Panorama, 38 Dan Leckie Way: CityPlace’s Curved Tower by the Gardiner

Panorama is the CityPlace tower architecture fans actually like, and the one some buyers refuse to tour because of where it sits. Both reactions are fair. It is an elegant elliptical building with low fees and low prices per square foot, and it is also pressed right up against the Gardiner Expressway. Whether it is a good buy depends almost entirely on which side of the building you live on. I’m Jatin Dua, RE/MAX Quantum Realty.

The tower that doesn’t look like CityPlace

Panorama was designed by Roland Rom Colthoff while he was a principal at Quadrangle Architects. Instead of the green-glass slabs that fill most of CityPlace, he drew an elliptical tower clad in dark brick, with a podium that mixes soft curves and sharp angles. The upper east side carries curved balconies.

When it was going up in 2009, posters on UrbanToronto’s project thread were unusually warm about it, praising the shape, the scale and the real black brick, with one calling it possibly the best CityPlace tower yet. A Toronto blogger later called it the only CityPlace tower they liked.

The site also has a public art piece, the Mitosis Courtyard, a group of blue and white sculptures by Pierre Poussin. Small touches like that are part of why the building reads as more considered than its neighbours.

The Gardiner is right there

Now the honest part. Panorama sits at the far southwest corner of the CityPlace lands, tight against the Gardiner Expressway. Photos of the site show traffic passing a few metres from the building, and the driveway entrance runs beneath the elevated highway. The same blogger who loved the design said they disliked the location because of traffic noise, exhaust and dust.

That is not a reason to rule out the building. It is a reason to be selective about the suite. Units facing the expressway at the lower and middle floors take the brunt of it. Higher floors and the faces that look away from the highway, toward the lake, the city or the park lands, are a different experience.

Visit the suite on a weekday at rush hour with the balcony door open. If you can live with what you hear, you will be buying into one of the cheaper corners of CityPlace. If you can’t, no price is low enough.

I would also look at the balcony. Dust and grime from the highway land on glass and outdoor furniture faster here than in the middle of CityPlace, so a balcony on the far side is worth more than the listing will tell you.

Getting in and out

Access is the other daily-life detail. The main driveway comes off Dan Leckie Way, where traffic lights let you turn east or west onto Lake Shore, and there is a second driveway on the north side and a south entrance off Lake Shore Boulevard.

For drivers, being on the Lake Shore and next to the Gardiner ramps is a real convenience, and that is the upside of the same location people complain about. Panorama is one of the easier CityPlace buildings to get a car out of. Transit, schools and Walk Score details are in the data panel on this page.

Suites: small, and mostly one-plus-dens

Panorama is a building of compact suites. Every current sale listing is a one-bedroom or one-plus-den, from under 500 sq ft up to the 700s, and most sit in the 600 to 699 sq ft band. That mix tells you who the building was sold to: first-time buyers and investors.

One note on data: the suite-size range published for this building on listing sites runs into the thousands of square feet, which does not match any of the current listings. I would ignore it and rely on the floor plan of the suite you are actually looking at.

Because almost everything here is a one-bedroom or one-plus-den, resale competition comes from inside the building. When 11 similar suites are listed at once, the ones that sell are the ones with a better floor, a better view or a better layout. Price a suite against its own stack, not against the building average.

For an owner-occupier, the den matters. In this size range, a den that fits a desk with a door you can close is worth real money in a work-from-home market. A den that is really a hallway alcove is not. Check the plan before you pay a one-plus-den premium.

What Panorama costs

The building average is around $792 per square foot, which is among the lowest in CityPlace and below Malibu at about $802 and West Harbour City I at about $868 across Bathurst. Neo on Spadina sits around $878. Some of that discount is the Gardiner. Some of it is simply that small suites in a 2010 tower compete with a lot of similar stock.

There is plenty to compare right now. Eight current listings ask between $419,000 and $619,900, from a one-bedroom under 500 sq ft to one-plus-dens in the 700s, with most of the one-plus-dens in the 600s asking between about $535,000 and $620,000. With 11 for sale, buyers have leverage here.

Fees on current listings average about $0.70 per square foot, one of the lower rates in the neighbourhood. But read what that buys: listing data shows the fee covering heat and water, not parking or hydro. When you compare with a building whose fee includes parking, add the parking cost back before deciding which one is cheaper to carry.

Building specifications

Amenities at Panorama at Concord CityPlace

The amenity package is basic: concierge, gym, party room and a rooftop deck. That is part of why the fees are low. If you want a pool, Malibu, a short walk away at Fleet and Bathurst, has one.

Jatin’s honest take on Panorama at Concord CityPlace

Panorama at Concord CityPlace — frequently asked questions

Looking at King West, Liberty Village and CityPlace more broadly? Start with my Toronto community guide — the neighbourhoods, what each pocket is like, and how they compare.