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Despite what some may think, Toronto is not just in the business of building condos. The commercial office market is currently seeing a boom of its own, and with projects like the Ernst and Young Tower, The Southcore Financial Centre, One York, and RBC Waterpark Place III, the demand for AAA office space is just being met.
One project that has been making quite a lot of noise right now is the Bay Adelaide Centre East Tower, which recently began construction. After dismantling and moving one of the facades of a heritage commercial building on site earlier this year, foundation work for the future 44-storey tower, along with its podium, is well underway. We have several recent shots of the project thanks to UT Forum member drum118.
The tower is the second phase in the Bay Adelaide Centre development, following the opening of the westerly KPMG tower in 2009. (Interestingly enough, the West tower was the first major office tower built in the core in 17 years; several have been built since.) When complete, the East tower will offer 980,000 square of LEED gold space as well as a direct connection to the subway and and underground PATH system. The 643-foot tower, designed by KPMB and Adamson Associates, already has a number of tenants signed on, including the financial services giant Deloitte who will occupy 43% of the building, and law firm Borden Ladner Gervais who will occupy about 165,000 square feet of space.
The tower will rise faster than most in the city. An excavation is unnecessary as a parking garage exists already, and the tower's foundation will will be tied into it. Once at ground level, the tower will rise with steel beam construction extending from a concrete elevator core.
A third phase of the project is proposed for the north side of Temperance Street. It will bring an additional 500,000 square feet of premium office space to the complex. No start date has been released for it yet.
The framework above at Yonge and Temperance has been built around an existing mechanical building on the site. It will be clad with a reconstructed heritage facade from a building which stood until recently at the corner of Yoinge and Adelaide, half a block to the south. That corner will be the location of the East tower's podium, seen below in the rendering found on a hoarding at the site.
If you want to learn more about this project, click on the dataBase link below. You may leave a comment in the space provided on this page, or join the discussion in our Forum by clicking on the associated thread link!
