Toronto Atrium on Bay Expansion | 114m | 34s | KingSett Capital | Hariri Pontarini

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Was this on anyone's radar?

Application: Zoning Review Status: Not Started

Location: 595 BAY ST
TORONTO ON M5G 2C2

Ward 27: Toronto Centre-Rosedale

Application#: 11 318679 ZPR 00 ZR Accepted Date: Nov 30, 2011

Project: Non-Residential Building Addition

Description: Proposal to construct 5 storey addition 5 (14th to 18th) to existing 13 storey mixed use building.
 
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Was this on anyone's radar?

Application: Zoning Review Status: Not Started

Location: 595 BAY ST
TORONTO ON M5G 2C2

Ward 27: Toronto Centre-Rosedale

Application#: 11 318679 ZPR 00 ZR Accepted Date: Nov 30, 2011

Project: Non-Residential Building Addition

Description: Proposal to construct 5 storey addition 5 (14th to 18th) to existing 13 storey mixed use building.

Hope they would add something a bit more interesting, instead of just adding 5 plain floors which look exactly the same as the ones below. This particular complex is boring looking enough, from outside to inside really doesn't need to be bigger to attract more attention.
 
This should be at least 250,000 extra square feet of what I assume will be more office space -- very exciting! My only other guess would be that it could be the new Ryerson health sciences building, given that institution's penchant for building its spaces on top of other spaces (the business building, MLG, etc.).

I also wonder if this is a precursor to the redevelopment of the corner of Yonge and Dundas? Maybe they'll add office space, then include a residential tower over the corner?
 
canarob:

I can't imagine where the separate entrance/access would go - not having that would be a big minus against the project for student uses. Also - health sciences will probably require wet labs - not necessarily the easiest thing to accommodate as an addition to an existing office/commercial building. In any event, great news - Atrium looks as if it is designed with additional floors in mind, though one does wonder whether the atrium will carry upward through the new addition.

Now if we can get a redevelopment of 10 Dundas E...

AoD
 
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I heard somewhere that Atrium on Bay was originally intended to be taller, but that economic doldrums in the early eighties forced the developer to scale back. Anyone have more solid info on that?
 
Now if we can get a redevelopment of 10 Dundas E...

AoD
^ 10 Dundas E has been sold so many times that I've lost count of who owns it now (I had a source up to the 3rd generation of owners) but I remember that Hines, the owner of The Atrium on Bay was interested and very close to winning the bid to buy the former Metropolis/Toronto Life Square. This investment in The Atrium is encouraging because it shows that they're putting their money where their mouth is: they really are investing in their property on this corner.

From what I recall, the current owner wasn't intent on operating the building for long so they're probably looking for a long term buyer and Hines is primed for the purchase.
 
They've been upgrading the building's elevators in anticipation of the addition. I'm pretty sure this is serious and will be going ahead ASAP.
 
The new owners of the Atrium have been looking at their options for some time now but I wasn't supposed to say anything about it.

Expect:
-more offices (these 5 floors... I was expecting more though)
-condos
-a large new big-box tenant for Bay Street. I'm expecting Target.
-a new Edward Street frontage
 
^ 10 Dundas E has been sold so many times that I've lost count of who owns it now (I had a source up to the 3rd generation of owners) but I remember that Hines, the owner of The Atrium on Bay was interested and very close to winning the bid to buy the former Metropolis/Toronto Life Square. This investment in The Atrium is encouraging because it shows that they're putting their money where their mouth is: they really are investing in their property on this corner.

From what I recall, the current owner wasn't intent on operating the building for long so they're probably looking for a long term buyer and Hines is primed for the purchase.

Hines does not own the Atrium on Bay anymore.
 
The new owners of the Atrium have been looking at their options for some time now but I wasn't supposed to say anything about it.

Expect:
-more offices (these 5 floors... I was expecting more though)
-condos
-a large new big-box tenant for Bay Street. I'm expecting Target.
-a new Edward Street frontage

Interesting! Would you have any further details? For example, if the additional five floors will be pure offices, where will the residential condo part go (in this complex), along with the new big-box tenant? I know you say on Bay Street but I'm assuming it would be on the main floor but isn't that fully leased and built out? I'm trying to understand the logistics/design of this complex after your mention of condo and big box retail (until now I just assumed five additional floors of office space on top).
 
I can't say anything more at this point as it was told to me in a meeting where we were all told not to say much about the plans. Again, they were not final at this point. Yes, it would mean switching things around on ground level in a big way... I feel like most likely the food court would be wiped out/ moved.
 
The Atrium's always been problematic. It goes across the flow of Yonge Street, so foot traffic has always been wanting. The Bay Street end has always been anticlimactic, with little by way of a destination (bus terminal notwithstanding), and the steps and moat there didn't help the building's cause much, either. Although it's futuristic, 'interior city' aims were laudable, it didn't seem to quite translate into an interesting place to visit. A bit too much of a slightly-bland thing. The exterior, despite concerted efforts to improve it, has always been too thoroughly undistinguished to be enjoyable.

My friends and I were wondering if a connection to the Eaton Centre above grade could be made - and if perhaps a department store in one of the Atrium'd towers might help. I don't know if the city would be big on another above-ground walkway, though, and the ceilings in the office tower look too low to be converted to enjoyable retail use.

The complex has, basically, three towers, plus a lead-up 'stub' tower from Yonge. I could see a new tower and entrance going there. Being low, it would be the easiest to remove - (well, maybe not once you get down to the subway) - but it would yield the most dramatic improvement. A new base and tower here would butt up fairly closely to the existing tower in the complex, but it could be done. Impressive point towers are being put up on far smaller footprints.
New construction here would allow new uses and retail scale to be introduced that could do wonders. A new department store? New Theatres? New connections to Metropolis? An end to that dreadful advertising tower and incorporation of the corner bank?

New construction at the Bay End would allow the street-level access to be remedied. (Sorry, '70's moat!). The idea of a new tower here is improbable, partly for the scale needed to make a new tower viable. Maybe just heavy renovations of the base of the existing tower would help? Or maybe a residential height addition to the existing building?

Anyway -

Glad to hear the Edward Street side is being eyed for a makeover. I hope it's substantial.
The notion of building atop one of the towers is interesting. If it's clad the same way, I wonder if it will make the complex more distinguished or just make it more of the same-old, reflective same-old?
 
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I'm sure not sure ... I actually very much like the complex the way it is today ...

I think an addition and some rework around the base will do just fine.

I don't get how they can build residential, unless like you said, they demolish one of the buildings.
 
Onto what SP!RE has said, I'd heard rumblings about the addition beforehand as well (though I was told 4 storeys, by two unrelated sources). I haven't seen elevations, but what I heard described didn't sound like it would lend itself to massive point towers being added to the complex. My big question was the fate of the actual atrium, and it sounded like that would be preserved as is, and the addition would have a hole in the middle of the floorplates (enclosed, not open like the floors below) that would let light still get to the skylight. I have no clue what it'll look like from the street tho.
 

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