$28M Toronto condo sets Canadian price record

An international buyer has paid $28 million for a penthouse suite at the Four Seasons development in Toronto, the highest price ever paid for a condo in Canada.

The unnamed buyer stepped up with the eye-popping bid for the suite, which sits atop the 55-storey West Residence building in Toronto's tony Yorkville area. The suite has 9,038 square feet of living space and offers a panoramic view of the city with 3.6 metre ceilings and four terraces.

It also comes with separate quarters for household staff.

The building is 85 per cent sold, developer Alan Menkes said. Prices in the 210-residence building start at $1.9 million for a 1,000-square-foot condo. First occupancies and the opening of the adjacent hotel are expected in the summer of 2012.

"The discerning international buyer of the penthouse suite was attracted to all that this landmark project has to offer," Menkes said, while declining to name the buyer.

Former BMO president Tony Comper used to hold the record for the most expensive condo in the city, laying down $15 million for the penthouse on 1 St. Thomas Street several years ago. But that was eclipsed by the $20 million billionaire Alex Shnaider reportedly paid for the penthouse at the yet-to-open Trump International Hotel & Tower.