Vaughan KPMG Vaughan | ?m | 14s | SmartCentres | Diamond Schmitt

Xenosblitz said:
Offices for accounting firms need to be geographically dispersed since the clients are everywhere. Though a lot of the staff work remotely (audit staff at working at the client's offices for example), there needs to be close facilities available to staff in case the client office closes at a certain time, and they need to continue their work in the office.

Another point of note is that accounting firms are highly efficient with office space. Staff under the manager level typically do not have their own cubicles. They have to "book space" when they are in the office, and often times, the space is not even a full cubicle, its just a ledge with a phone on it. If every company is as efficient, I don't think Toronto needs new office towers for years to come...
Click to expand...

Right this does make sense given the context ... but it again goes back to the fact we have a lot of employment outside the core.

In terms of total office space in the core it self, Toronto actually doesn't have that much, when you compare it to say Montreal, per capita, they have more space in the core then outside. You see this in other cities as well i.e. Chicago / Calgary.

I guess its just a question which model one prefers ... but I don't think Toronto's was intentionally chosen that way ... rather a consequence of local taxation policies / other socioeconomic factors.
 
At "just" 14 storeys, it would be nice if this were a phased project that could be added onto with additional storeys in the future, especially since it has such a prime location connected to the subway.
 
completely unrelated... BUT WHYYYY (other then corruption) is VMC not being considered as the next place for a NHL team?
 
innsertnamehere said:
... because nobody is planning on building a hockey arena there?
Click to expand...

Well that is the obvious answer... but isnt this a far superior location with a subway line. I drove from bathurst and eglinton to watch dracula/frankenstein double feature yesterday at fairview mall. The drive felt forever long. It would be twice as long to get to the markham arena. At least fairview mall I can access by Subway. Similarly Vaughan could be reached by subway. It may sound like a great idea to have a second team but if its so far away it inaccessable its a complete waste. I also dont understand
why vaughan wouldnt be jumping in on the nhl as a way to stimulate the cities development.

BTW my family lives in ottawa and almost never goes to the NHL games because the stadium is in the suburbs and its a nightmare getting there. Now torontonians are going to be faced with the choice of over priced constant losers or suburban traffic nightmare. Way off topic but it would be such a great addition alongside this kpmg building.
 
Last edited:
Markham is the only city pushing for an NHL team, so they will be the only one to get it. Unfortunately there is no subway running to Markham centre, but there will be an all day 2 way GO line running there by 2015.
 
Honestly the subway doesn't help a great deal ... the majority of clientele are already from the suburbs and hence the subway extension is of no benefit. As mentioned above as well its really not that much different then GO train service which will exist.
 
Critique said:
kpmgtowerrendering.jpg
Click to expand...

The glass and mech roof reminds me of Sick Kids (which isn't necessarily a bad thing); but are there any VMC planning docs, master plans, etc. available anywhere? I'd love to see what they've got planned here.
 
Honestly it's very preliminary other then this office building ... so I wouldn't read much into any of those renderings other then the office building but the design panel review linked on the first page has more info.
 
taal said:
Honestly the subway doesn't help a great deal ... the majority of clientele are already from the suburbs and hence the subway extension is of no benefit. As mentioned above as well its really not that much different then GO train service which will exist.
Click to expand...

My first thought was that the subway to VMCC will allow KPMG employees to work in Vaughan yet live downtown. Supposedly a lot of office construction is happening downtown because that's increasingly where the young talent lives. The subway will allow future employers in VMCC to access this same pool of employees.
 
people still probably wouldn't be too happy working up there as it would be a 40 minute subway ride, compared to downtown where it is a 10 minute walk.
 
sixrings said:
Well that is the obvious answer... but isnt this a far superior location with a subway line. I drove from bathurst and eglinton to watch dracula/frankenstein double feature yesterday at fairview mall. The drive felt forever long. It would be twice as long to get to the markham arena. At least fairview mall I can access by Subway. Similarly Vaughan could be reached by subway. It may sound like a great idea to have a second team but if its so far away it inaccessable its a complete waste. I also dont understand
why vaughan wouldnt be jumping in on the nhl as a way to stimulate the cities development.

BTW my family lives in ottawa and almost never goes to the NHL games because the stadium is in the suburbs and its a nightmare getting there. Now torontonians are going to be faced with the choice of over priced constant losers or suburban traffic nightmare. Way off topic but it would be such a great addition alongside this kpmg building.
Click to expand...

There will be express buses from Don Mills station, so you could just park there and take the bus (or take GO as already stated). I'm not saying it won't be a bit of a hassle, but it's not like driving is the only option.
 
Ramako said:
My first thought was that the subway to VMCC will allow KPMG employees to work in Vaughan yet live downtown. Supposedly a lot of office construction is happening downtown because that's increasingly where the young talent lives. The subway will allow future employers in VMCC to access this same pool of employees.
Click to expand...

Maybe, maybe not ... this is how NYCC was marketed ... and while we may thing NYCC is a big office node, it pales in comparison into what it was suppose to be, literary there were plans for hundreds of % more office space then there is today.

So the question is why ? Maybe tax differential which makes other parts of the 905 more attractive ... okay fair enough ... but VCC (and this was cited in one of their own reports) MUST attract higher rents, otherwise you can't pay for things like underground parking or dence office development ... in other words the rental rates in this KPMG tower should be the highest in the 905 ... but still less then NYCC ... which fumy enough is roughly where KPMG is now.

So will this attract a lot of interest ? I've been out spoken in saying Toronto is a terrible place for companies to locate on a regional basis solely based on the tax differential ... but the questoin is will companies be willing to pay more (but still less then NYCC) to locate in VCC verse say the airport area / Markham (not downtown Markham, which will be in a similar boat no doubt) ?

Interestingly enough this same report also cited the biggest competition with VCC would indeed be Markham center (in the future) and NYCC today ... this makes sense ...
 
Last edited:
FWIW a study done by vaughan figured that approx 1.5 million sq ft of office space is what would be required for the VMC to "succeed" (or whatever you want to call it). I imagine that would be spread out among multiple low to mid rise towers rather than a handful of tall high rise towers. Not sure how many sq ft this 14 story tower is...
 
You must log in or register to post here.

Back
Top