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adma said:
Is there some kind of institutional/educational reuse possible for the IBM HQ, I wonder? (And the entire site is so megascale, I doubt it'd be too "wasteful" to retain it.)
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Former IBM headquarters - the new corparte headquarters and development lab are up in Markham.

Seeing how it's being marketed actively now, hopefully it can be leased up - in which case it won't be going anywhere anytime soon.

Anyone work for celestica on these forums? Where did they move all the people, also, I still think manufacturing is going on in the other buildings.
 
One wonders if Centennial College could nip it up and make good use of the building. With the Science Centre and soon the Aga Khan nearby, surely there would be some crossover potential for the students at the college. You could almost say there is a nascent cultural node up there, a college nearby that fees off that would be great for the city.

If Centennial did snap it up, it would be a nice parallel to their imaginative re-use of the former Toronto Teachers College, now the Centre for Creative Communication. That building won a Silver Medal in the 1955 Masseys.
 
What's the asbestos et al situation at IBM? (Just wondering, because it's so often classic #1 60s modernist demolition alibi)
 
adma said:
What's the asbestos et al situation at IBM? (Just wondering, because it's so often classic #1 60s modernist demolition alibi)
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Celestica, not IBM ;)

Well it was in use 1 - 2 years ago, so I would assume it would be fine
 
adma said:
I'm an old-school purist, so the joint'll always be IBM to me...
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It's not even the "old" IBM building anymore, it's the *old* old.

Here's the new old IBM, up on Steeles:

2007_08_18-TDBank.jpg


If memory serves me correctly, the western complex (bottom of photo) used to be IBM's Canadian HQ while the eastern complex (top of photo) was IBM's software division. IBM's HQ - er, I mean IBM's Innovation Centre - moved to the eastern complex, while the software division moved up Warden to a site nestled against the Rouge.

What's most interesting is that all 3 complexes were built with grade separated road access...probably all 3 have been rendered entirely superfluous due to suburban growth that radically alters the direction employees arrive from.

Building over Celestica's largest parking lot, right off Eglinton, wouldn't be a problem, but what will happen to the parking lot between the eastern 'face' of the complex and Don Mills? It's not wide enough for a real street and may not even be wide enough for a laneway. Perhaps a parkette/piazza/garden/fountain extravaganza would work, like some kind of Section 37 sinkhole.
 
adma, astute question about the asbestos. The prospectus for the sale specifically mentions that the asbestos was removed during a big 1980's renovation, so obviously a concern among potential purchasers.
 
I know I'm sounding like a broken record but the trend for technology companies to move from Toronto to the 905 is very unfortunate. I'm afraid what we have left - Toronto's very own technology center (around 401 - 404 strip, a bunch of smaller engineering (hardware) companies) will also slowly head north.

We focus on manufacturing but in many ways this is an even more lucrative market. That's why I'm against redevelopment and institutional use - this could serve as a very large technology campus for some company.

The unfortunate part here is it really would need to remain the way it is - that's what a lot of these companies are looking for - "campuses" - which goes against meant of the development practices we try to promote but may be necessary to retain/attract such companies.
 
None of this is very new. This old IBM location at Eglinton was all farmland when it was built. I'd hazzard to guess this campus is the reason all sorts of tech companies call the DVP/404 corridor home today.
 
More residential to fill a bursting DVP. If DRL is built to Don Mills it will be peak flow south with no counter peak if the City doesn't hold the line on employment, at least vs the low rise retail uses.
 
Wow, huge change for the intersection if this happens.

I would like to see office/employment growth here, especially with LRT.
 
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