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720 Bay Street

Edward Skira

http://skyrisecities.com
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I heard a a rumour that this building has been sold to a developer and the province is moving their workers out.

Anybody heard anything?

Screen Shot 2024-09-24 at Tuesday Sep 24, 2024 12.31.41 PM.png
 

Yes.

Which really does not make any sense to me - also would it not contradict the above to a degree ? i.e. why would they be looking to buy offices particularly if they're moving out of existing buildings and trying to reduce foot print.

The entire MacDonald Block was vacated for the restoration work, and as such right now, many offices are hither and yon.

This is the government moving back to the Queen's Park district as much as is practical. Because they moved all over the place, several years ago, they have more ft2 than they need, because they're in so many different buildings.

Consolidating should save space. But because they've been gone so long, the growth in the civil service now exceeds the available space on campus, so they need an extra building or two, unless they choose to go ahead and build new, which it seems they don't want to do, for now.
 
Yes.



The entire MacDonald Block was vacated for the restoration work, and as such right now, many offices are hither and yon.

This is the government moving back to the Queen's Park district as much as is practical. Because they moved all over the place, several years ago, they have more ft2 than they need, because they're in so many different buildings.

Consolidating should save space. But because they've been gone so long, the growth in the civil service now exceeds the available space on campus, so they need an extra building or two, unless they choose to go ahead and build new, which it seems they don't want to do, for now.
They also have a policy of moving some offices out of Toronto so that 'the folks' can have good local jobs.
 
This is the government moving back to the Queen's Park district as much as is practical. Because they moved all over the place, several years ago, they have more ft2 than they need, because they're in so many different buildings.

Makes sense, but then why vacate 720 Bay ?
 
In my experience, large block of space relocate because the office space is in tatters. Moving people around renovating a floor or half a floor at a time is less than ideal.

Office portfolios are experiencing billion dollar writedowns. It's a good time to buy or find a better lease deal.
 
Ah ok - I could see that for sure, maybe easier to get a large contiguous space - renovate it all (if it isn't in move-in condition, which I doubt it would be, from what I can see prime new build office space is still going for a decebt premium rental rate wise) and then move to it.


If we think we're at the bottom - time to buy AP-UN.TO ? :) Half kidding.
 
It's been the headquarters of the Attorney General for at least 30 years; I don't even think there has ever been other tenants since it was built in 1989.
 
Interesting. I believe Alexandria Real Estate Equities mainly buys and develops laboratory and life science research facilities. 720 Bay has good proximity to Hospital Row.
A link to the company website if anyone is interested: https://www.are.com/about.html

Correct.

They were involved in Mars Phase II until they needed a provincial bail out to make it happen.
 

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