Royal Arms, 5418 Yonge St: Big 1998 Suites on the North York Strip

Royal Arms is one of the buildings I show to buyers who have outgrown a new one-bedroom and want real square footage on Yonge Street without paying new-tower prices. It went up in 1998, before the condo boom reshaped this stretch of North York, and the suites were planned for owners who meant to stay. You pay for that space in the monthly fee, and you need to read the reserve fund closely. I’m Jatin Dua, RE/MAX Quantum Realty.

Built before the new towers arrived

Royal Arms belongs to an older generation of North York condos, the ones that went up between the 1980s and the late 1990s along Yonge between Sheppard and Finch. Its near neighbours tell the story: Skyview at 5444 Yonge dates from 1985 and Dynasty Tower at 5460 Yonge from 1988, while Pulse at 5500 and 5508 Yonge arrived in 2009.

Buildings from this period were generally planned for owner-occupiers rather than for investors buying small suites to rent, and that shows in the floor plans. The smallest suite condos.ca records here is about 606 square feet, and the largest is about 3,410, which is the size of a house.

I could not confirm who developed Royal Arms. Condos.ca leaves the developer blank and I did not find a reliable source that names it, so I would not rely on any name you hear without paperwork behind it.

Layouts: two bedrooms and up

The suites listed for sale when I checked were all two-bedrooms or larger, including two-plus-one and two-plus-two plans, with the smaller two-bedrooms sitting between 800 and 999 square feet. That is the core of this building: separated bedrooms, real dining space and storage you can actually use.

The larger plans are where Royal Arms is hard to replace. A new building on Yonge in North York rarely offers a suite over 1,500 square feet at all, and when it does, the price per square foot is far higher. If you are a family, or a couple who wants an office and a guest room, this is the kind of building to look at.

Older layouts do have their quirks. Original suites from this era often have closed kitchens, smaller windows than a 2020s tower and dated finishes. Budget for renovation if the suite has not been updated, and check the corporation’s rules on renovations and flooring before you plan one.

The pool, the sauna and the car wash

Condos.ca lists an indoor pool, a sauna and a car wash, along with a concierge, a security guard and an underground garage. The car wash is a small thing until you live through a Toronto winter with salt on your car every day; then it earns its place.

The pool and sauna put Royal Arms in a group of older buildings that kept wellness amenities that many newer, smaller-suite buildings dropped. The flip side is cost. Pools are expensive to run and to rebuild, and in a 245-suite building those costs are spread across fewer owners than in a 400-suite tower.

Running a full-service building with 245 owners

A concierge, a security guard, a pool, a sauna and a car wash are all ongoing costs, and in an older building the equipment behind them gets more expensive to keep running each year. At Royal Arms, those costs are shared among 245 suites, a mid-sized number for a building with this much on offer.

That is why the fee here is higher than at some neighbours, and why the reserve fund study matters so much. When you read it, look at the planned spending over the next five to ten years and compare it with the current balance. A building that has been raising fees steadily to keep pace is usually in better shape than one that has kept fees flat and deferred work.

It is also worth asking the manager how often the pool and sauna are closed for repairs. Owners who buy for the amenities want to know they are actually open.

Living on the North York Centre stretch of Yonge

This stretch of Yonge is the office, civic and shopping spine of North York, and it keeps changing. New towers keep replacing the low buildings along it, which brings more shops and restaurants but also construction noise and lane closures for years at a time.

Before you buy, look up current applications near 5418 Yonge on the City of Toronto’s development application site, especially if the suite you like faces a low-rise lot that could be redeveloped. The transit, schools and walkability details are in the data panel on this page.

About $609 a square foot, with a heavier fee

Condos.ca puts the building average at about $609 per square foot. That is above Dynasty Tower at about $562 and Skyview at about $482, and well below Pulse at about $746. Big older suites tend to sell for less per square foot than small new ones, so the lower figure is partly a function of size, not just age.

Fees on the active listings averaged about $0.88 per square foot. Condos.ca lists air conditioning, common elements, building insurance, parking and water. Heat is not on that list, which is unusual for a building that includes air conditioning, so confirm with management exactly how heating is billed before you compare fees with other buildings.

When I checked there were five suites for sale, asking between $525,000 and $880,000, with monthly fees between about $788 and $1,043. Only one suite was listed for rent, which fits the owner-occupied profile of the building.

When you compare a suite here with a newer building, line up the total monthly cost, not the fee alone. A newer suite may carry a lower fee but bill heat, hydro and parking separately, and it will almost certainly be smaller for the same price.

Building specifications

Amenities at Royal Arms

The pool, sauna and car wash are the features that set Royal Arms apart from most buildings its size on Yonge. Together with a staffed concierge and security guard, it is a full-service package, and the fee reflects that.

Jatin’s honest take on Royal Arms

Royal Arms — 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.