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CityPlaceN1

CityPlaceN1

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Quebecor puts Toronto Sun building on the block
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/LAC.20080528.RTICKER28-1/TPStory/?query=quebecor
GRANT ROBERTSON
May 28, 2008
Quebecor Inc. has put the headquarters of the Toronto Sun up for sale, but the company said it's not certain the company's flagship newspaper in English Canada will be relocating. Executives with Sun Media say the company no longer wants to own the downtown building, and has put the 300,000-square-foot space on the block after months of rumours it was up for sale. The Sun may seek to lease the space from the new owners. No asking price has been disclosed. The site has been at the centre of rumours that it could be sold to a condominium developer, but Quebecor said no decisions have been made. The building is larger than the newspaper needs for its operations, Sun Media said. The Toronto Sun has cut staff in recent years and restructured operations. QBR.B (TSX) fell 45 cents to $31.85.
 
Assuming this is the building on King East, this could be good news. I walk by it daily, it does little for the area. If the site is developed as condos, hopefully with all the other new developments in the area we'll see some more retail and maybe even night life. New pubs and restaurants?
 
I'm mixed. The fact that the Toronto Sun built its offices and printing plant on the east end of downtown at 333 King arguably gave the area a bit of kick it needed (I wonder if Betty's would have opened there without the Sun). I liked the little touches - the PoMo-lite fit in with the buildings in the area, the murals are interesting, it was more urban than the Star's or the Globe's buildings.

But it makes a good redevelopment opportunity, though it's not a place for tall towers - something like Mozo (remember when Clewes was creative?) would be perfect.
 
As the most tabloid-like of Toronto's newspapers (discounting free papers like Metro), I'm surprised it is not represented at Dundas Square. Would it be appropriate to move some of its operations into, say, the HNR building?

Toronto Sun Square, anybody?
 
Keep in mind that the present two-tone PoMo-lite is an expansion and reskinning of what was originally a spartan orange-brick precursor of St. Lawrence Neighbourhood style and scale...
 
This building definately helped the area out during its 'troubled' days and years and a loss of jobs, possibly to the suburbs, would be a shame.
 
This building definately helped the area out during its 'troubled' days and years and a loss of jobs, possibly to the suburbs, would be a shame.
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Well the printing jobs already moved to a suburban 416 site. The site is probably 3/4's empty or underused at this point.
 
Big for sale ad for this site in the Globe's business section today. Redoing the Front Street section of this lot is a must. Will go a long way towards connecting the downtown area to the Distillery and West Don Lands.
 
Big for sale ad for this site in the Globe's business section today. Redoing the Front Street section of this lot is a must. Will go a long way towards connecting the downtown area to the Distillery and West Don Lands.
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Agreed. Living almost directly between these two points of interest -- the St. Lawrence Market district and the Distillery -- I always think it's a shame that there has to be such a "dead area" between the two. Walking along the Esplanade is fairly pleasant due to the long park, and King St. is upscale all the way along, but Front between George and Berkely is devoid of anything worth walking past, save for perhaps the new Sobeys.

In my inexpert opinion the two biggest obstacles along Front to linking all this up into one cohesive cool 'hood are the Toronto Sun Building and the Greyhound Bus Shipping Depot.

1. From the sounds of it, the Toronto Sun shipping docks facing Front don't seem to be used for their intended purposes anymore; the building is an oppressive monstrosity, though I appreciate that they were trying to fit it in with the surrounding old brick warehouses (many of which no longer exist: see East Lofts). Let's demolish it and build something cool... another corporate headquarters like SAS, maybe? Or residential (yeah, I know, more condos)? A square? A park? A combination of all the above?

2. The Greyhound Bus Depot serves an important purpose, but it has been there for a long time and the neighbourhood has clearly evolved around it. I see no reason why Greyhound couldn't sell this land (probably for a pretty penny) and move the depot to another area that remains more industrial. Even if the drivers had to drive another 5 or 10 minutes to get to it, they'd probably save time in the long run if the area was less populated with traffic and they could quickly turn in and out of the lot (often now they have difficulty making left turns onto Sherbourne and block the sidewalks for long periods).

Just some thoughts...
 
From the sounds of it, the Toronto Sun shipping docks facing Front don't seem to be used for their intended purposes anymore; the building is an oppressive monstrosity,
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The Front Street section is the old Toronto Sun printing plant. That was moved out to another Quebecor facility a few years back so this part is empty/underused. The area with the loading docks is now used for parking. Hence the plan to sell/redevelop.
 
There is an ad for the site in the Globe business section/property report today - it's zoned RA (regeneration area), I think they stated a potential for 3M sq. ft of floorspace.

AoD
 
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