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Globe and Mail publisher Phillip Crawley stands beside a concrete pillar after writing his name and a few words on the pillar at a topping off ceremony at the new office.Fred Lum/The Globe and Mail

The Globe and Mail's new home has reached its full height, an important construction milestone, as partners in the new office tower celebrated with a "topping-off" ceremony on Friday.

The 17-storey tower at 351 King St. E. in Toronto is named The Globe and Mail Centre, and will have the newspaper on the top five floors as its lead tenant.

The building is a partnership between developer First Gulf and public pension manager OPTrust, and forms a major part of the neighbourhood's wider redevelopment. At 500,000 square feet, it will be the largest office development east of Yonge Street on King Street.

For The Globe, it will create an open-concept, technologically sophisticated newsroom in 130,000 square feet of space, with 10-foot-high windows admitting natural light and views of downtown and the lake. Designed by Diamond Schmitt Architects, the Centre will also include a 17th-floor event space.

"It's a sign of faith in the future that we've made this move," said The Globe's publisher, Phillip Crawley.

"A modern media company needs a modern building," he added, noting the newspaper's current Front Street West home was built when printing presses were still housed on-site. "We need the kind of technology and facilities that this building will deliver for us."

Construction is on schedule to welcome tenants to the building in 2016, including LoyaltyOne and Yellow Pages Ltd.

In remarks delivered in the new building's lobby on Friday, First Gulf chief executive officer David Gerofsky said the building, which will meet environmentally-friendly LEED Gold standards, "brings 21st-century technology, jobs and development to the east side of downtown."

Mayor John Tory called The Globe and Mail Centre "a substantial investment in office space in an important, developing area of the city."

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