Three shiny new office towers were added to Toronto's skyline in the past year. But just west of the financial district, one developer is choosing a different route. He’s keeping the old – a handsome century-old brick factory that began as a huge bakery – and taking it to new heights.
The project will graft an 11-storey glass office tower on top of the five-story industrial building, says Michael Emory, president and chief executive officer of Allied Properties REIT. He believes there is a growing market for this kind of “human-scale green office space.” In other words, modern, energy-efficient office buildings designed in harmony with the surrounding community as opposed to a multi-level skyscraper.
When complete, the office tower will appear to float above the historic structure, held up by large supports that resemble parts from a child's Tinkertoy set. — Sweeny Sterling Finlayson &Co Architects Inc.
The $80-million project will be every bit as state-of-the-art as Toronto's new Telus, RBC Centre and Bay Adelaide Centre towers, he says.
A specialist in converting old factories and warehouses into office and retail space, Allied is looking for a lead tenant to anchor the Queen Richmond Centre (QRC) West project.
Phase One of the development, which lies along Peter Street between Queen and Richmond streets, includes the restoration of 134 Peter St., a factory built 100 years ago by George Weston Ltd. to bake cakes and biscuits.
Lead architect Dermot Sweeny, principal of Sweeny Sterling Finlayson & Co Architects Inc., worked on the Telus and RBC buildings and has designed similar sustainable features and innovations into QRC West. Construction of the office tower will begin 23 metres above ground level; it will appear to float above the historic structure, held up by three large supports that resemble parts from a child’s Tinkertoy set.
The interstitial space separating the roof of the bakery and the bottom of the tower will become part of a glass atrium that will extend down the north sides of the buildings to form a lobby at ground level. Allied is seeking municipal approval for Phase Two, which would see the atrium connect up and over a public laneway to a group of buildings along Queen Street that were acquired by the developer last December.
The first floor of the bakery, which was designed 1.5 metres above grade, will be lowered to street level to make it more retail- and pedestrian-friendly. That will help integrate the development with the community and its residents, who frequent nearby Queen Street West restaurants, stores, clubs and bars, Mr. Sweeny says,
For now, the search is on for a lead tenant to take occupancy by early 2013, but shovels won't go in the ground until 50 per cent of the space is leased, Mr. Emory says.
QRC West is attracting interest from companies that already lease in the area but are ready to “evolve from brick and beam to something more sustainable,” says Doug Hitchcox, vice-president, office leasing and sustainability practice group leader, for Cushman & Wakefield. “They're looking for the next-generation building technology to come into that area.”
Allied appears keen to coax some of Bay Street's blue-chip tenants out of their ivory towers. Mr. Emory says RBC's recent move west of the traditional financial district to the Cadillac Fairview-owned RBC Centre was a “very transformational deal” because it was “the first time a major chartered bank has made a big commitment to space west of University Avenue.”
The move demonstrated “that while location is never going to be unimportant, it is becoming a secondary or a tertiary consideration. What is becoming a primary consideration is the quality of life within a building,” Mr. Emory says.
Mr. Hitchcox agrees. Companies that want to attract talented young professionals are thinking outside the traditional office towers, he says.
“Generation X and Y have described the downtown core proper as being ‘my father's and grandfather's downtown core,' ” Mr. Hitchcox says. “The larger, more sophisticated companies that are looking for new premises today believe that attraction and retention is the number one concern in the real estate decision.”
