TORONTO-Deloitte Canada has signed to lease 420,000 square feet at a new office tower downtown. With the lease in place, New York City-based Brookfield Office Properties Inc. has announced its intention to develop the 980,000-square-foot Bay Adelaide Centre East, going up alongside its West twin.

The city currently has one of the strongest office markets in the world, and even with five new large buildings on the horizon, only has a 5.3% vacancy rate. “Strong fundamentals and low vacancy in Toronto’s financial core signify the market’s willingness to support new office development,” said Jan Sucharda, president and CEO of Brookfield’s Canadian operations, in a statement.

The 1.2-million-square-foot Bay Adelaide West building opened in 2009 and is 95% leased. Tenants include KPMG, Goodmans, Heenan Blaikie, Faskens, Thomson Reuters, Barclays and Gluskin Sheff.

As for Deloitte, CEO of Deloitte Canada Frank Vettese said the new office will allow the firm to create the workplace of the future “by consolidating our Toronto operations in one innovative space that will inspire collaboration, teamwork and learning.”

The 44-story East building will add to the 51-story West building, creating a two-million-square-foot complex that will encompass the full Adelaide Street block between Bay and Yonge streets. The East tower’s expected completion date is by early 2016. The future holds more, however, as a third phase – Adelaide Centre North – can accommodate 500,000 square feet. A Brookfield spokeswoman tells GlobeSt.com that there are no set plans for development of the North building.

Want to continue reading?
Become a Free ALM Digital Reader.

Once you are an ALM Digital Member, you’ll receive:

  • Breaking commercial real estate news and analysis, on-site and via our newsletters and custom alerts
  • Educational webcasts, white papers, and ebooks from industry thought leaders
  • Critical coverage of the property casualty insurance and financial advisory markets on our other ALM sites, PropertyCasualty360 and ThinkAdvisor
NOT FOR REPRINT

© 2024 ALM Global, LLC, All Rights Reserved. Request academic re-use from www.copyright.com. All other uses, submit a request to [email protected]. For more information visit Asset & Logo Licensing.