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Isabella/Huntley block (Rogers land assembly)

AlbertC

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Report from the UJNA:

Isabella/Huntley land assembly

Rogers has now purchased all but one of the residential properties that comprise the balance of the block on which its headquarters are situated ( i.e. the north side of Isabella and the west side of Huntley from Isabella northward). No formal proposal has been submitted to City Planning and Rogers is not saying what it intends to do with this property, or when. The purchased apartment buildings are essentially standing empty and the townhouse owners have been given a timeframe to depart. The UJNA is anxious to ensure that the residential streetscape is preserved on this land, which is zoned “neighbourhood†(low-rise residential).


Google Maps view of the block: Here
 
Its just houses on the site in question, what "apartment buildings".

eek, what could they be up to here ??? Could they be considering selling they're HQ for redevelopment ???
 
Oh I see there are a couple 3 story rental complexes, that's probably what they're referring too.
 
I wonder what they're planning. The office tower is fairly new so it seems like it would be a waste to demolish it, but I can't see them building anything new on the assembled properties with the existing office tower sitting right there in the way. That tower was also quite large for the location and time that it was built, but with the new context of the highrises on the west side of Jarvis and Sherbourne also getting built up I wonder if the city might be willing to let them go quite a bit higher than what they have. Maybe they're aiming for retention plus a density transfer to let them add a few stories to the tower?
 
I have a hard time believing that's what they're planning. If anything they're in cost cutting mode as of late. I wonder if they're considering selling / re-locating, but this is a massive site. Not only that they have a lot offices in this area around the HQ i.e. quite a few of the office buildings on Bloor (east of Church), rogers has a big presence in.

Not sure what to think of it, could be good new, could be bad ...
 
Considering Rogers' increasingly diversifying portfolio of services (ie. applied to become a bank) it may become a reality one day that they enter the real estate business.

/jk ;)
 
haha !

Who knows, but think about it, if they did want to sell the site, it would be much more attractive for them to own it all (for potential buyers that is). But again I hope that's not the plan, I just looked it up, there is about 600K worth of office space on the entire block today, so where would they relocate all those workers. Of course 500K+ in the 1980/90s can probably fit into 350/400K in a modern development.

I doubt they'd consider moving further downtown and paying market rents (as they do own now) leaving me to believe they're consider leaving the city (potentially an add on to their Brampton campus) ?

I'm guessing the above is the plan OR, they want to expand and build one more office building on the site, I think there's space with some re-configuration of the current site.

I guess time will tell !
 
The original circa 1992 Confederation Life Building is sandwiched in between a north and south wing Rogers completed in 2002/03. I don't see why further expansion is so foreign to some. The thing to note that as part of the expansion, Rogers was zoned into building residential along Huntley. An expansion would likely be 3 to 4 storeys fronted by residential. Something along these lines would still add significant space and offer large floor plates.
 
It makes a great deal of sense for Rogers to sell its holding here to a development partner for a massive mixed use project and lease in a major tower - becoming the lead tenant - say in Southcore or the Oxford centre. They could bank the cash or use it to take a percentage ownership in whatever building they move to. This would give them a greater presence downtown (which a company of their stature needs) and bring all their offices together in one place.

This works for a development partner (Oxford?) providing them with a great site for a future mixed-use project AND a major tenant in an office tower downtown.

Win, win.
 
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I can't comment only Rogers consolidating their employees under one roof but, redeveloping a perfectly good Class A complex complete with a high F.A.R. doesn't seem to make any sense to me. This is not the MTCC lands and even the redevelopment for that seems more of a vision than a serious proposal.
 
I very much doubt Rogers wants to locate to more expensive premises.

I think its one of the two things I stated, 1) they're looking to sell, 2) they want to build an addition.
 
Maybe the plan is to move staff from 350 Bloor East (and maybe other locations) to the mothership? Or perhaps they will go the route of the banks and make the property more attractive before selling it and the renting it back? I can't see the actual Rogers building being redeveloped into anything that isn't still mostly office.
 
It would be odd if they moved since the street the complex is next to is now named after Ted Rogers.

Silly reason for a business to make decisions.
 
Photos taken 2 March 2013.

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