Toronto Waterfront Innovation Centre | 53.03m | 11s | Waterfront Toronto | Sweeny &Co

With respect to Taals comments maybe the fact that the office components are not getting much interest is exactly the reason Waterfront Toronto is trying to get this Innovation centre built. A Public / Private incubator type building could be the catalyst to view this area as a hip and happening place for small and medium size businesses to rent office space. The potential is there but as of now there are just so many more interesting places for businesses to locate in the downtown.
 
taal said:
I'm fairly sure Corus has been cutting jobs as of late so I wouldn't expect anything from them; Educational use sure !
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I know Corus Quay was built for northern expansion so I would assume Corus could take control of this potential new facility at a future date. While Corus has been shedding some jobs, there's always the possibility of the Shaw and Corus brands coming together under one roof (as they are essentially owned by the same holding company). I'm sure there's push from some of their Don Mills (and even Bloor Street) employees. Still, I don't see it happening anytime too soon.
 
TrickyRicky said:
With respect to Taals comments maybe the fact that the office components are not getting much interest is exactly the reason Waterfront Toronto is trying to get this Innovation centre built. A Public / Private incubator type building could be the catalyst to view this area as a hip and happening place for small and medium size businesses to rent office space. The potential is there but as of now there are just so many more interesting places for businesses to locate in the downtown.
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That could indeed be the plan, and its a good one ! George Brown may drive this as well from an institutional perspective, that is draw more colleges / universities.

But an incubator as they're commonly referred to is a great idea. The problem being such facilities are generally very small, maybe a floor or two in a large building, or a small standalone building; As of course the small firms generally have no more then a few employees. Either way it could be part of the plan !

The other option is to attract a large tenant just as was done in the Corus case ... but I'm not particularly fond of this as typically this means other areas of the city's core will pay the price.


Anyway hopefully more details will surface in due course !
 
Where would the companies spun off from the innovation centre locate. Not a lot of office space in the immediate area. And what's there will be condos before long.
 
DSC said:
Why do the spin-offs need to be within 'spinning distance' of the 'hub"? Why can't they move further away?
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It would be good for the area, but it doesn't make sense economically. Startups need cheap spaces. The prime waterfront location with premium new construction won't offer cheap spaces unless they're initially subsidized. I want to see the innovation centre prove useful and fruitful, but if not managed well to yield results, the space could be empty after a decade.
 
In this case, a build and they will come is the only chance of landing a commercial tenant. It would be very risky without a proper Union Station connection but, 200 000 isn't a large building to fill either.
 
From: https://newblueedge.ca/nbe/portal/innovation/home/home/!ut/p/a1/hY67EoIwEEW_hYKWrAkBtAvqBJDOQkjjgIM8RMAQ-X4DY-lju3vnnLmLBEqQ6LKpLjNV913Wzlk4Z7qmNraPEHGOHWAc7_3YIdgLQQOpBuDLMfjnn5BYkC1nge3GAB7FO-0dAo9SQiB03sCPiQiJsu3z5d2UdTnxSiRkcS1kIa2n1HWl1LAxwQRlXXoT5Cq8jc2jcv1PRtWPCiUziYZ7Ag1tp5gZxgusrJ-i/dl5/d5/L2dBISEvZ0FBIS9nQSEh/:
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maestro said:
In this case, a build and they will come is the only chance of landing a commercial tenant. It would be very risky without a proper Union Station connection but, 200 000 isn't a large building to fill either.
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Not sure where that figure came from, but to avoid any confusion, the RFQ clearly stated:

"Development potential for 350,000 square feet of state-of-the-art facilities"
 
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junctionist said:
Too bad. My first impression: "daayym!"

Nevertheless, it looks like they're aiming for something impressive.
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My first impression was bemusement. If they're going for something that impressive here, why the hell didn't they do it on the waterfront location instead of hiding it behind the understated Chorus Building?
 
I remember David Miller saying something like, the first building on the waterfront (Corus Building) had to be iconic, to set the tone of what we wanted on our waterfront. Look how that turned out.
 
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