Conrad Black
Senior Member
Almost finished cladding the last office floor. Mechanical floors coming shortly.
|
|
|
nstuch
Active Member
i posted this on the trump thread, probably belongs here
***********************************
To: Scotia Plaza Tenants
From: Bob Bouvier, Operations Director
Date: November 11, 2008
Subject: Bay Adelaide Tunnel Connection Construction.
Scotia Plaza Management is working with Brookfield Properties to construct a tunnel
under Adelaide Street to complete the PATH connection between Scotia Plaza and
the Bay Adelaide Centre leading to the Bay and Eaton Centre with an anticipated
official opening of the connection on September 1st 2009.
The Surface work has begun this week and hoarding has been erected on the sidewalk
at the end of the Adelaide forecourt; we expect this work will be completed in the
spring. During this time road closures may be required due to this construction; our
parking entrance and garage, however, will always be accessible. Our Security
Officers will continue to monitor all road traffic in the area and Police Officers will
be called in as needed to assist.
We will provide updates as the work progresses.
Should you have any questions please do not hesitate to contact me.
Bob Bouvier
Operations Director
urbandreamer
recession proof
20 November 2008 photo update
The view from the westend, 20 minutes ago:
The view from the westend, 20 minutes ago:
canarob
Senior Member
This will save me a lot of time on cold/rainy days! No more heading west and back east again!
Urban Shocker
Doyenne
Yes, giving Winners a direct underground link to the pastry shop at Bay is a fine idea.
grey
Senior Member
View from Stewart Street:
Uncle Teddy
Senior Member
Nice shot and nice deck.
CityPlaceN1
Senior Member
Last mechanical floor cladding starting on the east side of the building. Other than the ground floor we're almost done with the cladding.
Translude15
Frank the Tank
Good to see the cladding almost done on this one. Any word on the status of the other Bay-Adelaide projects?
canarob
Senior Member
I'm not sure if this is really new information, but...
Credit shortage chokes office building boom
LORI MCLEOD
From Tuesday's Globe and Mail
November 24, 2008 at 10:18 PM EST
The Canadian office building boom has run into a wall.
Hit by a shortage of funds, many borrowers can't get loans for construction or mortgages. That means a number of proposed projects are being put back on the shelf to wait for better days.
Even well-capitalized companies including Brookfield Properties Corp., one of the country's largest owners of high-quality office buildings, are becoming more conservative about new projects.
“I think it's reasonable for anybody who has a proposed development or a development in the initial stages, that they are re-evaluating whether to go or not to go ahead. That will likely be driven by what kind of leasing they have in place,†said Tom Farley, president of Canadian commercial operations at Brookfield Properties.
Brookfield has two Canadian projects under construction, Toronto's Bay Adelaide Centre and Bankers Court in Calgary.
The Bay Adelaide project was given the green light when it was 25 per cent preleased, Mr. Farley said. The building is now 75 per cent preleased and scheduled for completion next year.
For any new projects, however, Brookfield will seek preleasing levels of between 40 to 60 per cent. This includes the proposed second phase of Bay Adelaide, Mr. Farley said.
“Now is not the time to build on [speculation],†he added.
Other property developers appear to share this view. At a recent industry event, a representative of SITQ, a real estate subsidiary of the Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec, said the pension fund will likely develop a planned office project at 45 Bay St. in Toronto during the next round of real estate construction, expected around 2015.
In the past, SITQ has had a higher tolerance for risk than some other developers, building projects on speculation, or without preleasing, in cities including Paris, France, and Calgary.
One of these projects, the first phase of Calgary's Eighth Avenue Place, is now under construction. Bets in the industry are that most new projects, including the second phase of that development, will likely be put on hold for the time being.
“The cost means it makes more sense right now for the strong players to build liquidity and get ready to buy cheap when people's mortgages come due,†said Michael Smith, an analyst at National Bank Financial.
A dearth of available funds in the Canadian commercial mortgage market, which is valued at an estimated $15-billion, has been driving up borrowing costs for those who can raise capital, despite falling interest rates.
Much of the problem is fallout from the global credit crisis, which has choked off one of the industry's key funding sources, commercial mortgage-backed securities. Fears about commercial mortgage defaults in the United States are now indirectly causing more pain.
After months of stability, the cost of default protection on high-quality mortgage bonds has soared, according to the CMBX Markit index. That's partly being driven by news that two commercial mortgage borrowers in the United States are expected to default on loans made to them by JPMorgan Chase & Co., valued at $334-million (U.S.).
“If lenders start seeing more defaults in the U.S., the typical bank or [life insurance company] in Canada can't help but be nervous about some spillover. The U.S. is a leading indicator. We know there's already been spillover in residential, and it's not hard to draw that line from residential to commercial,†Mr. Smith said.
With the end of the year approaching, many traditional real estate lenders – banks, life insurance companies and pension funds – have already dramatically reduced their financing activities.
A drop in the value of public equities means many pension funds have soared past their target allocations in real estate, with some even being forced to sell off holdings to achieve their required asset mix.
The Caisse, for example, has been one of the country's most prominent real estate lenders. But it recently said it would scale back real estate and private equity investing as a result of its stock market losses.
A big question is whether there will be more capital available for borrowers next year when lenders are working with fresh budgets, said John O'Bryan, vice-chairman, Canada, at CB Richard Ellis.
Despite rumours that some office projects now being built will get scaled back, most have secured construction financing and will get finished, Mr. O'Bryan said.
Developers are contractually obligated to lessors, contractors and equipment suppliers, and trying to halt a project can actually be more expensive than finishing it, he added.
One high-profile project without financing is EnCana Corp.'s new head office in Calgary, owned by H&R Real Estate Investment Trust. H&R recently said it will consider selling assets to fund the project, and one analyst has suggested a major distribution cut could be on the horizon.
Credit shortage chokes office building boom
LORI MCLEOD
From Tuesday's Globe and Mail
November 24, 2008 at 10:18 PM EST
The Canadian office building boom has run into a wall.
Hit by a shortage of funds, many borrowers can't get loans for construction or mortgages. That means a number of proposed projects are being put back on the shelf to wait for better days.
Even well-capitalized companies including Brookfield Properties Corp., one of the country's largest owners of high-quality office buildings, are becoming more conservative about new projects.
“I think it's reasonable for anybody who has a proposed development or a development in the initial stages, that they are re-evaluating whether to go or not to go ahead. That will likely be driven by what kind of leasing they have in place,†said Tom Farley, president of Canadian commercial operations at Brookfield Properties.
Brookfield has two Canadian projects under construction, Toronto's Bay Adelaide Centre and Bankers Court in Calgary.
The Bay Adelaide project was given the green light when it was 25 per cent preleased, Mr. Farley said. The building is now 75 per cent preleased and scheduled for completion next year.
For any new projects, however, Brookfield will seek preleasing levels of between 40 to 60 per cent. This includes the proposed second phase of Bay Adelaide, Mr. Farley said.
“Now is not the time to build on [speculation],†he added.
Other property developers appear to share this view. At a recent industry event, a representative of SITQ, a real estate subsidiary of the Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec, said the pension fund will likely develop a planned office project at 45 Bay St. in Toronto during the next round of real estate construction, expected around 2015.
In the past, SITQ has had a higher tolerance for risk than some other developers, building projects on speculation, or without preleasing, in cities including Paris, France, and Calgary.
One of these projects, the first phase of Calgary's Eighth Avenue Place, is now under construction. Bets in the industry are that most new projects, including the second phase of that development, will likely be put on hold for the time being.
“The cost means it makes more sense right now for the strong players to build liquidity and get ready to buy cheap when people's mortgages come due,†said Michael Smith, an analyst at National Bank Financial.
A dearth of available funds in the Canadian commercial mortgage market, which is valued at an estimated $15-billion, has been driving up borrowing costs for those who can raise capital, despite falling interest rates.
Much of the problem is fallout from the global credit crisis, which has choked off one of the industry's key funding sources, commercial mortgage-backed securities. Fears about commercial mortgage defaults in the United States are now indirectly causing more pain.
After months of stability, the cost of default protection on high-quality mortgage bonds has soared, according to the CMBX Markit index. That's partly being driven by news that two commercial mortgage borrowers in the United States are expected to default on loans made to them by JPMorgan Chase & Co., valued at $334-million (U.S.).
“If lenders start seeing more defaults in the U.S., the typical bank or [life insurance company] in Canada can't help but be nervous about some spillover. The U.S. is a leading indicator. We know there's already been spillover in residential, and it's not hard to draw that line from residential to commercial,†Mr. Smith said.
With the end of the year approaching, many traditional real estate lenders – banks, life insurance companies and pension funds – have already dramatically reduced their financing activities.
A drop in the value of public equities means many pension funds have soared past their target allocations in real estate, with some even being forced to sell off holdings to achieve their required asset mix.
The Caisse, for example, has been one of the country's most prominent real estate lenders. But it recently said it would scale back real estate and private equity investing as a result of its stock market losses.
A big question is whether there will be more capital available for borrowers next year when lenders are working with fresh budgets, said John O'Bryan, vice-chairman, Canada, at CB Richard Ellis.
Despite rumours that some office projects now being built will get scaled back, most have secured construction financing and will get finished, Mr. O'Bryan said.
Developers are contractually obligated to lessors, contractors and equipment suppliers, and trying to halt a project can actually be more expensive than finishing it, he added.
One high-profile project without financing is EnCana Corp.'s new head office in Calgary, owned by H&R Real Estate Investment Trust. H&R recently said it will consider selling assets to fund the project, and one analyst has suggested a major distribution cut could be on the horizon.
dt_toronto_geek
Superstar
The BA crane was taken down last week. The final level of windows are being completed now.
khris
Senior Member
Would love to see some photos of the crane being dismantled, if anyone has any. Apparently some windows got broken during the process as well.
Sir Novelty Fashion
Senior Member
Yes, on the north side. The police had blocked off one side of Bay that night while they worked on repairs.
Mike in TO
Senior Member
Some photos from the last week (with the crane still up) from a couple different angles:
Solaris
Senior Member
December 1 2008 update
crane was still there then ...
crane was still there then ...