Harbour Plaza Residences, 88 & 100 Harbour St: Twin Towers on the PATH

Harbour Plaza is the building I suggest to buyers who work downtown and want to reach the office, Union Station and a set of shops without stepping outside in January. Menkes built two towers of 63 and 67 storeys at York and Lake Shore, linked to the PATH through a four-storey retail podium. With about 1,300 suites, there is always something for sale, which is both its strength and its challenge. I’m Jatin Dua, RE/MAX Quantum Realty.

Two towers, an office tower and a mall on one block

Harbour Plaza is one part of a larger complex on a two-acre site. Alongside the two condo towers sits One York, a LEED Platinum office tower, and the three share a four-storey retail podium with Winners, Mercatino and Pure Fitness among its tenants. The podium has several access points to the PATH.

The residential towers reach about 233 metres and 224 metres, and Wikipedia describes them as the tallest twin buildings in Canada. architectsAlliance designed the residential towers within a complex planned by Sweeny&Co Architects, and the balconies were drawn with more play than the plain glass boxes around them.

Sources give slightly different suite counts: condos.ca lists 1,305 units, while the architect’s project page says 1,313. Either way, this is one of the largest condominium communities downtown, and that scale shapes everything from elevator waits to how many comparable listings you will compete with.

The PATH changes daily life

The practical reason to buy here is the indoor connection. Through the podium you can reach the PATH network, which links south core offices to Union Station and the financial district, so a winter commute can happen in a sweater. For anyone working on Bay Street or travelling often by train, that is worth real money.

The other side is the Gardiner Expressway, which runs just north of the site, and Lake Shore Boulevard at your doorstep. Lower suites on the north side face the highway and traffic. The architect raised the office floors above Gardiner height for that reason, and on the residential side, the higher and south-facing suites are where the lake views and quiet are.

The waterfront, the island ferries and Queens Quay are a short walk south. Transit, schools and Walk Score are in the automatic panel on this page. Summer brings tourist and event crowds along the water, but the towers sit a block back from Queens Quay, so you get easy access without living in the middle of the festival traffic.

A resort-style amenity package

At launch, Menkes advertised an indoor pool with a water feature and poolside lounge, steam rooms, treatment rooms, a juice bar, and separate studios for weights, cardio, spinning, kinesis training and pilates or yoga. Add a theatre lounge, games room, party room, fireplace lounge, lookout lounge, business centre, an indoor green space with a reflecting pool, and an outdoor terrace with barbecues and a stone fireplace.

With 1,300 suites sharing the bill, an amenity list this long is affordable to run per owner. The trade-off is that you share it with a lot of neighbours, and popular rooms book up. Ask which spaces need reservations and how far ahead, and visit the gym and pool at a weekday evening peak.

Confirm the current amenity list before you buy. Launch brochures and what operates today can differ, and some rooms may have been repurposed since registration.

Small suites, so the plan matters

Suites run from about 373 square feet to roughly 1,121 square feet. The building offered one-bedrooms through three-bedroom-plus-den plans at launch, but listings are dominated by studios and one-bedrooms in the 500 to 599 square foot band, which tells you most buyers were investors or first-time owners.

With 20 suites for sale when I wrote this, you have choice but also competition. In a building this large, the suite that sells fastest is the one with a functional plan, a good view and a parking space. A north-facing, lower-floor one-bedroom without parking will always be priced to compete with dozens of near-identical units, so negotiate accordingly.

The larger plans, two-bedrooms and up near the top of the size range, appear far less often and draw more interest from owner-occupiers. If you need one, set up an alert and be ready to move, and expect a premium for a corner suite with two exposures. For an investor, the opposite logic applies: the most common one-bedroom layouts rent fastest because tenants already know what they are getting.

What Harbour Plaza costs

The building averages about $1,008 per square foot on condos.ca, a strong figure that reflects the PATH connection, the newer build and the amenity package. Higher, south-facing suites with lake views sit above that average, and lower suites near the Gardiner sit below it.

When I wrote this, asking prices ranged from about $388,000 under 500 square feet to about $500,000 to $575,000 for one-bedrooms in the 500 to 599 square foot band. Monthly fees across those listings were roughly $435 to $690, which works out to about $1.11 per square foot.

That fee is on the high side for a building this young, and it does not include hydro or parking. Heat, cooling and water are covered, and a large pool and spa package costs money to run. Compare total monthly cost with nearby towers, and ask me for the building sold report to see what suites have actually sold for.

Building specifications

Amenities at Harbour Plaza Residences

The pool, steam rooms and full fitness floor mean most residents do not need a separate gym or spa membership, and the PATH link means you can reach shops and the office without going outside. For buyers in small suites, the shared lounges and terrace are what make the space liveable.

Jatin’s honest take on Harbour Plaza Residences

Harbour Plaza Residences — frequently asked questions

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