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A new, modern office complex on the way in Toronto's East Bayfront will challenge the notion of the traditional office experience. Currently under construction at 251 Queens Quay East, is Hines' T3 Bayside, a mass timber structure designed by 3XN of Denmark and Toronto's WZMH Architects with innovative spaces to foster a contemporary, professional work environment.
T3 Bayside will consist two 10-storey, timber office buildings totalling 262,000 ft² that will feature multiple amenities, offering flexible workspaces, event and fitness facilities, and which will enrich the waterfront neighbourhood with a ground level that incorporates retail along the Queens Quay East frontage and landscaped plazas on both the east and western sides of the building.
T3 Bayside is part of Bayside Toronto, a master-planned community which includes two million square feet of luxury condominiums, affordable homes, shopping and restaurant destinations, cultural venues, green spaces, and a promenade alongside Lake Ontario.
Under construction since July of 2020, the concrete core of T3 Bayside phase one is targeted for completion by the end of February. With crews currently assembling the third floor's mass timber structure, Hines anticipates that timber installation will be complete for the whole building this summer. The installation of curtainwall cladding will follow, to be completed in the fall.
Timber was chosen for T3 Bayside for its sustainability benefits. Replacing concrete and steel, both significant carbon emitters, timber absorbs and sequesters carbon, significantly reducing a building's environmental impact. Produced by Nordic Structures, the timber is a spruce-pine-fir combination grown and produced in Chibougamau in Northern Quebec. Arriving by truck, it will take 145 trips to carry phase one's 7,400m³ of timber between December 2021, and Summer 2022.
Once completed in the second quarter of 2023, the T3 Bayside phase one office building will feature post and beam style office spaces. One standout feature of the building provides tenants the option to remove certain floor areas to create sequencing double height spaces, allowing tenants the opportunity to create a unique set of light-filled collaboration spaces.
The development will also include many unique amenities, including a lounge, conference centre, club-quality fitness facility, end-of-trip cycling and running facilities, and an expansive rooftop patio that will include a path outlining the building's perimeter, in addition to a bar area and several seating areas that will feature both a north, city-facing view, and a south, lake-facing view.
The building will have two main entrances, with the first being from the western plaza located on the southwest corner of the building, leading directly into the main lobby. This is where tenants will be able to enter the elevators, speak with the concierge, or go straight into the double height amenity spaces. The second "fitness" entrance will be from the eastern plaza on the opposite side of the building, which will be accessible from the Martin Goodman Trail. This will be a private, tenant-only entrance that will provide direct access into the at-grade bike lockers, and then will have a feature staircase leading into the gym and the end-of-trip facilities, where tenants can then enter into the common area of the building once they have freshened up.
Once inside the main lobby area, exposed timber and modern lounge areas will be visible. There will be a coffee kiosk at the centre of the space, as well as staircases that will provide access to the feature double height tenant lounge and conference centre, which will feature lake and city views.
Avi Tesciuba, Country Head for Hines Canada, told us “In our global portfolio, we have seen tenants increasingly focused on how they can leverage their work spaces as a tool in drawing employees back into the office, in addition to being a recruitment and retention tool. We believe that T3 Bayside’s focus on elevating the tenant experience through offering a differentiated set of amenities, and its waterfront location, aligns it perfectly to help companies achieve this goal.”
More information on the T3 Bayside development will come soon, but in the meantime, you can learn more from our Database file for the project, linked below. If you'd like, you can join in on the conversation in the associated Project Forum thread, or leave a comment in the space provided on this page.
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