Allied Properties REIT and RioCan REIT announced today that Index Exchange has agreed to lease up to 200,000 square feet of gross leasable area at The Well Tower, 8 Spadina Avenue, starting in 2022 when the tower opens. The 36-storey office tower, designed by Hariri Pontarini Architects, will be joined by six residential towers on the site, all rising above a retail base. 

Looking east across the vast excavation pit at The Well, image by UT Forum contributor Red Mars

Excavation at the site, Toronto's largest construction site in years, is already underway, while the office tower at the east end of the site is furthest along, with forming work on the lowest level progressing.

Looking down at forming work for The Well's office tower, image by UT Forum contributor tstormers

Index Exchange will be taking about 2/9ths of the space in the office tower. According to the press release, Index Exchange is a global advertising marketplace where premium digital media companies sell their ad impressions. Founded in 2001, Index Exchange has evolved into a rapidly growing global advertising marketplace. “Although we’ve grown globally at a rapid pace over the last few years, our commitment to Toronto has never wavered,” Andrew Casale, President and CEO of Index Exchange, said n a prepared statement. “Our new downtown headquarters demonstrates our growing investment in technology and engineering talent in and across the Toronto area, and we’re confident this new development will be a benefit to the city at large.”

Looking southwest to The Well, image courtesy of Allied and RioCan

Another tenant, unnamed at this point, will take 125,000 square feet of the total 1,067,000 gross leasable square feet of office space. Their entrance will be further west on Front, and their space is likely in the podium floors of two or three of the buildings on the site. Two more potential tenants are expected to finalize leases for tower space soon, Allied and RioCan also report. The two unnamed companies are negotiating for 533,752 square feet of office GLA at The Well Tower. Those two leases would bring the leased area of the offices at The Well to 80%.

Looking northeast across the site of The Well, image by UT Forum contributor agoraflaneur

The Well's six residential buildings will include both condominium and rental buildings. The buildings facing Wellington Street are designed by Wallman Architects, while those facing From Street are designed by architectsAlliance. There will be approximately 1,800 units across them, in 1,460,000 square feet of space. The first residential tower to be completed, just west of the office tower, will be a 590-unit rental, of which RioCan will retain 50% ownership. Woodbourne and Tridel are development partners on the residential buildings. No marketing for the residential buildings has yet been launched.

Looking west through the sheltered by fresh-air shopping levels of The Well, image courtesy of Allied and RioCan

The Well will also bring 425,000 square feet of retail to the area. The centrepiece is said to be a 90,000 square foot food market, along wth a couple dozen more shops. A cinema and fitness centre are planned as well. The ground levels will include new public space to relax, and the development will be connected to other new developments to the north on King Street via a new park.

Looking south through new green space at The Well, image courtesy of Allied and RioCan

We will continue to follow The Well as construction on the site progresses. You can see more renderings in our database file for the project, linked below. You can get in on the conversation by clicking on the associated forum thread link, or be leaving a comment in the space provided on this page.