Yorktown on the Park, 222 The Esplanade: Hydro Included, Park Across

Yorktown on the Park is the building I show people who want St. Lawrence without paying St. Lawrence glass-tower prices. It is a 1991 mid-rise with the park right out the front door and a fee that covers almost every utility, including hydro. That fee looks high on paper, and it is the first thing we will take apart together. I’m Jatin Dua, RE/MAX Quantum Realty.

A courtyard building in a planned neighbourhood

St. Lawrence is one of the few parts of downtown that was planned as a neighbourhood from the start, with mid-rise buildings lining The Esplanade and a long linear park running down the middle. Yorktown belongs to that generation. It is 12 storeys, not 40, and it sits directly across from David Crombie Park and close to Parliament Square Park.

The building is concrete with vertical bands of glass, and the suites are arranged around a central courtyard. Listing descriptions also mention a rooftop garden. Between the courtyard, the roof and the park across the street, this is one of the better buildings downtown for anyone who wants green space without driving to it.

There are shops at grade along The Esplanade, which helps the street feel lived in. The trade-off of a mid-rise is views: you look at trees and neighbouring buildings, not the lake, and you should price it that way.

Layouts from an era of rectangles

Suites here run from about 419 sq ft to about 1,335 sq ft, with a lot of one-bedroom-plus-den plans and a good number of two-bedroom-plus-den plans. Building descriptions talk about rectangular layouts, long living areas and enclosed kitchens, which is typical of early-1990s design and usually means less wasted space than in many newer suites.

Listing descriptions mention two-level penthouses with private terraces, greenhouse-style windows in some suites and wood-burning fireplaces. A wood-burning fireplace in a downtown condo is rare. If a suite has one, ask the corporation how the chimneys are maintained and whether owners are allowed to use them, and confirm what your insurer needs.

Finishes vary a lot from suite to suite, because some owners have renovated and others have not. In a building this age you are buying the layout and the location, then budgeting for what is inside.

Why the fee looks high, and why it may not be

Across current listings, fees work out to about $1.23 per square foot, which is well above what you will see quoted for newer towers in the area. On its own, that number scares people off. It should not, until you look at what it covers.

Condos.ca lists hydro, heat, air conditioning, water, building insurance, common elements and parking in the fee. Most newer buildings nearby bill hydro to you through a sub-meter, charge for heat and cooling separately, and may not bundle a parking space. Add those costs back onto a newer building before you compare.

The other side is that you do not control your own usage costs, and a building this age will have older mechanical systems that the fee is paying to run and eventually replace. That is a reserve fund question, and I would read that study before anything else.

Living on The Esplanade

Daily life here is about walking. St. Lawrence Market is a short walk west along Front Street, the Distillery District is to the east, and the Financial District and Union Station are within walking distance for most people. The automatic panel on this page shows transit, schools and nearby food in detail.

The street is quieter than Front or King, and the park across the road gives you a buffer that a tower on a main street cannot. Suites facing the courtyard will be calmer again. If you are sensitive to noise, ask which way a suite faces before you book a showing.

The area east of here keeps changing, with the West Don Lands and the Distillery area adding towers every year. That brings more shops and services, and also more construction, so check the City of Toronto development map for anything planned near the building.

How it compares on The Esplanade

The Esplanade is lined with buildings from the same planning era, and many are co-ops or rentals rather than condominiums, so the choice of resale condos on this stretch is narrower than it looks. Yorktown’s large suite count means there is usually something for sale, which is not true of every building nearby.

Against the newer glass towers on Front Street and towards the Distillery, Yorktown gives you more interior space for the money and a quieter street, but older finishes and no views of note. Against the other early-1990s buildings in St. Lawrence, the main differences are the courtyard, the rooftop garden and that all-inclusive fee.

My advice is to compare three numbers side by side: price per square foot, total monthly cost including utilities, and the health of the reserve fund. Yorktown tends to look better on the first two than buyers expect, and the third is where you do your homework.

What Yorktown costs

Condos.ca puts the building average at about $682 per square foot, which is low for this part of downtown. Newer towers a few blocks away often trade well above that. Part of the discount is age and the lack of views; part of it is the high fee, which buyers price in.

When I checked, there were nine suites for sale. The one-bedroom-plus-den suites of about 500 to 599 sq ft were asking from about $405,000 to $458,000, and the two-bedroom-plus-den suites of about 800 to 999 sq ft were asking from about $529,000 to $589,000. Fees on those listings ran from roughly $670 a month on the smaller suites to roughly $1,000 to $1,250 on the larger ones.

That is a lot of choice for one building, which helps a buyer negotiate. Before you make an offer, get the recent sold results for the same layout. I can pull those for you through my building sold report.

Building specifications

Amenities at Yorktown on the Park

The amenities are modest: concierge and security, a gym and sauna, guest suites, bike storage and the rooftop garden and courtyard. The real amenity is the park across the street, which gives you more outdoor space than any rooftop terrace could.

Jatin’s honest take on Yorktown on the Park

Yorktown on the Park — 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.