Palace Pier vs Palace Place: Which Sibling Tower Suits You?

By Jatin Dua · Updated August 11, 2026 · 7 min read

The two buildings at a glance

Two hedges in that table are deliberate. The sources do not quite agree on Palace Pier’s height or on Palace Place’s completion year — the latter spread likely reflects the gap between construction and registration. I flag both rather than paper over them; nothing in the choice turns on either number.

What they have in common

Almost everything that makes the address special. Both are cruciform towers, which gives most suites light from two or three exposures. Both offer genuinely large apartments — Condos.ca records roughly 888 to 3,190 square feet at Palace Pier and roughly 833 to 2,894 at Palace Place — a different world from the compact units up the street. Both share the landscaped estate at the eastern tip of the neighbourhood: you exit the lobby into gardens, not onto a podium.

Both amenity lists cover an indoor pool, gym, sauna, guest suites and 24-hour concierge and security. Both sit beside the Humber Bay Arch Bridge, so the Martin Goodman and Waterfront Trails pass the property and downtown is a flat waterfront bike ride away. And both carry the same honest trade: the greenest, quietest corner of Humber Bay Shores, with the shops around Park Lawn and Marine Parade Drive a walk or short ride west. Buses along Lake Shore link to the streetcar corridor and Mimico GO, and the Gardiner ramps at Park Lawn are minutes by car.

Where they genuinely differ

Age and systems. Roughly fifteen years separate them. Palace Pier was completed in 1978 — Wikipedia records it was the tallest residential structure in Canada when it opened, built to a design by Edward I. Richmond on the site of the old amusement pier. Palace Place is an early-1990s building: newer mechanical systems and construction methods, still the era of full-sized suites. At these vintages, the maintenance record matters more than the birth year — more below.

Suite mix. Palace Pier is the smaller community — 433 suites against 504 — and carries the largest recorded floor plans of the pair, topping out around 3,190 square feet against roughly 2,894. If you are hunting the biggest apartment on the waterfront, the original is where the record sizes sit.

Fee structure. Both run all-inclusive models typical of their eras, but the recorded lists differ: Condos.ca notes heat, hydro and water bundled at Palace Pier, while Palace Place’s recorded inclusions extend to cable TV, air conditioning, building insurance and parking — about as all-inclusive as Toronto condo fees get. That makes headline fees hard to compare. I publish no figures; pull current numbers and inclusion lists from each status certificate.

Turnover. With 504 suites, Palace Place sees reasonable turnover; Palace Pier’s suites come to market less often. Neither behaves like the investor-driven towers nearby — expect patient, end-user buyer pools and more negotiation on terms.

Who should lean Palace Pier

Buyers for whom the largest floor plans are the whole point — downsizers leaving a house who refuse to shrink into 600 square feet — and anyone drawn to the provenance of the tower that started Humber Bay Shores. What I tell clients to weigh is the age-appropriate homework: at nearly fifty, major systems will be somewhere in their replacement cycle, so the status certificate and reserve fund study should show what has been done, what is funded and how fees have trended. That is general diligence for any building of this vintage, not a comment on this one — a well-run older tower can be a better hold than a thin-walled new one, but you confirm it on paper, not on faith.

Who should lean Palace Place

Buyers who want the same setting in a younger structure, with full-sized suites and the most comprehensive recorded fee inclusions of the pair. A building in its fourth decade is typically midway through its own replacement cycles, so the same paperwork discipline applies — plus one question I always have clients ask with an all-inclusive structure: how have utility costs trended, and are any inclusions slated to change?

One practical note for either tower: they are separate corporations, and amenity and grounds access differ by corporation — confirm specifics for the building you are actually buying in, and compare floor plans suite by suite before deciding.

Renting in either building

This pair sits on the opposite side of Ontario’s rent-control line from most of the neighbourhood. First occupied in 1978 and the early 1990s — both comfortably before the November 15, 2018 cut-off — annual increases for sitting tenants are generally limited to the provincial guideline. For tenants that is a budgeting advantage over the post-2018 towers up the street; for landlords it shapes the long-term math. The mechanics are in my explainer on whether an Etobicoke rental is rent-controlled.

Frequently asked questions

Sources

• Wikipedia — The Palace Pier. Both towers: completion years, 46-floor description, designer Edward I. Richmond, tallest-residential-structure claim and the amusement-pier site history. Accessed 10 August 2026.
• Condos.ca — Palace Pier, 2045 Lake Shore Blvd W. Storey count (45), 433 units, Bramalea Limited, suite size range, amenities and fee inclusions. Accessed 10 August 2026.
• Condos.ca — Palace Place, 1 Palace Pier Crt. Build year (1993), 44 floors, 504 units, suite size range, amenities and fee inclusions. Accessed 10 August 2026.

Related reading

• Living in Palace Pier — the 1978 original
• Living in Palace Place — the 1990s sibling tower
• The Humber Bay Shores condo buildings guide
• Etobicoke community guide