Office Development Rundown

[valkoholic]

I guess what could happen is market forces could drive people further from where they want to be. Lately all of the office developments have been within around 500 metres from Union Station and on the PATH. Once these sites dry up this could stretch to 600-700 metres (which would add sites like MTCC and LCBO).

The other thing to watch is the decline in 'non-core' office. Now that the easy parking lot sites downtown have mostly been turned into condos, the next low-hanging fruit is demolishing small office buildings (less than 10 floors) and conversion of larger office buildings to residential outside the true core. Some of the demo sites may keep some office but I think developers are kicking the tires on any existing office building (large or small) north of Queen. I'm not sure how much of this will occur, but it has started and will be worth watching.

 

[Conrad Black]

There's lots of underused property downtown that can go office.

 

[pw20]

There's a fair bit of room downtown east (the parking lot at Victoria and Richmond) that could easily see large office development.... That being said its interesting to see how office developement has moved to South Core and not east (for whatever reason).

 

[Ramako]

There's a fair bit of room downtown east (the parking lot at Victoria and Richmond) that could easily see large office development.... That being said its interesting to see how office developement has moved to South Core and not east (for whatever reason).

I think the reason that office development happened south rather than east was due mostly to proximity to Union Station, but also because there wasn't really an established neighbourhood in the area that could throw up roadblocks to development.

 

[Red October]

Down there they wouldn't have to demolish anything really or watch the area around them. Lots of open space.

 

[Automation Gallery]

Add one more proposed office development to the mix......489 KING ST W (22 storey/500.000 sq.ft.) http://urbantoronto.ca/forum/showth...West-(500-000-sq-ft-office-Allied-REIT)/page2

 

[Automation Gallery]

Looks like 880 Bay street could still be another one to become reality

Toronto office tower boom the biggest since the go-go ‘80s

Toronto is in the midst of an office building boom unlike anything seen since the 1980s.

Some 16 new office towers are currently under development and will add four million square feet of new space over the next three to four years.

That could top five million square feet if Queen’s Park moves ahead with plans to reduce its real estate footprint by downsizing each civil servants’ work area from 250 square feet to 200, says a new report from TD Economics.

That shrinkage of elbow room alone would add the equivalent of a 43-storey office tower to the downtown core.

Vacancies are expected to remain tight and rents ease upward until new buildings start opening in 2013 and 2014, largely because of the condo boom: More businesses and retailers are looking to set up shop within easy reach of that pool of young workers and consumers, says the report by senior economist Sonya Gulati.

“Normally 3 ½ years after a recession, the vacancy rate would be at its peak, but because of this explosive demand for downtown space, the vacancy rate is actually at one of its tightest points in history,” Stuart Barron, national director of research for commercial brokerage Cushman & Wakefield.

Commercial space downtown is also at a premium because so many of the city’s aging Class A office towers in the financial district are undergoing major renovations and upgrades, the TD report notes.

That means even Class B and Class C space is being snapped up quickly
More....http://www.thestar.com/business/art...ce-tower-boom-the-biggest-since-the-go-go-80s

 

[WiddleBittyKitty]

Looks like 880 Bay street could still be another one to become reality

That could top five million square feet if Queen’s Park moves ahead with plans to reduce its real estate footprint by downsizing each civil servants’ work area from 250 square feet to 200, says a new report from TD Economics.

That shrinkage of elbow room alone would add the equivalent of a 43-storey office tower to the downtown core.

That's not what that means. That means that the Ont govt is downsizing the amount of space it takes up, freeing up the equivalent of a 43-storey tower, not erecting another one. 880 Bay is dead in the water until the govt has some cash to spend.