The Residences on Lombard: 17 Boutique Suites With Yonge + Rich Amenities

The Residences on Lombard is what Great Gulf built on the quiet side of its Yonge + Rich site: 17 suites in five storeys, on a street of 19th-century brick, with a walkway to a 45-storey tower’s amenities next door. It is one of the smallest condominiums downtown and one of the most expensive per square foot on Lombard. Whether that premium is worth it depends on how much you value privacy. I’m Jatin Dua, RE/MAX Quantum Realty.

The heritage side of Yonge + Rich

Great Gulf’s Yonge + Rich site runs from Richmond Street down to Lombard. The tower faces Richmond. The Lombard side carried two red-brick Richardsonian Romanesque buildings built for printing and engraving firms: the eastern one in 1890 for R.G. McLean, the western one in 1894 for Barclay, Clark and Company. They were joined in 1905 and sat empty for years before redevelopment.

In 2013, The Globe and Mail reported that Great Gulf, working with heritage firm E.R.A. Architects, planned to restore the pair as free-standing pavilions rather than keep only their faces, and to turn them into loft homes. The heritage report found original wood windows, a stamped-metal cornice and detailed stonework still in place.

The Residences on Lombard is marketed as a boutique building with heritage design elements in a historic setting. The public sources I found do not say exactly how much of the 17-suite building sits inside the restored brick and how much is new construction. Ask for the heritage details and the condominium plan, because a suite inside an 1890s building and one in a new addition are different products.

Seventeen suites, with a tower’s amenities

The main appeal is scale. Seventeen suites over five floors means a quiet entrance, few neighbours and a lobby where people recognise each other. Suites run from about 554 to 1,337 square feet, larger on average than in the tower next door.

The building’s marketing promised a connected walkway to the amenities at Yonge + Rich. condos.ca lists a rooftop deck, yoga studio, party room, dining room, catering kitchen, billiards and table-tennis room, barbecues and concierge. In effect, you get a boutique front door and a large tower’s amenity floor.

That arrangement deserves a close read. Find out whether the amenities are shared under a reciprocal or shared facilities agreement with the tower’s corporation, how costs are split between them, and what rights the 17 owners have if the larger corporation changes rules or hours. In small corporations, the terms of that agreement matter a great deal.

Lombard Street

Lombard is a short, two-block street between Jarvis and Victoria, and it is one of the more interesting walks downtown. The Old Fire Hall of 1886 is a block east, and the street mixes Victorian brick with Spire’s 2007 glass tower and a handful of small loft buildings.

The street is still changing. When The Globe and Mail walked Lombard in 2013, the corners at Church Street were parking lots. One of them now holds The Saint, a 2025 tower by Minto, and Yonge + Rich itself replaced the gap where a row of Victorian houses once stood. A small building like this one cannot control what rises around it, so check what is proposed on nearby lots before you buy for the view.

It is also much quieter than Yonge or Richmond, which is the whole point of buying here. St. James Park and the cathedral are a short walk south-east, St. Lawrence Market is beyond them, and the financial district is within walking distance to the west. The automatic panel on this page covers transit, schools and walkability.

Expect some street activity at night from the bars and restaurants in the area, and service traffic at the back of buildings on Richmond and King. A suite facing Lombard should still be calmer than almost anything on a main street.

Pricing on Lombard Street

condos.ca puts The Residences on Lombard at about $997 per square foot, the highest on the street alongside Spire at about $995. Yonge + Rich next door averages about $840, Absolute Lofts at 77 Lombard about $808, and The Indigo at 50 Lombard about $622.

That is a premium of more than 15 per cent over the tower next door for access to the same amenities, paid for privacy, larger suites and a boutique address. With only 17 suites, very few sales happen in any year, so one sale can move the average. I price suites here against the building’s own history and against boutique buildings elsewhere downtown, not against the tower. Thin sales also cut the other way when you sell: a buyer’s lender may want comparables that simply do not exist in a building this size, so expect to lean on the appraisal.

Fees on current listings average about $1.25 per square foot, with monthly fees from about $690 to $1,340. That is high, as small buildings usually are, and it likely reflects the shared amenity costs. condos.ca does not list fee inclusions, so confirm them in the status certificate.

At the time of writing, four suites were for sale. One-bedroom and one-bedroom-plus-den suites asked about $669,000 to $680,000, and two two-bedroom suites each asked about $998,000. Three suites were listed for rent. For aggregate sold figures, see my building sold report.

Building specifications

Amenities at The Residences on Lombard

No 17-suite building could support a rooftop deck, yoga studio and catering kitchen on its own. Here you reach them through the walkway to Yonge + Rich, which is the clever part of the arrangement and the part to understand legally before you buy. Walk the route from your door to the gym yourself, so you know how convenient it really is in January.

Jatin’s honest take on The Residences on Lombard

The Residences on Lombard — 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.