Place Nouveau II, 5765 Yonge St: Big 1989 Suites With Hydro Included

Place Nouveau II is the building I show to buyers who say they want a house-sized suite on Yonge without paying new-tower prices. This 1989 tower just north of Finch has suites that start at roughly 744 square feet and run to almost 2,900, and the monthly fee covers heat, hydro, air conditioning and parking. The trade is age, and that is what you need to inspect. I’m Jatin Dua, RE/MAX Quantum Realty.

Two towers, one name, two corporations

Place Nouveau is a pair of towers on the east side of Yonge just north of Finch. This review covers the second one, at 5765 Yonge, which is its own condominium corporation (MTCC-823). Place Nouveau I, at 5785 Yonge, sits immediately to the north and is a separate corporation with its own board, budget and reserve fund.

That matters when you compare listings. Agents sometimes treat the two as one building, and online searches mix them up. The amenities, fee levels and capital plans can be quite different, so confirm the address and corporation number on every listing you look at.

I could not confirm the original developer from a reliable source, and condos.ca leaves the field blank. If the builder matters to you, the declaration registered in 1989 will name the declarant.

Suite sizes that newer towers stopped building

The headline here is space. Condos.ca puts the range at about 744 to 2,910 square feet, and two-bedroom-plus-den plans are a common format here. A new tower at Yonge and Finch will rarely offer anything over 1,000 square feet, and almost never at these prices.

Late-1980s plans tend to have separate kitchens, formal dining areas, larger bedrooms and more closets than today’s open layouts. That suits downsizers moving out of a house who still own furniture, and families who need a real third room. It suits a first-time buyer chasing the lowest possible price less well, because the smallest suites here are still large.

Expect original features in suites that have not been updated: older windows, fan-coil or heat-pump units, and dated kitchens and baths. Walk the suite with an eye to what a renovation would cost, and price that into your offer.

Hydro, heat and parking in one cheque

The fee at Place Nouveau II includes hydro as well as heat, air conditioning, water, building insurance and parking. That is an all-inclusive structure you see mostly in buildings of this era, and it makes the monthly number look high next to a newer tower where hydro is metered per suite.

Before you compare, add back what you would pay elsewhere. A large suite in a newer building can easily carry a substantial monthly hydro bill in summer and winter, plus a parking charge if the spot is not bundled. On a suite this size, that gap can be meaningful.

The flip side is that you share the building’s energy costs with everyone else. A neighbour who runs the air conditioning all summer is partly on your bill, and when utility rates rise, the corporation’s budget and your fee rise with them. Look at how fees have moved over the past few years in the status certificate.

Living at Yonge and Finch

Yonge north of Finch is a dense, practical strip of Korean, Persian and Chinese restaurants, grocers, banks and clinics. You walk out the front door into it. Finch Station is south of the building; the panel beside this review shows the exact walk.

This stretch is changing fast. Metrolinx is extending Line 1 north from Finch, and early work at Finch Station is already done, with tunnelling under contract. Across Yonge, between Finch and Cummer, Times Group has applied to redevelop the former Toronto Hydro site at 5800 Yonge with four towers of 46 to 54 storeys, a new road and a City childcare centre.

For you, that means years of construction nearby, and also more retail and services as the area builds out. Check the City of Toronto development applications map for the blocks around the suite you like, and think about which way your windows face.

Being on Yonge itself is a trade-off. You get the shops and the street life at your door, but also traffic, buses and late-night noise on the lower floors. If quiet matters, look higher up or at suites facing away from Yonge, and visit in the evening before you decide.

What Place Nouveau II costs

Condos.ca puts the building average at about $529 per square foot, which is well below what newer towers at Yonge and Finch command. You are buying a lot of space for the money, and the discount reflects age, the fee level and the cost of updating original suites.

When I checked, two suites were for sale, asking between $575,000 and $636,000, with monthly fees of about $1,060 to $1,085. No suites were listed for rent. For what has actually sold here, see my building sold report.

Judge the fee on what it covers rather than its size. With hydro, heat and parking inside it, the fair comparison is a newer building’s fee plus its hydro and parking costs. On that basis the gap is smaller than it first looks, though it rarely disappears completely.

With only two suites on the market and none for lease when I checked, choice is thin. That is common in an older building with large suites, where owners tend to stay for years. If you are serious, tell me which stack and exposure you want and I will watch for it, rather than settling for whatever happens to be listed this month.

Building specifications

Amenities at Place Nouveau II

An indoor pool, sauna and gym on site mean you can skip a gym membership, which is a real saving for an owner who uses them. The security guard and controlled entry are standard for this era and suit buyers who travel or spend winters away.

Jatin’s honest take on Place Nouveau II

Place Nouveau II — 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.