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More and more new office development has been occuring in Toronto's Downtown as businesses try to move closer towards a growing pool of young professionals who now live in the plentiful new condominiums which have been densifying the city. While recent construction starts at the Bay Adelaide Centre East and 100 Adelaide West are getting a lot of attention in our Forums, today we have new of another recent annoucement for you, this one on the eastern edge of the Downtown.
After their succesfull renovations and additions to 333 King East, First Gulf has announced a new 17-storey office tower to be built at the east end of that site at 351 King East. 333 King was originally the headquarters for Sun Media and was where they housed not just their offices but also printing presses. The renovations by First Gulf converted the lower floors into retail space to house businesses like No Frills and National Bank. First Gulf also added a 3-storey glass addition designed by Pellow+Associates Architects which is now the Canadian HQ for Coca-Cola, while one floor of the original building is being retained by Sun Media. George Brown College also leases space in the building. Below, a couple recent shots of the west portion of the complex highlight the 3-storey addition and the accent fins currently being secured around it.
Following the completion of 333 King, First Gulf will add their new tower at 351 King East and rename the whole complex the King East Centre. The building is being designed by Diamond Schmitt Architects and will bring 500,000 Sq Ft of new office space to the area. The 351 tower is set to rise from what is currently a parking lot sometime later this year, and first occupancy is expected in 2016. Below, renderings of the new tower show how it integrates into the surroundings.
Above is the new tower with Berkeley Street on it's left.
Above we can see the tower rising behind the exisiting building. The first tenant of the new office will be First Gulf themselves, who plan to move their headquarters in from the suburbs. We will be sure to keep you updated on progress as marketing and construction gets underway. For several more renderings of the project, check out our dataBase listing, linked below, or our Forum to get in on the conversation.
