Toronto Union Park | 303.26m | 58s | Oxford Properties | Pelli Clarke Pelli

[UtakataNoAnnex]

If this project would be looking for trophy builds to happen, I ask how many more towers do the banks need their names on? Also, did they achieve that tech and banking hub known as “south core” along Queens Quay- or could they reframe the concept for this?

To be fair, towers with bank names on it means office towers that have anchor clients…which is the reason why they where built in the first place. If they have spread too thin by having many towers with their brand, then it’s unlikely you’ll see more towers with bank names on it.

 

[maestro]

Non partisan politics is a thing when democracy is down to this guy or that guy? Poilievre is to be determined but, that would be some accomplishment to do even worse than Trudeau's adminstrations for the middle class. However, transit capital expenditures seems to be all encompassing Canadian societal gains on UT and Poilievre does not come across as a pro transit guy.

 

[Northern Light]

I ask how many more towers do the banks need their names on?

Which banks? More than the big Six are shopping the Toronto market.

Also.....if TD hadn't been nipped by U.S. authorities in a money laundering investigation........they, like BMO and Scotia in particular would be continuing to show significant international growth.

Growth which ultimately sends jobs to the the HQ of the parent company.

****

There are also non-banking interests taking a close look.

 

[rbt]

Those worried about the office demand (high vacancy) are missing some key info. Trophy builds, (AAA+,) never suffered as much as other office product during the pandemic. B and C class space in many cases might never recover, but new A class and 'trophy' towers in the core or at this location, have not experienced nearly as much of a challenge with absorption, and that will likely get even better in the medium term.

Indeed. Trophy office vacancy rate in Toronto is roughly 6% and dropping, while lease rates are rising. The under construction CIBC Square building is fully leased. Many companies that downsized maintained the same office budget for a smaller but much more convenient space.

The catch is construction costs have increased much faster than lease rates, so we may well have several years with very very low vacancy rates for AAA+ but also new builds struggling to find tenants willing to cover construction.

 

[canarob]

I wonder if there's some hope that because condo builders are slowing new starts at such a pace that construction prices might dip a bit for the all-rental residential first phase of this project? This could apply to office construction in the medium term as well if condo sales keep tanking as the construction companies will need to be more accommodating to anyone still building in a prolonged slowdown.

 

[Midtown Urbanist]

I wonder if there's some hope that because condo builders are slowing new starts at such a pace that construction prices might dip a bit for the all-rental residential first phase of this project? This could apply to office construction in the medium term as well if condo sales keep tanking as the construction companies will need to be more accommodating to anyone still building in a prolonged slowdown.

We are already seeing that dip with labour* but material costs are connected to international markets and are probably beyond the control of individual firms. It seems material costs have also gone down this year with that trend expected to continue in 2025, but the impact of the past few years of cost acceleration have definitely impacted the margins of these projects.

(* - there are other competing impacts in the construction labour market though. A huge swathe of workers are approaching retirement without replacement, and a construction downturn may actually accelerate this process, as well as leading others to change careers or relocate to Alberta. Things may stabilize to a new equilibrium from a labour cost perspective but that may not necessarily land somewhere sufficiently cost-effective for big projects like a trophy office building.)