Place Nouveau I, 5785 Yonge St: 1988 Menkes Building North of Finch

Place Nouveau I is a building I point to when a buyer wants a generous suite on Yonge near Finch, an indoor pool, and a price per square foot well below the towers that have gone up around it. It is a 1988 Menkes building with only 126 suites, and it shares its community with a sister building next door. Before you fall for the space, you need to understand that shared arrangement and who runs it. I’m Jatin Dua, RE/MAX Quantum Realty.

One of two buildings sharing a community

Place Nouveau I at 5785 Yonge and Place Nouveau II at 5765 Yonge are two separate condominium corporations, MTCC-796 and MTCC-823, that operate as one community. They share a residents’ website, a concierge contractor and what the website calls the Shared Facilities, alongside each building’s own common elements.

Menkes built Place Nouveau I in 1988, and it is the smaller of the pair at 15 storeys and 126 suites. That small suite count is part of its appeal. Lobbies are calmer, elevator waits are shorter, and you are one of relatively few owners voting on how the building is run.

Shared facilities also mean shared costs and a shared-facilities agreement that sets out who pays what. Ask for that agreement with the status certificate, and find out which corporation owns the pool, gym and party room and how the costs are split.

Suites sized for living, not investing

Suites at 5785 Yonge run from about 684 to 1,559 square feet. Even the smallest is larger than a typical new one-bedroom, and the top of the range offers family-sized two- and three-bedroom space. That is typical of late-1980s buildings, which were sold to owner-occupiers rather than investors.

I have not found published floor plans or ceiling heights for this building. Many suites of this age have been renovated, some more than once, and others remain close to original. Judge each suite on its own condition rather than assuming the building’s age tells you everything.

Also look at the in-suite systems. With heat and air conditioning in the fee, it matters how the building delivers them and whether the corporation or the owner is responsible for repairing the equipment inside your suite. The declaration and the status certificate will tell you, and the answer can change what a renovation costs.

Who runs the building, and what the fee covers

The management picture is not consistent. Condos.ca lists Wilson Blanchard as the property manager. The residents’ website for Place Nouveau I and II names CPO Management as property manager and Diamond Property Services Inc. as the concierge provider. Contracts change, so one of these is probably out of date, but find out which is current before you buy.

Condos.ca lists common elements, heat, air conditioning, building insurance and water as included. Hydro and parking are not on that list, so ask how each suite is metered and whether parking is owned, exclusive-use or charged separately.

The residents’ website asks owners to conserve resources because services included in maintenance costs are shared. That is a sensible reminder that in an older building with heat in the fee, energy prices flow straight into the budget. Ask for the fee history over the last few years.

Daily life north of Finch

The building sits on the east side of Yonge just north of Finch, at the top of the Yonge subway line’s busiest stretch. You are close to the shops, grocers and restaurants along Yonge, to the bus connections at Finch, and to Highway 401 and the 407 by car. The panel on this page shows the exact walk to the station.

The block has changed around it. Newer towers have gone up along Yonge, including the 2010 Luxe buildings next door at 5791 and 5793 Yonge, and that trend is likely to continue. More towers mean more services and also more competing resale and rental supply, which is part of why older buildings here trade at a discount.

For a buyer who drives and also wants to be able to walk to the subway, this location covers both. For someone who wants a quiet residential street at the door, the Yonge frontage may be more than they want. Ask which side of the building a suite faces. Yonge-facing suites get the street activity and the noise that comes with it, while suites on the back of the building are usually quieter. Visit at rush hour and again in the evening before you decide which matters more to you.

Price per square foot, and what is on the market

Condos.ca puts the building average at about $564 per square foot. That is well below newer towers on this stretch of Yonge, which is what I would expect for a 1988 building with large suites, original-generation systems and hydro on your own bill.

No suites were listed for sale or lease when I checked. That is not unusual in a 126-suite building where most owners live in their units, but it means you may need to be patient, and ready to act when the right plan comes up. A thin market cuts both ways: there is less to choose from, but a well-priced suite in good condition tends to stand out clearly against the newer stock nearby.

With so few sales, I would build any offer from recent trades here and in Place Nouveau II, adjusting for size, floor, exposure and renovation level. My building sold report can pull those numbers together, and I am happy to set up an alert for this building.

Building specifications

Amenities at Place Nouveau I

An indoor pool, sauna and gym are unusual in a building this small, and they exist partly because the costs are shared with Place Nouveau II. That arrangement is good value when it works, so read how the shared costs are divided before you count on it.

Jatin’s honest take on Place Nouveau I

Place Nouveau I — 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.