Toronto East Harbour | 214.2m | 65s | Cadillac Fairview | Adamson

Keating Yard might be gone but is the track southwest and east of it into the industrial lands declared abandoned?
 
Keating Yard might be gone but is the track southwest and east of it into the industrial lands declared abandoned?
The Keating Yard (just north of Lake Shore Blvd and south of this site) is still - slightly - active. Over the last few years they were removing some of the track but repairing other bits of it so I suspect it is not going anywhere. A couple of the industrial sites on south side of Lake Shore still get rail deliveries.
 
RealEstateBisNow sent out an update on this project in their newsletter today...This is potentially 10 million square feet of office space...here is their report...

First Gulf Aims High At Unilever Site

The former Unilever Canada site—east of the DVP at Lake Shore Blvd—is back in the spotlight, with developer First Gulf Corp zeroing in on how the 60-acre project will look. (If they were making an ice sculpture they'd be at the broad stroke chainsaw stage.)

We spoke with First Gulf CEO David Gerofsky about the ambitious project being modeled after Canary Wharf (the major modern office node in London, below) as well as other projects going on in the downtown's East End. It's an area David feels particularly bullish about. The office project at 333 King St is 100% leased and is now a stabilized operating project. Next door, the 500k SF 351 King St E project is about to start construction, with leasing announcements coming this fall.

The news coming out of the Unilever site is that Adamson Associates has been retained as the company's executive architects for the 10M SF project. An architectural competition for the master planning of the site just got started and First Gulf is receiving pitches from firms all over the world. David and his team were in London in June, meeting with senior Canary Wharf management. Adamson also acted as executive architect for that project.

There could be multiple architects contributing to the Unilever site. Adamson will oversee and manage the entire architectural process. "There needs to be integration and connection, a continuity," David says. The big lessons to come out of the Canary Wharf experience, according to David: get the transit right, and make sure they create a seven-day-per-week community. "It can't be an office ghetto, where after 5 to 6pm it becomes a ghost town, like King and Bay," he says. Also, look for an announcement from the company soon regarding a residential apartment development in the East End, a new direction for the company.
 
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Interesting new about signing at the 500K King East Center project, I think we already know a real estate company will be moving their HQ to this location, it'd be interesting to see what else (if anything) they managed to sign.

I debate about the potential of this area today as it is very disconnected, particularly transit wise. I can see it working if rents are very low ! But I don't think they are going for that.

I would use that stadegy though, sign 5-10 year leases max at LOW gross rental rates, spend a lot on the office buildings to make them green (i.e. attractive) even if the cost is more then the current rents justify ... 10-15 years now when transit and the area as a whole will surely improve (i.e. think of the West Donlands and other waterfront projects) you can get away with higher rents then. But by leasing early you accelerate this whole process.
 
That's exactly they they are looking at this site in terms of its Canary Wharfishness.

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They should be very careful with this strategy - we know how Canary Wharf panned out for Olympia & York. Had they survived a few more years carrying the debt of that development, they'd still be the world's premier commercial development firm.
 
FirstGulf is in favour of the Gardiner removal - it will support their 15 million sq ft / 70,000 job development
http://news.nationalpost.com/2014/0...-for-the-gardiner-expressway-tearing-it-down/

"His company’s vision for the area just east of the Don River and north of Lake Shore Blvd. involves an office park they are calling “Canada’s Canary Wharf,” a reference to the redevelopment of port lands in London. In his grand vision, the site would also feature a sort of Penn Station of Toronto, with a GO train station, a stop on a new Broadview “LRT” connecting to Queens Quay, along with a subway stop on a future Downtown Relief Line."

Two years ago First Gulf bought the sprawling former site of the Unilever Factory. Lever Brothers had opened a factory on the site in 1890 to make soap; the factory closed in 2009. Mr. Gerofsky said his firm plans to demolish most of the factory site and erect new buildings with a total of 15 million square feet of space, providing a potential of 70,000 jobs.

His firm is prepared to donate several acres of its site to the city, to allow Broadview Avenue to connect to Lake Shore. That way, the Queens Quay LRT could swing north to Broadview subway station.

But this is only possible if the east end of the Gardiner comes down, he said.
 
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I debate about the potential of this area today as it is very disconnected, particularly transit wise.

shouldn't a new Go station as well as a Broadview streetcar sufficient for the initial stage? + A future DRL station at Queen and Broadview.
 
Sure but what new go station ? ; - ) I don't think that's proposed.


Anyway, I don't think WT had any luck with the two office buildings they're attempting to market, at least not yet, so these will be a challenge as well.
 
A new GO station is under consideration for the area here. Metrolinx is studying the whole Yonge relief corridor for options.

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A go station, but more likely the relief line would help immensely ... but still ... they'll need to be smart about the rental rates they charge, it has to be made very attractive compared to the core, that is more desirable, and if they're going for small / medium tenants - you have all of King W / E to compete with which has office space in heritage buildings.

Lots of challenges
 
This is a fairly long-term project and there are some rather big ideas being discussed/considered - should be very interesting to see how this evolves over the next decade.
 
There's a meeting about the project on Tuesday night

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