Toronto 20 Front West | 172.4m | 52s | Brookfield | KPMB

SeanTrans said:
Not as bad as SkyDome or National Trade Centre, but almost as bad as the O'Keefe Centre or Paramount Theatre renames.

What next? Eaton Centre becomes Cadillac-Fairview Place? Eaton's doesn't exist.

I guess the name bugs me mostly because it sounds so generic.
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It's not nearly as bad as Skydome or National Trade Centre - agreed.

But I also don't think it's as bad as the O'Keefe Centre rename. O'Keefe Breweries was a well established Toronto business, and the company built the performance hall itself. BCE on the other hand does not have the same ties to Toronto, and simply paid for naming rights. I don't think the two are comparable.

As for Paramount Theatre, that's just the replacement of an American brand name with a Canadian one. Albeit the former is involved in the film industry, whereas the latter is not -- but nonetheless it's just the trading of one unrelated corporate label with another. Nothing I would get upset over, just as I don't get upset over the replacement of BCE with Brookfield.

Had it been named BCE Place since 1891, maybe then I would be upset....

If the site of Timothy Eaton's former store is ever renamed from Eaton Centre, well.... then I'd be mad.
 
Skeezix said:
BCE on the other hand does not have the same ties to Toronto, and simply paid for naming rights. I don't think the two are comparable.
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Your points are valid, though this isn't true. BCE was indeed the initial developer of the property, and though it may be headquartered in Montreal, Bell certainly has extremely strong ties to Toronto.
 
Wishful thinking, but I think it would be nice to name the complex after Santiago Calatrava. He should get the bulk of the credit for turning BCE Place into something much better than your average downtown office building complex.

"Calatrava Plaza" sounds like a nice name.
 
I too have found it very surprising that the Eaton Centre hasn't been renamed, this many years after Eatons disappeared. You would think, if Cadillac Fairview didn't want their name on this prime property (because of confusion with Fairview Mall, maybe?), someone else would have stepped forward and paid a nice bit of money to have their name on it.
 
The Eaton Centre is too well-known. Maybe Scotiabank is interested.

Though there are still several Eaton Centres left, notably Montreal's (which still has the old Eaton font), and I think Calgary - they were the last to go in the chain too.
 
b13 said:
I would also like to know does BCE have any offices in this building??
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It was built by them.. I wonder if they operate out of it at all anymore (considering the move to Mississauga and whatnot).

Cool press release from God knows when:Dol:

Canada Trust To Be Major Tenant In BCE Place


October 1, 1984

TORONTO -- Canada Trust, a major Canadian financial institution, will
be the first major tenant of BCE Place in downtown Toronto and the
first structure in the project will be known as the Canada Trust
building. BCE Place is a project to be undertaken jointly by Bell
Canada Enterprises Inc. (BCE), of Montreal, through BCE Realty, Inc.,
and by Oxford Development Group Ltd., of Toronto.

In an announcement today, Canada Trust said that, through its wholly
owned real estate subsidiary, Truscan Realty Ltd., it will have an
equity position in the first phase of the project which will be a
structure having some 800 thousand to one million square feet of floor
space.

The Canada Trust building will be located on Bay street, across from
Royal Bank Plaza. As prime tenant in the structure, Canada Trust will
lease some 200 thousand square feet, including a 15 thousand square
foot financial services branch on the main floor.

Canada Trust said it would relocate to BCE Place its main Toronto
operations now carried out at its building at the corner of Yonge and
Adelaide streets. It added that it will retain ownership of the
building at 110 Yonge and will continue operation of its existing
financial services branch there.

Canada Trust's Toronto main branch, its Metro Toronto regional
offices, and its corporate executive offices will be located in the new
structure. Canada Trustco's head office will continue to be located in
London, Ontario.

Mr. Vernon Tatham, executive vice president of Oxford Development
Group, said he expects that demolition of existing structures on the
site will commence in the spring of 1985, with construction to begin
next fall. Current planning is for occupancy to begin in mid to late
1987.

For information:

Canada Trust
John F. Schucht
(519) 673-6418

Oxford Development Group
Vernon Tatham
(416) 868-3611

BCE
David Orr
(416) 364-4734
 
BCE Place to Brookfield Place isn't THAT bad.

Now Paramount Theatre to Scotiabank Theatre, THAT is bad. Paramount would be a good name for a theatre even if it hadn't been owned by the same company that owned Paramount Pictures.

Scotiabank Theatre though? That's just terrible, terrible, terrible.
 
Office towers change there names all the time. Does this really matter. Its not some landmark that has some historical importance. The Eaton Centre is another matter altogether.
 
Meh, only skyscraper geeks and a few downtown office workers even know it was ever called BCE Place...the average person may even be more likely to call it the TD Centre because of the light box on the Canada Trust Tower.
 
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