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Stealth Wealth
Yorkville’s covert oasis of opulence
Jon Love’s new project is hard to spot
from street level; the unmarked
residential entrance is at 155 Cumberland
Image credit: Caitlin Durlak
The most discreet tower of urban privilege this city has ever seen (or hasn’t seen—it’s almost invisible to passersby) is scheduled for completion at the end of this month. The rich and the well connected will be moving into nine sprawling storeys of luxurious living space perched on top of a nondescript Bloor Street office building.
Plans for the building—so exclusive it doesn’t have a name—were hatched back in 2005 by a real estate investment executive named Jon Love, who was the CEO of Oxford Properties Group until its sale in 2001 for $4 billion. Oxford had acquired the building in 1998; as CEO of KingSett Capital, Love bought it back and set about developing 15 perfect condos—14 to sell and one for him and his Junior Leaguer wife, Nancy.
Then he brought builder-to-the-stars Joe Brennan and Brian Curtner of Quadrangle Architects on board. It was a complicated project: a 10,000-square-foot heritage property on the top two floors of the office building had to be preserved. The penthouse, which belonged to the late Toronto businessman Noah Torno, has a Philip Johnson–inspired design. In this latest incarnation, such signature 1960s details as oak panelling, travertine walls and a bronze staircase—a replica of the stairs at New York’s Four Seasons restaurant—will be integrated with modern luxuries. The stepped terraces will have sweeping views of Queen’s Park and U of T’s green quads.
Though there’s no grand look-at-me lobby (privacy is the whole point), amenities include an at-the-ready houseman to take care of all needs and whims. (Call from the plane and he’ll make sure there’s milk in the fridge and fresh flowers on the table.)
Even as the rest of the market was skipping a beat, more than half of the units sold briskly over the past year, with sale prices upwards of $3.5 million. Love kept the 21st-floor penthouse for himself, and Brennan bought the entire 16th floor. The Torno Suite isn’t for sale yet, but rumour has it the asking price will be $25 million.
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