55 John Street: Metro Hall

[Northern Light]

Rezoning App for Metro Hall.

No details showing.

I'm assuming (but not sure) this is for the relocation of the Fire Hall on Adelaide Street.

Development Applications

City Planning COA Application Information Center

app.toronto.ca

 

[taal]

They would integrate the fire hall inside the office building ??

 

[Northern Light]

Yup, from the 229 Richmond thread:

Rendering:

 

[ProjectEnd]

Yes.

City to Relocate Fire Hall and Unlock Land in Entertainment District | UrbanToronto

The City of Toronto is about to buy a plot of land in the Entertainment District, sell an adjacent one, and move the area's fire station into the south side of Metro Hall facing Wellington Street. The moves will unlock land in the area for redevelopment, and possibly some park land.

urbantoronto.ca

 

[christiesplits]

With the transition to WFH for many city workers, I wonder if the city might re-open the debate about selling off Metro Hall.

Rob Ford mulled over selling the complex back in 2013.

Rob Ford pushes selling Metro Hall

Toronto should sell its class-A office building at John and King Sts., says the mayor.

www.thestar.com

 

[ProjectEnd]

They'd be selling at a huge loss. Office is massively down generally and the PATH level is almost 100% drywalled up except for Rexall and the food court. No one would be interested in this asset outside of some fire sale steal...

 

[Northern Light]

With the transition to WFH for many city workers, I wonder if the city might re-open the debate about selling off Metro Hall.

Rob Ford mulled over selling the complex back in 2013.

Rob Ford pushes selling Metro Hall

Toronto should sell its class-A office building at John and King Sts., says the mayor.

www.thestar.com

To add to what @ProjectEnd said above; the City's ModernTO program which is seeking to cut back on total office space and make more efficient use of City properties is focused on:

1) Getting City/Agency staff out of leased property and into (City) owned property

2) Consolidating staff into fewer, larger locations so as to save money, increase collaboration and reduce time lost to staff shuffling between different buildings/sites for meetings.

3) Generally (but not universally) shifting staff to downtown or the former Civic Centre spaces in order to offer a more enticing work environment vs more suburban office building offerings.

***

The City is already unloading:

277 Victoria downtown and the current TTC HQ site.

Selling off Metro Hall would be inconsistent w/that vision/strategy.

Though, in the longer term, I could envision a plan to build two larger format towers on the current site, selling one off to the private sector to defray part of the cost of a new 50-storey class-A tower for the City.

But that is definitely not a near-term plan.

 

[ben.thebean1]

The City of Toronto could make a decent chunk of money from selling that plot on Adelaide, and it's a more efficient use of space which, as mentioned above by @Northern Light, is a large focus for the city right now.

Metro Hall is a well-established city complex so it makes sense to try and beef up the uses of that property especially now that office culture is changing. I think even something as "small" as integrating a fire station sets a precedent for future evolution of the complex

 

[innsertnamehere]

To add to what @ProjectEnd said above; the City's ModernTO program which is seeking to cut back on total office space and make more efficient use of City properties is focused on:

1) Getting City/Agency staff out of leased property and into (City) owned property

2) Consolidating staff into fewer, larger locations so as to save money, increase collaboration and reduce time lost to staff shuffling between different buildings/sites for meetings.

3) Generally (but not universally) shifting staff to downtown or the former Civic Centre spaces in order to offer a more enticing work environment vs more suburban office building offerings.

***

The City is already unloading:

277 Victoria downtown and the current TTC HQ site.

Selling off Metro Hall would be inconsistent w/that vision/strategy.

Though, in the longer term, I could envision a plan to build two larger format towers on the current site, selling one off to the private sector to defray part of the cost of a new 50-storey class-A tower for the City.

But that is definitely not a near-term plan.

Metro Hall is also basically the newest building the city owns, and is quite significant in size. Honestly, it would make a lot of sense for the city to move a lot of its office space *into* metro hall.

 

[urbanexplorer]

Metro Hall is also basically the newest building the city owns, and is quite significant in size. Honestly, it would make a lot of sense for the city to move a lot of its office space *into* metro hall.

Personally, I wouldn't be keen to have my Zoom calls punctured all day by Fire Engine Vehicle Sirens, but that's just me

 

[JasonParis]

To add to what @ProjectEnd said above; the City's ModernTO program which is seeking to cut back on total office space and make more efficient use of City properties is focused on:

1) Getting City/Agency staff out of leased property and into (City) owned property

2) Consolidating staff into fewer, larger locations so as to save money, increase collaboration and reduce time lost to staff shuffling between different buildings/sites for meetings.

3) Generally (but not universally) shifting staff to downtown or the former Civic Centre spaces in order to offer a more enticing work environment vs more suburban office building offerings.

***

The City is already unloading:

277 Victoria downtown and the current TTC HQ site.

Selling off Metro Hall would be inconsistent w/that vision/strategy.

Though, in the longer term, I could envision a plan to build two larger format towers on the current site, selling one off to the private sector to defray part of the cost of a new 50-storey class-A tower for the City.

But that is definitely not a near-term plan.

I don't see it happening anytime soon, but there's also been some rumblings over the years of extending Toronto City Hall north with new offices behind it (although, some of the obvious spots are not there anymore).

 

[TossYourJacket]

To add to what @ProjectEnd said above; the City's ModernTO program which is seeking to cut back on total office space and make more efficient use of City properties is focused on:

1) Getting City/Agency staff out of leased property and into (City) owned property

2) Consolidating staff into fewer, larger locations so as to save money, increase collaboration and reduce time lost to staff shuffling between different buildings/sites for meetings.

3) Generally (but not universally) shifting staff to downtown or the former Civic Centre spaces in order to offer a more enticing work environment vs more suburban office building offerings.

To add on to this, Metro Hall is steadily being renovated, floor by floor, to the ModernTO office standard. A few floors are complete, with a few more under way now. The City isn't gonna spend the money doing that, just to resell the building.

As for redevelopment, It's also worth noting that any redevelopment would have to deal with the unusual fact that the Metro Council Chamber has heritage protections, although the rest of the building isn't protected. It certainly adds complexity to any redevelopment plan when you have to preserve a single room in the existing building, especially when that room is on the third floor.

Metro Hall is also basically the newest building the city owns, and is quite significant in size. Honestly, it would make a lot of sense for the city to move a lot of its office space *into* metro hall.

Exactly. Under ModernTO, as the building is renovated, divisions currently in Metro Hall will be relocated to new floors, and then once their former floors are renovated, city staff from some of the other offices that are being consolidated under ModernTO will be moved onto those floors. Notably, Metro Hall will be one of the two new homes for the TTC's office staff (along with NYCC).