Yonge + Rich, 25 Richmond St E: Two Pools, a Heritage Base, Small Suites

Yonge + Rich is the building I show to buyers who want to live a block from Yonge Street and walk to work in the Financial District, and who accept that the trade-off is a compact suite. It is a 2021 Great Gulf tower with a white zig-zag skin, a podium pool, and a restored 1890s printing building attached to its base. The most important thing to understand before you buy is that the site holds two separate condominiums, and you are only buying into one of them. I’m Jatin Dua, RE/MAX Quantum Realty.

One site, two condominiums

Great Gulf built this project as a single 46-storey, 694-unit development, according to the Daily Commercial News, but registered it as two condominiums. The lower part of the tower, up to the 33rd floor, is Yonge + Rich at 25 Richmond Street East. Floors 34 to 46, together with the restored heritage building, form a separate condominium marketed as the Penthouse SkySuites with its own entrance at 20 Lombard Street.

That split matters more than most buyers realise. The two corporations have their own budgets, boards and reserve funds, and the 46th-floor amenity level is reserved for the upper condominium and the heritage suites. If you are buying at 25 Richmond, your amenities are on the fifth floor.

The published numbers do not line up neatly. Condos.ca shows 45 floors and 681 suites for 25 Richmond, which reads like the whole tower, while the builder’s team describes the 25 Richmond condominium as running to the 33rd floor. Before you firm up, check the declaration in the status certificate so you know exactly which corporation, which units and which shared facilities you are buying into.

The printing building at the base

The six-storey brick building wrapped into the podium dates from the 1890s and once housed R.G. McLean Printers and Barclay, Clark & Company Lithographers. It had stood empty for years. Great Gulf kept the exterior masonry walls, gutted everything inside, poured new concrete floors, added an elevator and stair core and another storey, and replaced the windows with double-glazed units in the original style.

There are 17 residential suites in that heritage portion, and a bridge connects it to the tower. Those suites belong to the 20 Lombard condominium, not to 25 Richmond, so they are a different purchase with a different fee structure.

From the street, the result is three materials stacked on top of each other: red Victorian brick, a charcoal precast podium and the perforated white metal panels that zig-zag up the south face of the tower. That white cladding is what makes the building recognisable on the skyline. The project also includes three public art installations of painted, lit glass by Katharine Harvey that reference the site’s history.

Small suites, heat and cooling included

Condos.ca puts suite sizes at roughly 420 to 1,009 sq ft. In practice, most of what comes up for sale is one-bedroom and one-bedroom-plus-den, with a smaller number of two-bedroom plans under 900 sq ft. This is a building for singles, couples and investors, not for families looking for space.

The fee inclusions are better than many downtown towers of this age. Condos.ca lists heat and air conditioning along with common elements, building insurance and water, so your own utility bill is mostly hydro for lights and appliances. Parking is not listed as included, which is normal for this part of downtown.

The building has seven levels of parking, per the Daily Commercial News, but that does not mean every suite comes with a space. If you need one, confirm in writing that the suite comes with a deeded or exclusive-use spot, and do the same for a locker.

Living at Richmond and Victoria

This is the seam between the Financial District, the St. Lawrence neighbourhood and the Yonge Street retail strip. The Eaton Centre, Massey Hall and the PATH are a short walk, and the King Street office towers are close enough that many owners here simply walk to work.

The trade-off is that this is a working downtown block. Richmond Street is a busy one-way artery, Lombard Street behind the building is narrow and busy with deliveries, and there is construction somewhere nearby most of the time. If you are sensitive to noise, look at higher floors and visit at rush hour before you decide.

The transit, schools and walkability figures for this address are in the data panel beside this review, so I won’t repeat them here.

What Yonge + Rich costs to buy and to carry

Condos.ca puts the building average at about $840 per square foot. That is below what newer towers on Yonge and in the core have been launching at, and it reflects how many small one-bedroom suites there are here.

Seven suites were for sale when I checked. One-bedroom and one-bedroom-plus-den suites were asking roughly $448,000 to $560,000, and two-bedroom and two-plus-den suites between about $640,000 and $760,000. Asking prices are not sale prices; my building sold report shows what has actually traded.

Fees on the active listings averaged about $0.95 per square foot, which puts a typical one-bedroom in the $400 to $550 a month range. That is on the higher side for a 2021 building, but remember that heat and air conditioning are in it. Compare total monthly cost, not the fee alone.

With seven suites listed for sale and seven for lease when I checked, resale competition is real: when several similar one-bedrooms are listed at once, buyers have leverage. That is good news if you are buying and a reason to price carefully if you are selling.

Building specifications

Amenities at Yonge + Rich

For 25 Richmond owners the amenities are on the fifth floor: a pool with an outdoor terrace, a gym, a yoga studio, a lounge and kitchen, co-working space and outdoor barbecue areas. The 46th-floor pool and terrace belong to the upper condominium, so do not let a listing photo of the rooftop sell you on something you will not have access to.

Jatin’s honest take on Yonge + Rich

Yonge + Rich — 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.