The Prestige at One Yonge, 28 Freeland St: First Tower of a Mega-Site

The Prestige is the first residential tower finished at Pinnacle One Yonge, the multi-tower redevelopment at the foot of Yonge Street, and it puts you about as close to the lake as a new downtown condo gets. It is 65 storeys, has a pool, and is priced like it, at over $1,000 a square foot. You are also buying into a site that will be under construction around you for years. I’m Jatin Dua, RE/MAX Quantum Realty.

Phase one of One Yonge

Pinnacle One Yonge is the redevelopment of the former Toronto Star site at Yonge Street and Queens Quay. Hariri Pontarini Architects designed the master plan, a cluster of towers on a shared podium with retail and other uses at the base, and one of the planned towers has been widely reported as set to be the tallest condo tower in Canada.

Construction on the first phase began in 2018, and UrbanToronto covered the podium rising in 2020. The Prestige, on Freeland Street, was the first of the residential towers to be completed, registering as TSCC-3018 in December 2023.

Being first has two sides. You get a new building and an early position in what will become a major waterfront address. You also live beside the later phases while they are built, with cranes, hoarding and truck traffic for years. Ask what is scheduled next to your side of the building.

Suites and views

Suites run from about 508 sq ft up to about 1,873 sq ft. Most of what is listed is one-plus-den and two-bedroom plans between 600 and 900 sq ft, with a small number of large three-bedroom suites on upper floors.

At 65 storeys, the view is the product. South-facing suites look straight over the harbour and the Toronto Islands, while north-facing suites look back at the skyline across the Gardiner. Lower floors on the north side sit closer to the expressway and the rail corridor beyond, and the later One Yonge towers will change some outlooks.

Because the master plan will add more towers on the same block, do not assume today’s view is permanent. Look at the approved site plan for the later phases and work out which of them will rise between your suite and the lake or the city.

Parking and lockers are worth confirming early. In a new tower at a transit hub, not every suite was sold with a parking space, and the ones that have one tend to resell faster and for more. Ask for the parking and locker details on title, not just a line in the listing.

Living at the foot of Yonge

The building is on Freeland Street, on the east side of the One Yonge block. The Queens Quay promenade and the harbour are a short walk south, and Union Station, the Scotiabank Arena and the St. Lawrence Market are a walk north under the Gardiner.

This is one of the fastest-changing parts of downtown. Menkes’ Sugar Wharf towers sit immediately east, and the East Bayfront continues to fill in beyond them, so the neighbourhood will look very different in five years. That brings more shops and services, and more construction in the meantime.

The Gardiner and Lake Shore are the price of this location. Walking north means passing under the expressway, and traffic noise reaches the lower floors. Spend time on the street at rush hour before you buy. Transit, schools and parks data are in the panel on this page.

How it compares with the rest of the foot of Yonge

Pinnacle has built at the foot of Yonge before. Its Pinnacle Centre towers at 12 and 16 Yonge, from 2006 and 2007, and 33 Bay, a 51-storey tower from 2011, are all within a few blocks. They trade at about $869 to $901 per square foot, well below The Prestige, and give you a useful benchmark for what the same developer’s buildings look like after 15 to 20 years.

The other newer comparison is Sugar Wharf, the Menkes master plan just east, where listing data shows a 65-storey building with fees on current listings of about $0.93 per sq ft, close to The Prestige’s $0.92. Both are large, new and lakeside, so the deciding factors are the specific suite, its view and how each building’s next phases will affect it.

Against 18 Yonge, which trades at about $856, The Prestige costs roughly 18% more per square foot. That premium buys a new building, a pool and a stronger view. It is worth paying for the right suite, and less so for one that a future tower will block.

What The Prestige costs

The building averages about $1,008 per square foot, above most of its neighbours. For comparison, 18 Yonge, the 2007 tower a few blocks north, trades at about $856, so you are paying a clear premium for a new building, a pool and lake views.

Fees on current listings work out to about $0.92 per sq ft, with one-plus-den suites around $565 to $652 a month. The fee covers common elements, building insurance and water; hydro and in-suite heating and cooling are on your own meter.

With only six suites for sale and a wide spread of sizes, comparables inside the building are still thin. When I price here, I lean on recent trades in the building, the older Pinnacle towers nearby and Sugar Wharf, adjusted for age and view.

There are six suites for sale right now, asking from $630,000 to $2,200,000. One-plus-den suites are asking between $630,000 and $790,000. For sold prices and rents, see the data panel or my building sold report.

Building specifications

Amenities at The Prestige at Pinnacle One Yonge

This is a full amenity package, with a pool, a sundeck with barbecues, a children’s play area and a pet wash. The play area and pet wash tell you the building was planned for families and pet owners as well as investors, which is less common in a downtown tower.

Jatin’s honest take on The Prestige at Pinnacle One Yonge

The Prestige at Pinnacle One Yonge — frequently asked questions

Looking at St. Lawrence, the Financial District and Downtown Yonge more broadly? Start with my Toronto community guide — the neighbourhoods, what each pocket is like, and how they compare.