Automation Gallery
Superstar
Yeah... but then again it could pay off to build the extra 25 floors if those 8 are accounted for and up and running.
Toronto Union Centre | 298m | 54s | Westbank | Bjarke Ingels Group
Yeah... but then again it could pay off to build the extra 25 floors if those 8 are accounted for and up and running.
cassius
Active Member
From what I can tell, Allied is the new owner. Purchase price was just under $200m.
Ramako
Moderator
From Daily Commercial News
http://dcnonl.com/cgi-bin/top10.pl?...ec7cae3dc6f3&projectid=1323767®ion=ontario
OFFICE, RESEARCH CENTRE Proj: 1323767-16
Toronto, Metro Toronto Reg ON PREPARING PLANS
Technology Centre, 151 Front St W, 7 Station St, 20 York St, M5J 2N1
$180,000,000 est
Note: This project is preliminary. Schedues for design, tender and construction are undetermined. Further update Fall, 2010.
Project: proposed construction of a 36-storey building that will include; 55,231 sq m of office space (from the 12th to 36th floors) and a 7,943 sq m technology centre located on floors eight to 10. Floors four to eight will consist of mechanical rooms. The building will also include a two-storey glass-clad galleria. This will be connected by the Toronto Skywalk at the second and third floors.
Scope: 113,090 m²; 36 storeys; parking for 474 cars
Development: New
Category: Commercial offices; Educational bldgs
First report Thu Mar 31, 2005. Last report Tue Jun 01, 2010.
This report Fri Jul 30, 2010.
http://dcnonl.com/cgi-bin/top10.pl?...ec7cae3dc6f3&projectid=1323767®ion=ontario
OFFICE, RESEARCH CENTRE Proj: 1323767-16
Toronto, Metro Toronto Reg ON PREPARING PLANS
Technology Centre, 151 Front St W, 7 Station St, 20 York St, M5J 2N1
$180,000,000 est
Note: This project is preliminary. Schedues for design, tender and construction are undetermined. Further update Fall, 2010.
Project: proposed construction of a 36-storey building that will include; 55,231 sq m of office space (from the 12th to 36th floors) and a 7,943 sq m technology centre located on floors eight to 10. Floors four to eight will consist of mechanical rooms. The building will also include a two-storey glass-clad galleria. This will be connected by the Toronto Skywalk at the second and third floors.
Scope: 113,090 m²; 36 storeys; parking for 474 cars
Development: New
Category: Commercial offices; Educational bldgs
First report Thu Mar 31, 2005. Last report Tue Jun 01, 2010.
This report Fri Jul 30, 2010.
yyzer
Senior Member
Interesting article from ctv.ca, although no mention of a tower proposal.....
A telecom nerve centre to a nation
Pedestrians hurrying past 151 Front St. West’s modest brown brick exterior see only a street-level restaurant and ordinary shops.
But hidden behind tinted windows on the upper floors are the phone and Internet servers that enable millions of Canadians to talk, text and teleconference. The seven-storey building, two blocks west of Toronto’s Union Station, is the country’s largest telecommunications hub.
Among its attributes: 26 backup generators, five of them so huge they had to be lowered through the roof; dozens of security cameras; and an entry corridor designed to trap intruders between locking doors.
The guardian of those fortified doors is an unlikely one: Allied Properties REIT, a mid-sized real estate investment trust with no prior experience in providing such high-tech space. But Allied’s chief executive officer, Michael Emory, saw the value of this unique property, where rents can hit $100 a square foot – much higher than even most of the iconic high-rise office buildings a few blocks to the east.
Despite those high rates, the building – described by one telco executive as the “premier facility” of its kind in the country – is nearly full. Mr. Emory, who bought 151 Front St. West for $192-million in 2009, has an ambitious plan to extend that value: He’s turning another of Allied’s buildings, 905 King St. West, a few minutes away, into another top-notch data centre and linking the two buildings underground by fibre optic cables.
To minimize traffic disruption during construction of the link, most of the wire will run along nearby railway lines where underground cable space already exists. The Front Street building backs onto the tracks, meaning only minimal construction will be needed to lay the cable a few blocks north from the tracks to 905 King.
Once the two buildings are connected, tenants in the King Street property will share virtually the same data speeds and capacity as those in 151 Front, where occupants include the country’s three major telecom players – Bell, Rogers and Telus – as well as upstart wireless providers such as Wind Mobile.
For the telcos, the hub at 151 Front is an essential “co-location” space. Despite stiff competition between these players, their wires must connect so that anyone who sends an e-mail from Bell’s network, for example, can have their message delivered to someone using that of Rogers or another competitor. This happens in the “meet-me room” – no bigger than the average master bedroom, but chock full of cables and equipment so vital to Canadian communication that video cameras monitor every square inch.
Mr. Emory is aware that his company seems an improbable provider of such high-tech space. “On its face, 151 is a little bit different from what we typically do,” he says. In truth, it marks a bold acquisition for a company better known for owning small office buildings that have been retrofitted from industrial or manufacturing uses. Among Canadian REITs – which buy income-generating assets such as shopping centres, office towers and hotels and pay out that income to unitholders – Allied is recognized for sustainable payout ratios and conservative management.
That conservative approach paid off as the trust built up cash in recent years, waiting while the recession pushed down building values. Last year, when a smaller company decided to give up 151 Front to focus its attention elsewhere, Allied was ready to buy.
“There is absolutely no question that this building would have been out of our range before the credit crisis,” Mr. Emory said at that time.
But the Front Street building, and the transformation of the King Street property, represent an excellent business strategy for the trust, which has a market capitalization of just under $1-billion. For starters, Allied has a slew of other Toronto properties within walking distance of the two telecom hubs. Most are low-rise red brick buildings that are technologically inferior to the city’s skyscrapers. At 905 King, tenants of these other buildings can lease space to store their servers at a nearby location.
The opportunity may lure more businesses away from the well-known office towers and into Allied’s aesthetically pleasing offices, complete with high ceilings and entranceway arches. Allied has refurbished these gems over the past few years, helping turn King Street West into a thriving community that is home to such companies as Cossette Communications. Upscale restaurants have also opened and the area’s supper clubs are now popular destinations for weekend partiers.
As for Allied’s bottom line, more space in 905 King means more profit. About 40,000 square feet should be ready for occupancy early this year. An additional 20,000 square feet will be available in late 2011 after a remaining tenant’s long-term lease expires. The 60,000 square feet of space could generate as much as a 35-per-cent return on investment for Allied, according to analysts’ estimates, because rent is expected to be $60 to $100 per square foot.
But Allied isn’t the only firm that benefits from the telecom hubs. The data centres’ tenants get floors fortified to hold heavy loads such as their expensive servers, plus backup power sufficient to double the normal usage – insurance against blackouts like the one that hit downtown Toronto last summer.
Ken Campbell, chief executive officer of Wind Mobile and a tenant of 151 Front, is impressed with these attributes, as well as the building’s security and the controlled chaos of the “meet me” room. “It’s the premier facility for co-location” in Canada, he says.
New condos and office towers going up during Toronto’s development boom also benefit. Once completed, properties such as the 53-storey Ritz-Carlton and the 46-storey Festival Tower will have the fastest Internet connections possible because telcos will connect these towers directly to the hubs, rather than peripheral routing stations in the suburbs that slow data transmission.
These direct connections will enter through one of 151 Front’s 25 fibre optic entry points, which branch off from the railway tracks south of the building. Historically, Canada’s telecommunications network ran along the railroad, and the building’s proximity to the tracks is the main reason 151 Front was first wired during construction in 1954.
Long before e-mail, building owner Canadian National/Canadian Pacific Telecommunications used 151 Front to facilitate Telex transmissions, whose wires ran along the railroad. Once the fax machine took over, however, the building’s special attributes were no longer needed and it was used as regular commercial space.
However, previous owners Trizec Properties Inc. and Northam Realty Advisors Ltd. saw the building’s potential. Trizec started upgrading it in 1997. In 2004, Northam bought 151 Front for $76-million and started its own upgrades, which helped to generate an almost 200-per-cent return when it sold the building to Allied.
The King Street property has a similar history because it was once the home of Netcom Canada, one of the country’s first dial-up Internet service providers. After cable and high-speed Internet all but wiped out dial-up connections and Netcom was wrapped into AT&T Canada, the building was also used as regular commercial space.
When Northam put 151 Front up for sale in 2009, Mr. Emory enlisted the technical expertise of one of his tenants, engineer Vello Ehvert, who brought him up to speed on the building’s potential and explained the shortage of server space downtown.
Although he helped Mr. Emory see the potential in 905 King, Mr. Ehvert says he was simply acting out of self-interest. “People say you can stick your server in India or South America,” he says, but “servers aren’t completely hands-off. I want my servers close to where I am so if there’s a problem I can be there in five minutes.”
He acknowledges that at first it seemed a bit strange to be advising a real estate company to solve this problem, but he changed his mind because “they’re not selling you technology,” he says. “They’re selling you real estate designed for technology.”
A telecom nerve centre to a nation
Pedestrians hurrying past 151 Front St. West’s modest brown brick exterior see only a street-level restaurant and ordinary shops.
But hidden behind tinted windows on the upper floors are the phone and Internet servers that enable millions of Canadians to talk, text and teleconference. The seven-storey building, two blocks west of Toronto’s Union Station, is the country’s largest telecommunications hub.
Among its attributes: 26 backup generators, five of them so huge they had to be lowered through the roof; dozens of security cameras; and an entry corridor designed to trap intruders between locking doors.
The guardian of those fortified doors is an unlikely one: Allied Properties REIT, a mid-sized real estate investment trust with no prior experience in providing such high-tech space. But Allied’s chief executive officer, Michael Emory, saw the value of this unique property, where rents can hit $100 a square foot – much higher than even most of the iconic high-rise office buildings a few blocks to the east.
Despite those high rates, the building – described by one telco executive as the “premier facility” of its kind in the country – is nearly full. Mr. Emory, who bought 151 Front St. West for $192-million in 2009, has an ambitious plan to extend that value: He’s turning another of Allied’s buildings, 905 King St. West, a few minutes away, into another top-notch data centre and linking the two buildings underground by fibre optic cables.
To minimize traffic disruption during construction of the link, most of the wire will run along nearby railway lines where underground cable space already exists. The Front Street building backs onto the tracks, meaning only minimal construction will be needed to lay the cable a few blocks north from the tracks to 905 King.
Once the two buildings are connected, tenants in the King Street property will share virtually the same data speeds and capacity as those in 151 Front, where occupants include the country’s three major telecom players – Bell, Rogers and Telus – as well as upstart wireless providers such as Wind Mobile.
For the telcos, the hub at 151 Front is an essential “co-location” space. Despite stiff competition between these players, their wires must connect so that anyone who sends an e-mail from Bell’s network, for example, can have their message delivered to someone using that of Rogers or another competitor. This happens in the “meet-me room” – no bigger than the average master bedroom, but chock full of cables and equipment so vital to Canadian communication that video cameras monitor every square inch.
Mr. Emory is aware that his company seems an improbable provider of such high-tech space. “On its face, 151 is a little bit different from what we typically do,” he says. In truth, it marks a bold acquisition for a company better known for owning small office buildings that have been retrofitted from industrial or manufacturing uses. Among Canadian REITs – which buy income-generating assets such as shopping centres, office towers and hotels and pay out that income to unitholders – Allied is recognized for sustainable payout ratios and conservative management.
That conservative approach paid off as the trust built up cash in recent years, waiting while the recession pushed down building values. Last year, when a smaller company decided to give up 151 Front to focus its attention elsewhere, Allied was ready to buy.
“There is absolutely no question that this building would have been out of our range before the credit crisis,” Mr. Emory said at that time.
But the Front Street building, and the transformation of the King Street property, represent an excellent business strategy for the trust, which has a market capitalization of just under $1-billion. For starters, Allied has a slew of other Toronto properties within walking distance of the two telecom hubs. Most are low-rise red brick buildings that are technologically inferior to the city’s skyscrapers. At 905 King, tenants of these other buildings can lease space to store their servers at a nearby location.
The opportunity may lure more businesses away from the well-known office towers and into Allied’s aesthetically pleasing offices, complete with high ceilings and entranceway arches. Allied has refurbished these gems over the past few years, helping turn King Street West into a thriving community that is home to such companies as Cossette Communications. Upscale restaurants have also opened and the area’s supper clubs are now popular destinations for weekend partiers.
As for Allied’s bottom line, more space in 905 King means more profit. About 40,000 square feet should be ready for occupancy early this year. An additional 20,000 square feet will be available in late 2011 after a remaining tenant’s long-term lease expires. The 60,000 square feet of space could generate as much as a 35-per-cent return on investment for Allied, according to analysts’ estimates, because rent is expected to be $60 to $100 per square foot.
But Allied isn’t the only firm that benefits from the telecom hubs. The data centres’ tenants get floors fortified to hold heavy loads such as their expensive servers, plus backup power sufficient to double the normal usage – insurance against blackouts like the one that hit downtown Toronto last summer.
Ken Campbell, chief executive officer of Wind Mobile and a tenant of 151 Front, is impressed with these attributes, as well as the building’s security and the controlled chaos of the “meet me” room. “It’s the premier facility for co-location” in Canada, he says.
New condos and office towers going up during Toronto’s development boom also benefit. Once completed, properties such as the 53-storey Ritz-Carlton and the 46-storey Festival Tower will have the fastest Internet connections possible because telcos will connect these towers directly to the hubs, rather than peripheral routing stations in the suburbs that slow data transmission.
These direct connections will enter through one of 151 Front’s 25 fibre optic entry points, which branch off from the railway tracks south of the building. Historically, Canada’s telecommunications network ran along the railroad, and the building’s proximity to the tracks is the main reason 151 Front was first wired during construction in 1954.
Long before e-mail, building owner Canadian National/Canadian Pacific Telecommunications used 151 Front to facilitate Telex transmissions, whose wires ran along the railroad. Once the fax machine took over, however, the building’s special attributes were no longer needed and it was used as regular commercial space.
However, previous owners Trizec Properties Inc. and Northam Realty Advisors Ltd. saw the building’s potential. Trizec started upgrading it in 1997. In 2004, Northam bought 151 Front for $76-million and started its own upgrades, which helped to generate an almost 200-per-cent return when it sold the building to Allied.
The King Street property has a similar history because it was once the home of Netcom Canada, one of the country’s first dial-up Internet service providers. After cable and high-speed Internet all but wiped out dial-up connections and Netcom was wrapped into AT&T Canada, the building was also used as regular commercial space.
When Northam put 151 Front up for sale in 2009, Mr. Emory enlisted the technical expertise of one of his tenants, engineer Vello Ehvert, who brought him up to speed on the building’s potential and explained the shortage of server space downtown.
Although he helped Mr. Emory see the potential in 905 King, Mr. Ehvert says he was simply acting out of self-interest. “People say you can stick your server in India or South America,” he says, but “servers aren’t completely hands-off. I want my servers close to where I am so if there’s a problem I can be there in five minutes.”
He acknowledges that at first it seemed a bit strange to be advising a real estate company to solve this problem, but he changed his mind because “they’re not selling you technology,” he says. “They’re selling you real estate designed for technology.”
Woodbridge_Heights
Senior Member
Is this project now on hold?
Automation Gallery
Superstar
taal
Senior Member
I should mention the source is here:
http://www.snwebcastcenter.com/event/?event_id=2534
Its a fairly long webcast though, the interesting bits are in the first quarter roughly.
http://www.snwebcastcenter.com/event/?event_id=2534
Its a fairly long webcast though, the interesting bits are in the first quarter roughly.
androiduk
Senior Member
Application: Zoning Review Status: Not Started
Location: 171 FRONT ST W
TORONTO ON
Ward 20: Trinity-Spadina
Application#: 12 156024 ZPR 00 ZR Accepted Date: Apr 18, 2012
Project: Non-Residential Building Other Proposal
Description: Proposal to lease a portion of the property located south of Station Street for for new transit terminal and lounge. Convenience address is 20 York St and 7 Station Street.
Location: 171 FRONT ST W
TORONTO ON
Ward 20: Trinity-Spadina
Application#: 12 156024 ZPR 00 ZR Accepted Date: Apr 18, 2012
Project: Non-Residential Building Other Proposal
Description: Proposal to lease a portion of the property located south of Station Street for for new transit terminal and lounge. Convenience address is 20 York St and 7 Station Street.
taal
Senior Member
I'm confused, transit terminal ?
khris
Senior Member
Greyhound moving here maybe?
taal
Senior Member
How can that make any sense ? I remember when I listened in to the allied year in review, they mentioned as part of this project they'd reconfigure the bottom couple floors to get more lease able space out of it. Maybe that's all this is.
whatever
Senior Member
I'd guess that's an island airport shuttle, but it's just a guess. By saying that it's on the south side of Station St I think this is the Skywalk, not the data centre
taal
Senior Member
Ah you know what ... that makes sense:
So during that same year end call, they mentioned they bought the skywalk space and were planning on renovating it. On top of that they mentioned they leased out the space but couldn't mention who it was yet. Could be porter ...
So during that same year end call, they mentioned they bought the skywalk space and were planning on renovating it. On top of that they mentioned they leased out the space but couldn't mention who it was yet. Could be porter ...
whatever
Senior Member
I'm pretty sure Porter already runs their shuttle out of that spot, but maybe they're expanding, or maybe Air Canada is running shuttles now as well? It's all conjecture on my part, but it seems sensible
CharmAlarm
Active Member
Ummm...Porter picks up/drops off at the Royal York Hotel, York St. entrance.