Regent Park is a neighbourhood in
transition, with its recently razed public
housing blocks being replaced over a
12-year period

Real Estate Guide › Central

Regent Park

Average 2008 sale price:

$394,853

Property crime:

high

Crime against people:

high

Neighbourhood map:

See map

Nestled between the scenic Don and Cabbagetown, as of six years ago Regent Park was one of downtown’s truly downtrodden areas. With its ill-conceived ’50s-era housing projects and a conglomeration of aid agencies concentrated within a few sombre, troubled blocks, the area was mostly avoided by nervous potential buyers. Today it’s a neighbourhood in progress: public housing blocks are being razed and rebuilt over the next 15 years, resulting in lofts (Vinegar Company at River and Queen), apartments, townhouses (East Village Towns at River and Shuter) and low-cost housing (at Dundas and Sackville) to suit multiple income brackets. Let’s hope more amenities are also in the works; the area’s only commercial strip is a somnolent stretch of Queen East. However, Corktown, which encompasses the southeastern part of Regent Park, could have a revitalizing effect. Until there’s any retail development, you have to go north on Parliament, east of the valley, or west of Parliament along Queen to find any density of shops, restaurants, bars or cafés.

HOUSING STOCK: It’s a mixed bag, from subsidized rentals to new brick townhomes, to old Edwardians in various states of disrepair.

BARGAIN ZONES: The entire neighbourhood is a fixer-upper, with deals to be had from Queen to Gerrard, and Parliament to the Don.

THE VERDICT: If the new glass-and-steel social housing projects turn out to be the same as the old concrete-and-steel projects of yore, there’s a good chance the area will remain undesirable, and those new $400,000-plus townhouses will take a serious dive in value. However, if the revitalization succeeds in turning the area around, buying here now will prove to be the deal of the decade. In the meantime, buyers take a risk: there are parts of the neighbourhood that make for happy strolling, and others you wouldn’t want to be in after dark.

NEIGHBOURHOOD HOT SPOTS:
Island Grill The tiny Jamaican place does mostly takeout, but has room to sit if it’s cold outside or you want to talk ackee futures with the cook. 119 River St., 416-368-8362.
Peter’s Cajun Creole Pizza Wings and slices are the focus at Peter’s, a Serbian place with a NOLA fixation. 181 Parliament St., 416-368-8099.