One Forest Hill, 1 Forest Hill Rd: Wengle and Gluckstein on St. Clair

One Forest Hill is the building people in South Hill and Forest Hill point to when they talk about selling the house and staying in the neighbourhood. It has 40 suites, most of them the size of a small house, behind a limestone and bronze facade by Richard Wengle, with Brian Gluckstein interiors. It is a short list of buyers who can afford it, and I will tell you what to look at before you join them. I’m Jatin Dua, RE/MAX Quantum Realty.

A building shaped by a long approval fight

The site at the foot of Forest Hill Road had a contested history before North Drive arrived. UrbanToronto reported that Stafford Developments first proposed a 15-storey building here in 2014, and that after a long approval process a 12-storey plan was approved instead.

Stafford pre-sold the site to North Drive, conditional on that approval, and North Drive brought in architect Richard Wengle and designer Brian Gluckstein, the pairing it had used before. The result is the 12-storey building you see today, with Glenn Gould Park on its east side.

That history matters for buyers in one way: the height was settled through a long process, and the low-rise streets of houses to the north sit under the same planning rules that brought this building down to 12 storeys. The outlook to the north is unlikely to fill in with towers.

Art Deco details and house-sized suites

Wengle designed the exterior as an Art Deco-inspired building, and UrbanToronto’s 2017 report described limestone, marble and bronze in the finishes. It reads more like a pre-war apartment building on a good street than a glass tower, which is exactly what this buyer pool wants.

Suites were planned large. The 2017 launch described sizes from about 1,300 sq ft to over 3,000 sq ft, with an average around 2,250 sq ft, and suites that could be combined. Condos.ca now records a range of about 861 to 7,920 sq ft, which tells me some buyers did combine suites and at least one smaller layout exists.

The suite count also shifted. The 2017 plan described 43 suites, down from 110 under the earlier proposal; condos.ca and UrbanToronto both show 40 today, consistent with combinations. Gluckstein called the concept rightsizing rather than downsizing, and the layouts follow that idea: fewer rooms than a house, but rooms at house scale.

Combined suites deserve a closer look. A suite that began as two units can carry two parking schedules, two locker assignments and two sets of common-element shares, and the way that was registered decides what you own and what you pay. Ask for the registered unit description, not just the floor plan from the listing.

Living at St. Clair and Forest Hill Road

The building sits on St. Clair Avenue West, so you have the shops, cafes and grocery stores of the St. Clair strip at your door, and the quiet residential streets of Forest Hill and South Hill behind you. Glenn Gould Park, right next door, is small but gives the east side an open outlook.

St. Clair is a busy arterial with a streetcar line, so ask which way a suite faces. North-facing suites look over the houses and trees of Forest Hill; south-facing suites get the city view and the traffic. The data panel on this page shows the transit and school details.

For people coming out of a house nearby, the appeal is continuity. You keep the same grocery store, the same doctor, the same walk to the park and the same friends down the street, and you trade the lawn, the roof and the snow for a front desk.

Amenities and management

Condos.ca lists concierge, a gym, a meeting room, a party room, a security system, visitor parking and permission for barbecues. That is a modest package by tower standards, which suits a building of 40 owners who mostly want staff at the door and privacy upstairs.

Forest Hill Kipling is listed as the property manager. Condos.ca does not list what the fees include here, so get the budget from the status certificate and confirm how heat, cooling, hydro and water are metered for each suite.

In a building this small, the board is a handful of your neighbours, and their decisions show up quickly in your fee. Read the last two years of minutes to see how they handle staffing, contracts and any construction deficiencies still being worked through with the builder.

What One Forest Hill costs

Condos.ca puts the building average at about $1,642 per square foot. That sits near the top of the midtown market, close to new Yorkville levels, and well above most older buildings along St. Clair West.

There were no active listings when I checked, which is normal for a 40-suite building where owners tend to stay. With so few sales, a building average can move a lot on one trade, so I would price any suite here on its own merits: size, floor, outlook, parking and whether it is a combined suite.

Because fee inclusions are not published, compare total monthly cost rather than fee alone. Add the fee, utilities and property tax together, and set that against what you pay to run the house you are selling.

Property tax deserves a line in that comparison too. A large suite here can carry a tax bill closer to a house than a typical condo, so ask for the current tax figure on the suite you like before you build your monthly budget.

Building specifications

Amenities at One Forest Hill

The amenity list is short on purpose: staff at the front, a gym, a room for gatherings and visitor parking for family. If you want a pool or a spa, this is not the building; if you want discretion and a well-run front desk, it is.

Jatin’s honest take on One Forest Hill

One Forest Hill — frequently asked questions

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