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From the Post:
Corus likely 'symphony' tenant
Port lands development
Peter Kuitenbrouwer, National Post
Published: Thursday, April 19, 2007
Property owners in Toronto's thriving Liberty Village neighbourhood are concerned about the City of Toronto's apparent plan to lure the area's biggest tenant, Corus Entertainment Inc., to an office building the city plans to build in the port lands.
Bob Eisenberg, a partner in York Heritage Properties, which owns the Carpet Factory near King and Dufferin streets, says he has heard from several commercial property agents that Corus is the tenant for a plan known around city hall as "Project Symphony."
"This is the fastest-growing employment area in the city," Mr. Eisenberg said yesterday, sitting in his office at the carefully restored Carpet Factory. "And now the city is threatening to reverse the momentum. If this was any other city in North America, they'd be throwing money at us."
The city-owned Toronto Economic Development Corp., or TEDCO, has hired Diamond & Schmitt architects to design a 10- storey building on city land just east of the Redpath sugar refinery on Queens Quay Boulevard, at the foot of Jarvis Street. TEDCO says it has a signed deal with a media company that will move its 1,100 employees from "all over" Toronto to the new building. But TEDCO says it must wait to let the tenant disclose the deal at the appropriate moment, because it is a publicly traded company.
Corus, controlled by the Shaw family of Calgary, did not return calls in the past two days.
Corus companies in Liberty Village include Nelvana, the creator of such animated children's shows as Franklin, Little Bear and Miss Spider's Sunny Patch Friends, at 42 Pardee Ave. Nearby on Jefferson Street is Corus Specialty TV, including YTV, Treehouse, W Network and Discovery Kids. Several radio stations are nearby.
Corus has its executive head office in BCE Place and other radio stations, including 102.1 The Edge and Q107, in the Eaton Centre at 1 Dundas St. W.
(The company also owns radio stations across Canada.)
Yesterday, none of the employees streaming into Corus companies in Liberty Village had any idea of an impending move to the port lands.
But Michael Emory, chief executive at Allied Canadian Corp., the landlord of Nelvana on Pardee Avenue, said he, too, "has heard the same rumour that you have heard. I have heard several people in the market say it is Corus."
Putting all of Corus under one roof "is something they've wanted to do for a long time," Mr. Emory said. "Whether it makes sense locationally is another question."
He also had questions about the deal. "Are the taxpayers subsidizing the city's real estate developments?" he asked. "If the city is subsidizing uneconomic development, for a city that is virtually broke, it seems like an odd thing to do."
He said Nelvana's lease extends "well into the next decade." And even so, "We feel Liberty Village will do just fine, with or without Corus."
Jeff Steiner, the chief executive of TEDCO, refused to comment on whether Corus is its mystery tenant. "The company will make itself known at the appropriate time," he said. Mr. Steiner defends the project as an opportunity to bring "knowledge" jobs to the port; in February TEDCO evicted its longtime tenant, Cinespace Studios, from Marine Terminal 28, which TEDCO plans to demolish for the new office building.
On Friday, Project Symphony was listed on the agenda for a Monday meeting of city council's executive committee. But on Monday, a new agenda came out removing the item.
Mr. Eisenberg said the city is spending its money in the wrong place. "TEDCO and Economic Development will be taking 800 to 1,000 jobs out of an area they've just declared an employment area," he said.
"The City of Toronto has spent $30-million or more on planning studies for the East Bayfront and can't hire a planner for Liberty Village."
Other tenants in Liberty Village include Sony BMG, Sirius satellite radio, Vision TV, Softchoice Corp., 91.1 Jazz FM, and Labatt's Brewery.
Pkuitenbrouwer@nationalpost.com
AoD
Corus likely 'symphony' tenant
Port lands development
Peter Kuitenbrouwer, National Post
Published: Thursday, April 19, 2007
Property owners in Toronto's thriving Liberty Village neighbourhood are concerned about the City of Toronto's apparent plan to lure the area's biggest tenant, Corus Entertainment Inc., to an office building the city plans to build in the port lands.
Bob Eisenberg, a partner in York Heritage Properties, which owns the Carpet Factory near King and Dufferin streets, says he has heard from several commercial property agents that Corus is the tenant for a plan known around city hall as "Project Symphony."
"This is the fastest-growing employment area in the city," Mr. Eisenberg said yesterday, sitting in his office at the carefully restored Carpet Factory. "And now the city is threatening to reverse the momentum. If this was any other city in North America, they'd be throwing money at us."
The city-owned Toronto Economic Development Corp., or TEDCO, has hired Diamond & Schmitt architects to design a 10- storey building on city land just east of the Redpath sugar refinery on Queens Quay Boulevard, at the foot of Jarvis Street. TEDCO says it has a signed deal with a media company that will move its 1,100 employees from "all over" Toronto to the new building. But TEDCO says it must wait to let the tenant disclose the deal at the appropriate moment, because it is a publicly traded company.
Corus, controlled by the Shaw family of Calgary, did not return calls in the past two days.
Corus companies in Liberty Village include Nelvana, the creator of such animated children's shows as Franklin, Little Bear and Miss Spider's Sunny Patch Friends, at 42 Pardee Ave. Nearby on Jefferson Street is Corus Specialty TV, including YTV, Treehouse, W Network and Discovery Kids. Several radio stations are nearby.
Corus has its executive head office in BCE Place and other radio stations, including 102.1 The Edge and Q107, in the Eaton Centre at 1 Dundas St. W.
(The company also owns radio stations across Canada.)
Yesterday, none of the employees streaming into Corus companies in Liberty Village had any idea of an impending move to the port lands.
But Michael Emory, chief executive at Allied Canadian Corp., the landlord of Nelvana on Pardee Avenue, said he, too, "has heard the same rumour that you have heard. I have heard several people in the market say it is Corus."
Putting all of Corus under one roof "is something they've wanted to do for a long time," Mr. Emory said. "Whether it makes sense locationally is another question."
He also had questions about the deal. "Are the taxpayers subsidizing the city's real estate developments?" he asked. "If the city is subsidizing uneconomic development, for a city that is virtually broke, it seems like an odd thing to do."
He said Nelvana's lease extends "well into the next decade." And even so, "We feel Liberty Village will do just fine, with or without Corus."
Jeff Steiner, the chief executive of TEDCO, refused to comment on whether Corus is its mystery tenant. "The company will make itself known at the appropriate time," he said. Mr. Steiner defends the project as an opportunity to bring "knowledge" jobs to the port; in February TEDCO evicted its longtime tenant, Cinespace Studios, from Marine Terminal 28, which TEDCO plans to demolish for the new office building.
On Friday, Project Symphony was listed on the agenda for a Monday meeting of city council's executive committee. But on Monday, a new agenda came out removing the item.
Mr. Eisenberg said the city is spending its money in the wrong place. "TEDCO and Economic Development will be taking 800 to 1,000 jobs out of an area they've just declared an employment area," he said.
"The City of Toronto has spent $30-million or more on planning studies for the East Bayfront and can't hire a planner for Liberty Village."
Other tenants in Liberty Village include Sony BMG, Sirius satellite radio, Vision TV, Softchoice Corp., 91.1 Jazz FM, and Labatt's Brewery.
Pkuitenbrouwer@nationalpost.com
AoD
