THE LISTING 22 St. Thomas St., Unit 12A
LISTING PRICE $7,850,000
TAXES $25,042.22 (2016)
MAINTENANCE FEES $3,954.26 (monthly)
UNIT SIZE 3,800 square feet
AGENT Erez Henya, Salesperson, Forest Hill Real Estate Inc., Brokerage
22 St. Thomas St.
Harry Bregman is facing a similar feeling to one he had in the late 1990s.
"I never wanted to leave Dunvegan," Mr. Bregman said about his Forest Hill house.
It was the home where he raised his family and had pool parties every warm weekend.
"But once I got down here. Wow," he said. "Then I realized what a good move Bernice had made me do."
"Here" is the residences in the Windsor Arms Hotel and Bernice was Mr. Bregman's wife. She passed away late last year and now Mr. Bregman is in the same position as he was 20 years ago: knowing he has to go.
"She was the one who had a lot of energy for this place," he said. "She was here all the time."
The back story
A living space at 12A-22 St. Thomas St.
The Windsor Arms Hotel is a boutique brick hotel in Toronto's Yorkville neighbourhood. Originally built in 1927, the four-storey building underwent a substantial renovation after developer George Friedmann bought it in the mid-1990s and commissioned its modernization with the help of Sol Wassermuhl of Page + Steele architects.
The end result was 28 hotel rooms in the original building, plus 24 condominiums in a slim tower built above it. The project was completed just before the turn of the century and right when Mr. Bregman was looking to move.
At the time, his children had all grown up and Bernice was looking for a home that would let her enjoy the next stage of her life.
The dining room.
"My wife liked being looked after," he said. Hence the appeal of living in a condo inside of a hotel. Owners of these units get to enjoy the perks of being a hotel guest, including: the hotel's kitchen and its staff, the pool, the exercise rooms, the steam rooms, valet parking, the hotel's cleaning service and the spa, which was Bernice's favourite.
The debut of this hotel-condo came at a time when this kind of hybridization was rare. There was no Shangri-La, Four Seasons or the Thompson Hotel. And even if there were, Mr. Bregman said he still would have decided to live in the Windsor Arms.
The unit has a 27 1/2-foot kitchen.
"There's just so much activity at the Four Seasons," he said. "But here, there's no hustle and bustle; just peace and privacy."
Mr. Bregman's unit is one of two on the 12th floor and his three-bedroom suite sits at approximately 3,800 square feet.
"This is considered one of the biggest suites," said his real estate agent, Erez Henya.
The master bedroom.
The unit has three sections to it: one wing that contains the two guest bedrooms (each with their own ensuite bathroom) and a wall's length closets for storage; the living space, which contains a powder room, 27 1/2-foot-long kitchen, a breakfast area, a dining room, a living room and a den; and the third part of the home is dedicated to the master suite with its spacious, seven-piece ensuite bathroom and a pair of walk-in closets.
"There is nothing like this in the city. Period," Mr. Bregman said.
The seven-piece ensuite bathroom.
Priced at $7.85-million, it will also appeal to a fairly narrow buyer group, and Mr. Henya has done a lot of thinking as to who might want to live here next. There is, of course, a core buyer group for Toronto's high-end properties, business leaders like Mr. Bregman and such. But Mr. Henya thinks the condo-hotel combination will appeal to a different subset of the wealthy: athletes and movie stars – people who are used to living in hotels.
"Well remember that when Trump came in, a lot of movie stars said, 'We're moving to Canada,'" Mr. Henya said with a laugh.
The best features
The walls and cabinetry of the den are clad in cherry wood.
www.myhomeviewer.com
Both Mr. Henya and Mr. Bregman name the living room and den as their favourite spots in the condo. The living room is the hub of the unit, sitting centrally between the two sleeping wings and the den and the dining room. It also has a great southwest view, which features much of the University of Toronto's century-old architecture.
The den, which is just south of the living room, looks over onto Charles Street, but what makes it special is the cherry wood that envelops the walls and cabinetry. There is also a wet bar at its entrance, where you can store not just your liquors but also all of your glassware.
But beyond the rooms, one of the elements Mr. Bregman cherishes the most is the privacy of the building.
"I can't even go to another floor," he said, adding that an owner's access card only lets him or her access their floor, the lobby and the amenities.
As for Bernice, she loved being in a hotel.
"She loved being able to call up and have room service on our dining-room table, and then have the staff clean it up so she didn't have to do a thing," Mr. Bregman said.
Despite all of these amenities, Mr. Bregman knows he must go, since she loved the home so deeply.
"I feel so good being here, I really don't want to move, but I feel I have to," he said.