Toronto approves plan to streamline office footprint
Toronto’s city council has approved a plan that will reduce the city’s office footprint from 55 locations to 15, and repurpose the vacant properties to be used as affordable housing or to support other city priorities.
Launched in 2019, ModernTO is a plan to ensure the city used its office space as efficiently as possible. The COVID-19 pandemic helped accelerated the city’s move to a hybrid office environment, and confirmed to the city that it can make better use of its real-estate assets.
The program will reduce the city’s office locations chiefly by ending leases and creating office hubs within key civic buildings including City Hall, Metro Hall and the civic centres in Scarborough, North York, and Etobicoke.
This will also unlock eight city-owned properties with an estimated land value of $450 million for city-building purposes, including the delivery of affordable housing, city services and other priorities. These sites include: 610 Bay Street, 277 Victoria Street, 931 Yonge Street, 33 Queen Street E., 75 Elizabeth Street, 1900 Yonge Street, 18 Dyas Road, and 95 The Esplanade.
By repurposing the sites, the city is able to explore how it can make better use of public land and leverage the land value to build more vibrant and livable communities with greater investments in city-building priorities.
“ModernTO opens up some properties for different uses including affordable housing, and the modernized spaces will allow for more jobs to be located in city-owned buildings as opposed to expensive leased space,” said Mayor John Tory.
The plan proposes to deliver between 500 to 600 affordable rental and ownership homes in prime downtown and midtown locations, as well as infrastructure and service improvements and new institutional and civic spaces while contributing funds towards future strategic land acquisitions through the Land Acquisition Reserve Fund.
While redevelopment opportunities for each site are not yet fully determined, CreateTO, the city’s Corporate Real Estate Management division, City Planning and other city agencies have undertaken a preliminary due diligence and site visioning process which has informed the overall portfolio objectives and proposed outcomes.
Based on the estimated timeline to unlock these properties, the eight properties have been divided into two key groups, with five sites, including 610 Bay Street, 277 Victoria Street, 931 Yonge Street, 95 The Esplanade and 18 Dyas Road to be repurposed in the short term.
Significant infrastructure projects are being undertaken on or adjacent to the remaining three properties, which will be unlocked in the longer term. Redevelopment opportunities will be determined with input from local councillors, impacted communities, current occupants, City divisions, as well as external partners.