Toronto Bay Adelaide Centre | 217.92m | 51s | Brookfield | KPMB

[dowlingm]

The grumpy side of me wishes that a planner or an OMB member would throw a hissy fit during the approval of a building like BAEast and say - "no construction until King subway station has an accessible entrance/exit". It'll never happen, I know, but it amazes me that TTC is only now getting St Andrew done and has nothing done on King, especially since much of the downtown transit (being high floor streetcars) remains inaccessible and while Queen has an accessible exit that station has its own development pressures to contend with.

 

[Edward Skira]

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/repo...to-panic-and-cheap-valuations/article4249303/

Brookfield to build new tower
Brookfield Office Properties is pushing ahead with a second tower at its Bay Adelaide Centre in the heart of Toronto's financial district, naming Deloitte as its anchor tenant today.

Deloitte has signed for 420,000 square feet, or almost 45 per cent of the what will be Bay Adelaide Centre East.

The tower will be 44 storeys, and 980,000 square feet in total, and is expected to be built by late 2015 or early 2016. The west tower opened in 2009, and is 95-per-cent leased.

Brookfield says that timeline coincides with the expiry of several large office leases in the financial area.

"Strong fundamentals and low vacancy in Toronto’s financial core signify the market’s willingness to support new office development,” said Jan Sucharda, chief executive officer of Brookfield Office Properties’ Canadian commercial operations.

 

[pw20]

Ohhh if E+Y ever moves into Bay Adelaide north they can rename the Bay Adelaide Centre "The Big Four (minus PwC) Centre"

 

[Edward]

Great news.

 

[Filip]

I'm very glad Brookfield has landed a major tenant, which is a sure sign of confidence in the growth of Toronto's commercial market. However, as an urban nerd, it's hard to get excited over what will esentially be a copy/paste of the original BA (nothing to get excited over either).

If only they did something to change the design. A simple change in glass colour would go a long way, hell maybe sloping the roof would also make a statement - all changes that wouldn't cost the company much. Unless they preordered the glass for all three phases in advance.

 

[Jasonzed]

Here is a render from their website:

 

[Tewder]

What a snore.

BA on its own is fine but for some reason twinning it just doesn't work, for me.

 

[AlvinofDiaspar]

However, as an urban nerd, it's hard to get excited over what will esentially be a copy/paste of the original BA (nothing to get excited over either).

On the other hand, a cluster of say 3 towers of a similar design can evoke a sense of monumentality like TD Centre.

 

[Filip]

On the other hand, a cluster of say 3 towers of a similar design can evoke a sense of monumentality like TD Centre.

The problem is the design itself is not monumental. It is entirely forgetable. My window stares directly out at TD, and I can't get over how cool those buildings are. Others get a nice view of BA, and it's just not the same.

 

[sixrings]

i dont argue with any office development. Office development is the one thing I am happy to get no matter what it looks like. Its central, its downtown, its office... Not much to complain about IMO.... much better then continuing to watch 905 see office development while we lag farther and farther behind.

 

[buildup]

Any chance of them adding floors is demand warrants it?

 

[Automation Gallery]

and is expected to be built by late 2015 or early 2016.

I guess that will mean that shovels will be hitting the ground soon

 

[Ramako]

Are we sure that the design will be the same as BAC West? Someone earlier in the thread had mentioned something about KPMB.

 

[Tewder]

On the other hand, a cluster of say 3 towers of a similar design can evoke a sense of monumentality like TD Centre.

You can only get away with that design conceit once. In fact, repeating it could diminish somewhat the monumentality of the TD Centre, if anything.

As for being thankfull for office buildings at any cost? Yes, it says great things about our economy. It doesn't say very great things about design, architecture, standards etc. It is a frontier town mentality, not that of a modern sophisticated urban centre.

 

[AlvinofDiaspar]

Tewder:

You can only get away with that design conceit once

Not so sure about that - a design/materiality that is markedly differ from BA1 basically takes away the design intent of the original scheme, which suggestive of symmetry and harmony. You really have to pull out the original planning reports to see that effect.

AoD