Luxe Lakeside Living At 55 Harbour Square In Downtown Toronto

Like toques and maple syrup, being near water and in nature is a constant in many Canadians’ lives. Many of us residing in Toronto – a metropolis of 6.4 million people – are prepared to drive four hours north navigating road rage on a May two-four weekend so we can crack a beer on the dock, make some S’mores, and hear the call of the loon before heading back to the city.

Research shows that busy urbanites who seek refuge near blue spaces have proven positive impacts on physical and mental health. Being near water has been shown to lower stress and anxiety, increase well-being and happiness, lower heart and breathing rates, and result in a generally healthier lifestyle. However, for Torontonians who love their walking life as much as their rejuvenating sojourns on the dock of a cottage, what drains and depletes many of us is the alternating ‘either/or’ scenario and the gruelling unpredictable travel in between.

Fortunately, there’s a solution where one can enjoy the benefits of being near water and still walk to the Financial District for work. Welcome to Suite 916 at 55 Harbour Square in Harbourside Condominiums.

Easy Breezy Lakeside Living

55 Harbour Square – one of the 5-star Harbourside condominiums which offer luxe amenities and calibre services on par with fine executive hotels – is perched overlooking Lake Ontario in downtown Toronto (Fun fact; did you know that Toronto has one of the longest urban lakefronts in the world?!). This coveted address marries ‘Bright Lights, Big City’ urban cool with a sanguine lakeside life, which means you can enjoy a Raptors Game at Scotiabank Arena (an 8-minute walk from this property) and then take the ferry to The Royal Canadian Yacht Club (RCYC) to go sailing on your bestie’s yacht (it’s a 3-minute stroll to the Jack Layton Ferry Terminal). With Lake Ontario, the Toronto Islands, and Billy Bishop Airport in your backyard, your every day could include kayaking to Cherry Beach, sunbathing nude at Hanlan’s Point, or savouring a Manhattan in Manhattan. How Dreamy!

With an incredible Walk Score of 94 and a perfect Transit score of 100, the city’s finest offerings are yours for the taking when you live at 55 Harbour Square. Union Station, Harbourfront, the St. Lawrence Market, Scotiabank Arena, the Entertainment District, the Rogers Centre, Ripley’s Aquarium, Roundhouse Park & The Railway Museum, and the iconic CN Tower are all within easy reach. Plus with the TTC and Underground Path (entrance directly across the street at RBC WaterPark Place) seamlessly connecting you to an additional collection of shops, restaurants, and entertainment venues, you’ll always be effortlessly linked to the living networks of the City.

Yes, there are great things to do across the city, but when you live at Harbourside Condominiums, there’s no need to leave your waterfront domain unless you want to! You’ll find that shops, galleries, entertainment offerings, and restos surround you when you live at the water’s edge. Daily errands are a breeze with the go-to ‘trifecta’ within easy reach: Rexall pharmacy across the street, Toronto’s favourite grocer – FarmBoy – one block west, and the LCBO four blocks east – just 6 minutes by foot!

There are plenty of unique offerings for food as you wander Queens Quay or walk up York or Yonge Streets, with Mom & Pop shops sprinkled in with staples like Pizzaiolo, Impact Kitchen, Aroma, Starbucks, Hero Burger and more. For a cup of java, our neighbourhood favourite is Boxcar Social Harbourfront. Here you can enjoy a view of the islands with your daily dose of caffeine! Meeting up with pals for a lovely lakeside lunch? Amsterdam Brewhouse could be your go-to spot for tasty comfort food with its impressive selection of local brews and stunning waterfront patio. Equally awesome is the Goodman Pub & Kitchen for when you’re keeping it casual, but for your fancier friends – or a great date night – try something upscale like the much-lauded Miku or Harbour 60 (re-opening this Fall!) – both just a 5-minute evening stroll away.

Urban Parks & Natural Ecosystems

Harbour Square is just steps to some amazing green spaces, including sundrenched HTO Park to the west – completed in 2007 by Toronto landscape architect Janet Rosenberg, Montreal paysagiste Claude Cormier and architect Siamak Hariri (Here’s a link to a review by Toronto Star’s Christopher Hume when it was first completed). Just to the east is Sugar Beach – located at the foot of Lower Jarvis Street adjacent to the Redpath Sugar Factory. A 2-acre urban oasis designed by Janet Rosenberg & Associates Landscapes Architects of Toronto and Claude Cormier Architects Paysagistes Inc. of Montreal, this former parking lot is a shining example of the maximized potential for a better community in the downtown core. Bright pink umbrellas populate the white sand providing shade for those relaxing in Muskoka chairs. And when you’ve baked enough, stretch your legs with a stroll down the boardwalk.

The Martin Goodman Trail – spanning about 56 kilometres – is one section of the iconic Great Lakes Waterfront Trail system that connects communities along the Great Lakes and St. Lawrence River. The Trail offers some of the best views that Toronto has to offer – both of the Lake and the City – and has access points at many great parks and beaches, including Sir Casimir Gzowski Park at Humber Bridge, Budapest Park, High Park, Ontario Place, Coronation Park, Harbourfront at Queens Quay West, Cherry Beach, Tommy Thompson Park, Ashbridge’s Bay Park and the Eastern Beaches area.

Check out Harbourfront Centre on Queens Quay West, which has served as an innovative, non-profit cultural organization providing internationally renowned programming in the arts, culture, education and recreation within a collection of distinctive venues for over thirty years. The Centre also hosts an extensive program of arts and cultural events, including craft and artisan fairs, theatre and dance performances and musical concerts. A series of free concerts is staged at the outdoor concert stage every weekend throughout the summer and in winter there is the free open-air ice rink. Adjacent to the Harbourfront Centre is the Power Plant Contemporary Art Gallery. It’s one of Canada’s leading art spaces, dedicated to contemporary exhibits which explore unique ideas and spark conversations!

Feel like adventuring across the water? Harbour Square Park and the Jack Layton Ferry Terminal are literal steps away and your gateway to the Toronto Islands. You can even grab a private water taxi or rent a boat when you get the urge to hit the amusements at Centre Island or bask on the beach at Hanlan’s Point. ‘SeaDoo’ing is also popular around the Islands. Isn’t summer’s sweet when you live at Harbourside!?

(Did you know that in the mid-1800s – almost 200 years ago – the ferry to the island was horse-powered? Two horses walked a sort of treadmill that was linked to side oars. Another point of interest is that, back then, they weren’t even islands yet; there was a very skinny piece of land that connected them to the mainland. That narrow peninsula was walkable if you were so inclined. Neat, eh?)

Yes, that’s me –> realtor Steve Fudge kayaking on Lake Ontario.

Near All Points North, South, East & West!

For many Buyers, accessibility to work, leisure activities and their social world from a potential property – whether by car, bike, and/or public transit – is often heavily weighted in the decision-making. As a result, Buyers will analyze each listing to determine whether the city’s existing infrastructure will support or hinder their daily life. For example, understanding the frequency and number of stops required to get from a Potential Home to work/hobby will indicate how convenient public transit is. Enviably, those living at Harbour Square enjoy the condo’s excellent private shuttle bus service which takes residents to Union Station and the Financial District multiple times a day, as well as weekly routes throughout the city to theatres, galleries, shopping destinations, and many fine restaurants. How amazing is that?

Union Station is the central point for all transit in the City – connecting subway lines, streetcar and bus routes, the GO Transit system, and the UP Express – making it an irreplaceable amenity to have within easy reach.  When the free shuttle bus isn’t running, hop onto the 509 streetcar on Queen’s Quay West right in front of Harbourside Condominium and arrive at Union Station 3 minutes later. Need to do an IKEA run? Grab a ZipCar right across from Harbourfront Centre and in 2 minutes take the Gardner Expressway On-Ramp at York Street and head west. And when you need to escape the City completely – for the weekend, a business trip, or a vacation getaway – the convenient UP Express to Pearson International Airport departs from Union Station, or if you’re flying on Porter out of Billy Bishop Airport the streetcar on Queens Quay will take me from your front door to Billy Bishop Airport!

Can you imagine having all of this at your fingertips? Talk about living your best urban life!

Harbourside Condominiums

The three original Harbour Square Condos at 33, 55 and 65 Harbour Square were developed by the Campeau Corporation. Thirty-three Harbour Square – (YCC 288)  has 539 units on 45 floors – and 55 & 65 Harbour Square – (YCC 510) have 602 units on 38 floors. Each building was diagonally set on its lot, which creates the maximum sightlines of the city and the lake for residents. The elegance of the building’s modern architectural design by Bregman + Hamann Architects is timeless and continues to allure, now standing tall for nearly 50 years on one of the most enviable parcels of land in downtown Toronto.

Having a mix of one and two-level suites ranging from 450 to over 3000 square feet, this Pet-Free complex is reputable and well-managed with excellent professional 24/7/365 concierge and security. The amenities include a 60-foot long saltwater indoor pool, an exercise/yoga room with quality fitness equipment, a sauna & steam room, 2 squash courts, a billiard room & library, a children’s playroom, a party room, a 7th-floor lakeside garden and patio with barbecue facilities, a private licensed bar & lounge, guest parking, a paid car wash, the shuttle bus service and wi-fi. 

The Status Certificate is available on request. It currently shows this well-managed building has nearly $6 million in its reserve fund.

Suite 916 –> “They don’t make condominiums like this anymore!” 

When was the last time you were in a one-bed, one-bath downtown Toronto condo? The concrete wrapped in polyurethane and glass skin ‘crackerjack boxes-in-the-sky’ being completed in the city right now are squeezing 2-bedroom 2-baths into 620 square feet! They have compact open-concept space plans with pint-sized kitchens lining one wall and one of the bedrooms doesn’t even have a window.

This suite, on the other hand, is spacious, offering 1052  square feet of interior living space! From the foyer with double closet, the suite with recently installed wood plank flooring expands into a generous living and dining room; they’re open to one another and share an expansive south-west facing wall of glass with views of Love Park, Rogers Centre and glimpses of Lake Ontario. The dining zone also features an original bronze mirrored wall. Bathed in the warm glow of sunset, the space plan offers enormous flexibility in dividing the space into zones or positioning your furniture.

The kitchen is separate from the entertainment area which was fashionable in its day – and remains popular with downsizing Boomers who prefer to keep their dirty pots and pans out of sight. The next resident may wish to remove the kitchen’s demising walls but we like it exactly the way it is! Although some of the kitchen cabinet doors need a fix, these quality fittings have gone full circle over the past 44 years and today are very much on-trend. A refresh with quartz countertops and new appliances would make this kitchen very chic!

The bedroom is just as surprisingly spacious as the other principal rooms and also benefits from floor-to-ceiling west-facing windows that flood the space with natural light. We envision the sliding door of the Juliette balcony wide open with linen sheers billowing in the lakeside breeze. Done just right, this is a space that could make you feel like you’re on permanent vacation in a boutique hotel. Yes, please!

Off the bedroom is a generous dressing room with two large closets and a built-in vanity. It connects to the four-piece semi-ensuite with an abundance of travertine that, like the kitchen cabinetry, is cycling back to have its on-trend moment. This washroom is enormous – and illustrates that Campeau Corporation was pulling out all the stops to make this a 5-star complex. The beauty of this entire suite is that a few intelligent repairs and upgrades would have a spectacular impact!

With separately deeded parking known as 4-210, there is untold value in purchasing a property that you can tailor to your wishes, wants, and needs. Whether you’re a downsizer looking to embrace the city’s cultural tableau, or you’re an urban professional wanting to stroll to work, this primely positioned rare-to-market Harbourside Condominium on Lake Ontario is the blank canvas that could reinvent your life in your unique way.

Contact steve@urbaneer.com for more information or to book a private tour!