Lifetime Developments and DiamondCorp are advancing toward the construction of a rare development in Toronto these days. Q Tower is a 60-storey, 980-unit condominium on the site of a former parking garage at 200 Queens Quay W. 

The 1.248-acre site was acquired from Canada Lands Company for $100 million in February 2020 when the Crown corporation realized there were better uses for the prime downtown location. 

Lifetime and DiamondCorp have equal ownership stakes and are involved in all stages of the development. They had originally proposed to build two highrises but those plans were changed to develop one larger tower to address community concerns, particularly regarding shadowing on the park to the north.

“It was a complex process involving a number of different parties and we worked through a lot of issues with the city, which was very cooperative with us,” Lifetime principal Brian Brown told RENX.

“What we ended up with was something that I think is a far better project that gave more presence and more space around the building. I also think it’s going to make the skyline from Lake Ontario, looking back towards the city, look even better.”

The partners have now officially broken ground on the project.

What Q Tower offers 

Q Tower is designed by Wallman Architects, with interiors by U31. 

Suite sizes range from 360 square feet for studios to just over 1,800 square feet for penthouses, and some units can be combined to create larger ones. Prices start at $599,900.

“This building is very attractive to both end-users and investors,” Brown said. “All of our suites have bedrooms on the windows and all of our suites have balconies.” 

Q Tower’s amenities will include: a kids' zone; a social lounge; fitness and recreation spaces; co-working space; outdoor dining terraces; pet facilities; portraits by German Pop artist Michael Moebius in common areas; underground parking; bicycle storage; a street-level lobby; and 3,500 square feet of retail frontage on Lower Simcoe Street. 

“(The retail space) spills on to a new public park that's going to be right at the corner of Harbour and Simcoe streets,” DiamondCorp president Ty Diamond said during the same interview. “So you've got this opportunity for a really interesting urban activation there.

“You get a newly re-landscaped Harbour Street, where we're putting significant capital into improvements, and then you've got the new public park that we're building as part of this project.”

Q Tower's prime location and economic benefits

Q Tower is situated close to public transit as well as Harbourfront Centre, Roundhouse Park, Rogers Centre, Scotiabank Arena, CN Tower, Ripley’s Aquarium of Canada, Billy Bishop Toronto City Airport, Jack Layton Ferry Terminal, the underground PATH pedestrian walkway, Lake Ontario and more.

“This is truly one of the last pieces to be developed on the central waterfront within that precinct of Toronto,” Diamond noted. “There’s no other site that we can identify that has real high-density potential.

“It's sort of an irreplaceable location with immediate proximity to Union Station, an interesting city living experience, and views of Lake Ontario to the south and the CN Tower to the north.” 

Altus Group estimates Q Tower will deliver approximately $295 million in direct economic benefits for Toronto, including development charges, education levies, park land, community benefits, municipal fees and property taxes.

The City of Toronto is projected to collect more than $10 million in property taxes during the development period, followed by $6.7 million annually upon completion.

Sales have been steady

Sales for Q Tower kicked off in November 2023 at the Real Sports Bar & Grill. Close to 70 per cent of the units have been sold.

“We're very fortunate to be in a position today where we've achieved enough sales to allow us to get our construction financing to allow us to start construction and to allow us to commit to a delivery date, which will be at the end of 2029 to early 2030,” Brown said. 

As a means of spurring sales, units are being offered with zero per cent mortgages until 2035, allowing owners to be mortgage-free for the first five years of occupancy.

“The expectation in 2029 is that there's going to be about 2,000 units delivered in the Greater Toronto Area,” Brown said, “and of that 2,000, we represent close to 50 per cent.”

Both Lifetime and DiamondCorp still strongly believe in the condo market despite the ongoing slump. They expect it to bounce back and neither are considering pivoting planned condo projects to purpose-built rental apartments.

Other Lifetime developments in Toronto

Toronto-based Lifetime still has units available in the recently completed 19-storey, 404-unit XO2 Condos at King and Dufferin streets. It followed the adjacent 14-storey, 307-unit XO Condos.

There are also units available at the recently completed Oscar Residences, a nine-storey, 155-unit condo with 83,000 square feet of commercial space at 500 Dupont St.

“We have a number of sites that we're very excited to launch as soon as the market shows that it's ready for a new launch,” Brown said. “One of those will be at Yonge and Eglinton, where we will be delivering a 58-storey tower.”

Other DiamondCorp developments

Toronto-based DiamondCorp and Alterra topped off the 40-storey Celeste, a mixed-use condo at Richmond and George streets, in December.

The company and partners Kilmer Group, Dream and FRAM + Slokker are advancing phases of the 72-acre Brightwater development. The master-planned, mixed-use community along Lake Ontario in Port Credit, west of Toronto, will eventually have almost 3,000 residential units. 

Farm Boy, LCBO and Rexall have opened stores at Brightwater while Mercatto will open soon. They comprise a combined 109,776 square feet and have just been put up for sale.

“Looking a little bit further into the future, we've got communities coming up at Sherway Gardens in partnership with Cadillac Fairview, as well as at Yonge and Merton in midtown Toronto,” Diamond said.