The building on the northwest corner of Richmond and Peter, a relatively non-descript four-storey building that's been home to several short-lived nightclubs and restaurants over the years, is on the verge of a transformation.
Allied Properties Real Estate Income Trust, the commercial developer responsible for the architecturally successful
111 Queen Street East agglomeration of heritage buildings, plans to renovate the exiting building and add a new tower on top of it, which they intend to build to
LEED Gold specifications.
Allied bought the building in 2003 and has been biding its time until the market seemed right. Now it's officially looking for a lead tenant.
"In a perfect world, [they'd take] around 100,000 square feet," says Allied's AVP of investment, Emily Hanna, who hopes to have someone signed by the end of May. "We'll announce a tenant, and the next day we'll break ground."
The new building will have a total of 275,000 square feet and will be called
Queen Richmond Centre West.
Allied's approach to commercial space bears a lot of resemblance to other developers' work turning warehouses into lofts.
"The main reason people will fight for living in a condo downtown is because they want to be near their work space," Hanna says, "so there's this interplay between the work, the residence and the retail." People, she says, like having work spaces that have the same ethos as their living spaces.
Writer: Bert Archer
Source: Emily Hanna
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