Genuine three-bedroom condominium suites are scarce in Etobicoke because most towers were built to a unit mix that favours one-bedroom and one-plus-den plans. Reina at 689 The Queensway is one of the few recent buildings designed the other way: Storeys reported that its two- and three-bedroom plans exceed the City of Toronto’s “Growing Up” guidelines, with nine-foot ceilings and ground-floor in-law suites.
If you are trying to raise a family in a condo in South Etobicoke, this page is about how to tell a real family suite from a marketing one. Reina is the worked example, not the only answer.
Why family-sized condos are rare in the first place
This is not an accident of taste. It is arithmetic.
A developer’s revenue per square foot is highest on small suites. Two 550 square foot one-bedrooms sell for more in total than one 1,100 square foot three-bedroom on the same floor plate, and they sell faster, and they are easier to finance at the pre-construction stage. Left to the market, a tower will fill up with small units.
The City of Toronto has spent years pushing against this. Its Growing Up: Planning for Children in New Vertical Communities guidelines set out expectations for larger-unit shares, minimum sizes, storage, and building design that works for families — things like where you put the stroller and whether a child can reasonably get from the elevator to the door. The guidelines have shifted new proposals. They have not undone twenty years of existing supply.
Which is why, when you search for a three-bedroom condo in Etobicoke, you find three categories: rare purpose-built family plans, two-bedroom-plus-den units listed as “3 bedroom”, and older combined suites. They are not the same thing, and they should not trade at the same price.
How to tell a real three-bedroom from a listing that says three
Bring a tape measure and this list:
| Test | What a real family plan looks like |
|---|---|
| Does the third bedroom have a window? | A den with no exterior window is not a bedroom, whatever the listing says. Ontario’s Building Code requirements for bedroom windows exist for a reason. A windowless room can be an office. It should not be a child’s room, and it should not be priced like one. |
| Does it have a door and a closet? | Sliding partitions and open “flex” spaces do not give a teenager a room. |
| Can two bedroom doors and the bathroom door open at once? | The classic failure of a squeezed three-bedroom plan. Stand in the hallway and try it. |
| Is there a second bathroom — and is it a full one? | Three bedrooms and one bathroom is a weekday-morning problem you will live with for years. |
| Where does the laundry go? | A stacked closet unit is fine for one person. For four, look at where the hamper actually lives. |
| Is there storage inside the suite, not just a locker? | Locker rooms are three elevators and a corridor away. Families need a hall closet. |
| Where does the stroller live? | If the answer is “the hallway”, you will be in a dispute with the corporation within a year. Fire routes must stay clear. |
What Reina did differently
Reina, at 689 The Queensway, was developed by Urban Capital with Spotlight Developments and designed by BDP Quadrangle. According to reporting in Storeys and the Daily Commercial News, the design brief targeted family living specifically. The documented features:
- Two- and three-bedroom plans reported as exceeding the City’s Growing Up guidelines, with nine-foot ceilings and floor-to-ceiling rolling doors.
- Ground-floor in-law suites — genuinely rare in Toronto condominiums, and a direct answer to multigenerational households.
- Stroller parking on nearly every floor, rather than one corral in the lobby.
- A children’s play area in the 6,500 square foot courtyard, and an indoor children’s playroom.
- A yoga studio positioned with sightlines into the playroom — a small decision that tells you the designers had actually tried to do both things at once.
- Stepped-back massing with a linear walkway, described in the 2020 reporting as functioning as a safe route to school.
- Interior amenity space reported at over 5,000 square feet, roughly 25% above the City of Toronto requirement.
Suite sizes at Reina run from 520 to 1,485 square feet according to condos.ca, with the mix described in the March 2025 Storeys piece as two- and three-bedroom suites plus the ground-floor in-law suites.
Public sources do not publish Reina’s parking count, locker count, bicycle parking, elevator count, pet rules or short-term rental rules. Listings on condos.ca show many suites with no parking and some larger suites with one space, which suggests parking is scarce — but that is an observation about listings, not a building fact. For a family buying a three-bedroom, parking is usually not optional. Confirm it on the specific suite’s legal description before you get attached to the floor plan.
The trade-offs nobody puts in the brochure
I sell condos and I still tell family buyers this plainly:
- Fees scale with size. A 1,200 square foot suite carries roughly twice the monthly fee of a 600 square foot one in the same building. Over a ten-year hold that is real money, and it is money you cannot pay down like a mortgage.
- Resale is a narrower market. Fewer buyers want a three-bedroom condo than a one-bedroom. When you sell, your pool is smaller and your timing matters more.
- Noise travels differently with children. Ask specifically about the floor assembly and whether the corporation’s rules require broadloom or underlay coverage in living areas. Then ask what happens when a neighbour ignores it.
- School catchments are worth checking properly. Use the Toronto District School Board and Toronto Catholic District School Board school finder tools for the exact address rather than trusting a listing. Boundaries change, and a school being close is not the same as being the assigned school.
And the counterweight, which is real: a well-designed family condo puts you inside the city, walking distance from transit, with no roof, no furnace and no driveway to shovel, at a price that in most of Etobicoke buys nothing detached at all.
The takeaway
Family-sized condos in Etobicoke are scarce because the economics push developers the other way, and the City’s Growing Up guidelines are only slowly changing that. Reina is one of the clearest recent examples of a building designed against the grain. Whether it is right for you comes down to the specific suite — window in the third bedroom, second full bathroom, parking on the legal description, and a fee you can carry. Send me the floor plan and I’ll go through it with you line by line.
Send me the floor plan
I’ll go through it with you: whether the third bedroom is really a bedroom, whether the bathroom count works for your household, what the fee will actually be per month, and whether parking is on the legal description. Ten minutes of my time can save you a decade of a plan that doesn’t fit. No pitch, no obligation.
connect@jatindua.com · 437-987-1925 · Book a free consultation
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Frequently asked questions
Are there any three-bedroom condos in Etobicoke?
Yes, but they are a small share of supply. Most Etobicoke condo towers were built with a unit mix weighted toward one-bedroom and one-plus-den suites, because smaller units generate more revenue per square foot for the developer. Newer buildings designed under the City’s Growing Up guidelines have more family-sized plans. Reina at 689 The Queensway is one recent example.
Is a den the same as a bedroom?
No. A room without an exterior window is not a bedroom regardless of how a listing describes it, and a space without a door and a closet does not function as one. Check the window first — it is the test that matters most, and it is the one most often glossed over in listings.
What are the City of Toronto’s Growing Up guidelines?
Growing Up: Planning for Children in New Vertical Communities is a City of Toronto planning guideline that sets expectations for larger-unit shares, minimum unit sizes, storage, amenity design and building layout so that new condominium buildings work for families. Storeys reported that Reina’s two- and three-bedroom plans exceed those guidelines.
Does Reina have three-bedroom units?
Storeys reported the mix as two- and three-bedroom suites plus ground-floor in-law suites, with plans exceeding the City’s Growing Up guidelines and nine-foot ceilings. condos.ca lists suite sizes from 520 to 1,485 square feet. For availability and the specific plan you are looking at, send me the listing.
Do family-sized condos cost more in maintenance fees?
Yes. Fees are charged by unit factor, which broadly tracks size, so a larger suite carries a proportionally larger monthly fee. That is an ongoing cost you cannot pay down the way you pay down a mortgage, so it belongs in your affordability calculation from the start, not as an afterthought.
Should I buy a three-bedroom condo or a townhouse in Etobicoke?
It depends on how you weigh stairs, outdoor space, parking and monthly cost against location and building amenities, and on what your ten-year plan is. Both work for families in this part of the city. I have written a separate guide on condo townhouses in Etobicoke, and I am happy to compare specific options with you against your actual numbers.
Sources
- City of Toronto — Growing Up: Planning for Children in New Vertical Communities. The City guideline for family-sized units, storage and building design in new condominium buildings. Accessed 23 August 2026.
- Storeys — All-Female Team Putting Finishing Touches On Reina (7 March 2025). Reporting on Reina’s unit mix, ground-floor in-law suites, stroller parking, playroom and amenity square footage. Accessed 23 August 2026.
- Storeys — Real Estate Project of the Year 2020: Reina (8 December 2020). Reporting on the design brief, suite sizes relative to the Growing Up guidelines, ceiling heights, the courtyard and the walkway. Accessed 23 August 2026.
- condos.ca — Reina Condos, 689 The Queensway. Building profile: suite size range, amenity list and corporation details. Accessed 23 August 2026.
- Toronto District School Board — Find Your School. Official school boundary lookup by address, for confirming the assigned school for a specific suite. Accessed 23 August 2026.
Related reading
- Living at Reina Condos, 689 The Queensway — an honest review
- Who built Reina Condos? The team behind 689 The Queensway
- Condo townhouses in Etobicoke — a buyer’s guide
- Living at Vita Two, 2167 Lake Shore Boulevard West
- Living at Riva Del Lago, 110 Marine Parade Drive
About the author — Jatin Dua, Etobicoke real estate agent
I’m a licensed Realtor with RE/MAX Quantum Realty at 799 The Queensway in Etobicoke, a few minutes from every building on this page. I work with buyers, sellers and investors across Mimico, Humber Bay Shores, New Toronto, Long Branch, Alderwood and the Stonegate–Queensway corridor. I write these building guides the way I’d brief a client at my own kitchen table: what is documented, what isn’t, and where the published numbers disagree with each other.
Questions about a specific suite? connect@jatindua.com or 437-987-1925.