Palace Gate, 3181 Bayview Ave: Large Suites With Hydro and Heat Included

Palace Gate is a building for people leaving a house who still want room. Every suite at 3181 Bayview Avenue is over 1,100 square feet, the fee covers hydro and heat, and there is an indoor pool and a 24-hour concierge. It is also 30 years old, and that is where most of my questions start. I’m Jatin Dua, RE/MAX Quantum Realty.

A mid-rise built for downsizers

Palace Gate is a 10-storey mid-rise on Bayview Avenue, a few minutes north of Bayview Village and close to Finch. It went up in the mid-1990s, when many North York condos were designed for owners selling a family home nearby, and the building still reads that way: fewer, larger suites and a staffed lobby.

The sources do not agree on the suite count. Condos.ca lists 163 suites, while CondoReviews.ca lists 169. A small gap like that often comes from how penthouse or combined suites are counted. Either way, this is a modest number of homes for a building with a pool and round-the-clock security.

The developer is not settled either. Condos.ca does not name one, while CondoReviews.ca credits Tridel. I could not confirm it from a primary source, so check the declaration in the status certificate if the builder’s name matters to your decision.

Suites from 1,139 to 2,926 square feet

Condos.ca lists suites from about 1,139 to 2,926 square feet. There are no small units here. The smallest plan is larger than most new two-bedrooms in North York, and the largest is the size of a detached house.

The building has a penthouse level, and the suites for sale when I checked were all two-bedroom or two-bedroom-plus-den plans. That fits the downsizer profile: a second bedroom for visiting family, and often a den that works as an office or a TV room.

Plans from the 1990s tend to have separate dining rooms, larger kitchens with less island space, and real hallways. Some buyers love that; others want an open plan. Check whether a suite has already been renovated, because the cost and disruption of opening up a 1995 layout is significant and needs board approval for some work.

Large suites take longer to sell than small ones, because the buyer pool is smaller and more patient. If you might need to sell on a deadline, plan for that from the start. The upside is that buyers who want this much space have few condo alternatives in this part of North York, so well-kept suites do find their buyer.

A fee that covers hydro, heat and cable

The fee at Palace Gate looks high in dollars, but read the list of what it includes. Condos.ca lists common elements, heat, hydro, cable TV, building insurance, parking and water. Hydro is the unusual one: most buildings meter electricity to each suite, so a fee that covers it removes the last big utility bill most owners pay.

Across the three suites listed for sale, monthly fees ran from about $1,142 to $1,453. On a suite of 1,200 to 1,500 square feet, that replaces a heating bill, a cooling bill, an electricity bill and a cable bill, plus parking. Add those back onto any building with a lower quoted fee before you compare.

The trade-off with bulk hydro is that heavy and light users pay the same share. If the corporation ever moves to individual suite meters, that is a capital project and a change to your monthly costs, so ask whether it has been discussed.

Bayview and Finch day to day

This stretch of Bayview is quiet and residential, lined with houses, townhouse enclaves and a handful of mid-rise buildings rather than towers. It suits people who drive, or who are happy to take a bus to the subway. The panel beside this review shows the nearest station, schools and Walk Score.

Bayview Village Shopping Centre is a short drive south for groceries, restaurants and services, and the area around it is changing. QuadReal has a large redevelopment of the Bayview Village site underway, with a first phase under construction and a second phase of 44- and 52-storey towers proposed. That will bring more shops and more density to the Sheppard end of Bayview over the next decade, while the Finch end stays low-rise.

Price per square foot and what is asking now

Condos.ca puts Palace Gate’s average at about $661 per square foot. That is well below what new towers in North York ask per foot, which is normal for a 30-year-old building, and it reflects the larger suite sizes, which always price lower per foot than small units.

Three suites were listed for sale when I checked, asking between $799,000 and $1,100,000, and one suite was listed for lease. At those prices, the real comparison is not other condos but the semi-detached and detached houses that downsizers here are selling.

Once you factor in that hydro, heat, cable and parking are inside the fee, the all-in monthly cost here is easier to predict than in a newer building or a house. For what suites have actually sold for, see the panel or request my building sold report.

Building specifications

Amenities at Palace Gate

An indoor pool and sauna with a 24-hour concierge and security guard is a strong package for a 10-storey building, and it is the kind of daily routine downsizers tend to use. Pools are costly to run and to rebuild, so the reserve fund needs to carry that weight.

Jatin’s honest take on Palace Gate

Palace Gate — 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.