Because the facilities serve both towers, you get more than a building this size would usually offer, at the cost of sharing them with more residents.

Jatin’s honest take on Gibson Square North Tower

Gibson Square North Tower — frequently asked questions

Looking at Willowdale, Yonge & Sheppard, Bayview Village and North York Centre more broadly? Start with my Toronto community guide — the neighbourhoods, what each pocket is like, and how they compare.