Park Palace III, 28 Pemberton Ave: Larger Suites, Lower Price per Foot

Park Palace III at 28 Pemberton Avenue has the largest suites and the lowest average price per square foot of the three Park Palace towers near Yonge and Finch. Hydro, heat and water are in the fee, but parking is not on the fee list, and that one detail changes how the numbers compare. If you need a real two-bedroom close to the subway without new-tower prices, this is the one on the street I would look at first. I’m Jatin Dua, RE/MAX Quantum Realty.

The last of the three, and the roomiest

Pemberton Avenue has three related condominiums: Park Palace at 8, Park Palace II at 18 and Park Palace III here at 28. All three were finished in 1996 and list the same manager. This one registered last, in September 1996, as MTCC-1131.

Each is a separate corporation with its own board, budget and reserve fund, so do not assume that what you hear about one building applies to the others. At 130 suites over 12 storeys, Park Palace III sits between its siblings in size.

Neither condos.ca nor any source I could find names the developer or the architect. I would rather leave that blank than guess.

What the three share is a mid-1990s North York formula: a modest mid-rise tower on a side street, a concierge, a simple amenity package and a fee that bundles most utilities. What separates them is suite mix, corporation size and what each fee covers, and at number 28 those differences mostly work in a space-seeking buyer’s favour.

Suites up to 1,318 square feet

Condos.ca puts suites at about 557 to 1,318 square feet, the widest range and the largest top end on the street. The three suites for sale when I checked included one-bedrooms and two-bedrooms, with the larger ones in the 800 to 999 square foot bands.

That matters because a true two-bedroom with space for a dining table is getting scarce near Yonge and Finch. Many newer towers squeeze two bedrooms into 700 square feet or less. A 1990s plan of 900 square feet or more usually lives far better, even if the finishes need work.

After 30 years, condition varies widely between suites. Some have been fully renovated and some still have original kitchens, bathrooms and window coverings. Price any work into your offer, and ask whether the corporation regulates flooring changes, as many older buildings do for noise.

I could not confirm ceiling heights from a reliable source, so check them on the tour.

Hydro in the fee, parking possibly not

The fee list on condos.ca includes air conditioning, common elements, heat, hydro, building insurance and water. Parking is listed in the fee at both 8 and 18 Pemberton, but not here. Condos.ca does list visitor parking and an underground garage, so parking exists; the question is how it is owned and paid for.

In older buildings, parking can be owned as a separate unit with its own share of fees and its own property tax, or it can be an exclusive-use common element. The status certificate will tell you which, and what it costs each month. Do not compare fees with the neighbouring Park Palace buildings until you know.

Hydro in the fee is the bigger factor. It removes the last large utility bill from your budget, but it also means the corporation absorbs energy price increases and passes them on through the fee. Ask how utility costs have moved in recent budgets and whether suite metering has ever come up at the board.

Living north of Yonge and Finch

Pemberton is a short side street off Yonge just north of Finch. You are close to the shops on Yonge and the end of Line 1 without a suite facing the main road. The data panel on this page has the exact stations, schools, parks and restaurants.

The area is in the middle of a rebuild. Aoyuan Property Group’s M2M project on the old Newtonbrook Plaza site was planned as an 8.6-acre community with condo towers, a new park and, in a later phase, a City-run community centre and daycare. When blogTO covered it in 2020, the first phase was underway.

The City’s Transform Yonge plan for the section between Sheppard and Finch includes wider sidewalks, cycle tracks and a northbound bus lane from the Finch bus terminal. The approved 2020 design is being reassessed, with findings expected in early 2027, and no construction dates are set. Plan for road work on Yonge at some point in the years ahead.

The lowest price per foot on Pemberton

Condos.ca puts the building average at about $510 per square foot, against about $585 at Park Palace at 8 Pemberton. Part of that gap is simply suite size: larger suites cost less per foot. Part of it may be parking, if spaces here are bought and paid for separately.

Three suites were for sale when I checked, asking between $399,000 and $597,000, with none listed for rent. Fees on those listings ran from about $619 to $912 a month, or roughly $1.06 per square foot on condos.ca’s calculation, a little below the roughly $1.16 at Park Palace II.

That fee difference is not a saving until you know what parking costs here. Once you add it back, the two buildings may be close. Use the recent sales in the data panel above as the real benchmark, and look at aggregates rather than any single result.

Building specifications

Amenities at Park Palace III

Condos.ca lists a concierge, a gym, a security guard and system, visitor parking and an underground garage. It is a simple package, and in a 30-year-old building that is no bad thing: fewer amenities mean fewer expensive systems for the reserve fund to replace.

Jatin’s honest take on Park Palace III

Park Palace III — 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.