Introduction
It’s been said that Toronto is a city that is growing up — finally. Home to the world’s first ‘bedroom community’ of Don Mills, it’s no wonder that we had a tumultuous childhood. Challenged with vast distance between live-work-play spaces, we’ve had a difficult time ditching our cars, moving downtown, demanding more of our infrastructure, transit, and developers. Finally, young adulthood is upon us and beauty is beginning to come out of it. As parking lots turn into homes and office headquarters, the world is starting to notice Canadians, and Torontonians, for more than just our kindness and apologetic nature. We’re also being recognized for our grit and creativity. This has led to world events such as the Pan Am and Parapan Am Games visiting our doorstep, Sidewalk Labs taking up residence here, all while Amazon is eyeing us up and down. With this new found sense of confidence, Toronto has begun to attract top talent across a swath of industries. STEM, TAMI, FIRE — whatever acronym you choose to use, chances are you’re going to find some pretty skilled people filling offices and lunchrooms, regardless of which direction you look. When seeking space, features such as connectivity and location seem to be top of list for most organizations wanting to attract this cream-of-the-crop talent. The highly anticipated CIBC Square (formerly Bay Park Centre) exemplifies these needs, and what the world-class office space designation means moving into 2020 and beyond. Located at 81 and 141 Bay Street, Ivanhoé Cambridge and Metrolinx will be adding nearly 3 million square feet of AAA Class office to the downtown core, changing the Toronto skyline forever.

The Matchmakers
On the evening of March 20th, 2018, Torys LLP, Ivanhoé Cambridge, and ULI Toronto hosted a panel discussion on complex city building, focusing on the making of CIBC Square. A highly skilled panel moderated by Michael Sutherland [Hatch] was organized and made up of: Sabrina Gherbaz [Torys LLP], David Jansen [Adamson Architects], Katherine Latimer [Metrolinx], Frank Lewinberg [Urban Strategies Inc.], Avi Tesciuba [Hines], and Jonathan Pearce [Ivanhoé Cambridge]. With these key contributors to the project present, the sold-out room was anxious to learn first-hand what it takes to bring a vision of this scale into reality.

The Development
With a premiere Bay Street address, two towers will each hold approximately 1.5 million square feet of office space. The two separate sites were acquired around 2007, with the southern phase 1 (81 Bay Street) anticipated delivery of 2020, and northern phase 2 (141 Bay Street) to be 2023. While over 70 different plans were reviewed by the teams, a development comprised of strictly office space with a strong emphasis on connectivity was ultimately chosen. With a location of Bay and Front, CIBC Square will house the new GO Bus Station in its southern building, allowing regional busses to enter along Lakeshore Boulevard, preventing them from having to enter the city. The PATH will also be extended east from Union Station, providing foot access to the regional transit the station provides as well as TTC and Via systems. To go a step further, the two towers will be connected on the 4th floors with a one-acre programmed public park straddling the railroad tracks. The new ‘campus’ will be home to some 15,000 employees, spending their time in both LEED Platinum and WELL accredited space with a focus on wellbeing and efficiency.

The Challenges
With a project of this scale, it is obvious that there would be a few challenges along the way. It was expressed by the panel that one of the main speed bumps would simply be the passage of time. With the time-span of acquisition to delivery nearing two decades, the obvious concern was changing market economics that could render the development a failure. How was this life-or-death situation overcome? It required an unwavering commitment to an incredible vision. If you roll up your sleeves and put your mind to something, backed by a strong team, anything is possible, the panel expressed.

A secondary challenge was the construction of the elevated park. Because building any structure over an active railroad tracks was seemingly impossible, the teams took on practices from large scale complicated sites plans such as Hudson Yards in New York City to learn a thing or two. Carefully placed caissons would allow the uninterrupted operation of the railroad tracks  during construction to allow the development to stay on schedule. Something that few have seen before, especially in Toronto, the team expressed that the park was an integral part of the development. Not only will it connect the two phases, it will also provide incredible public space to the city as a whole, elevating the outdoor experience year-round for all. This is quite an incredible feat that will be enjoyable to follow through its creation over the coming years.

Why not until now?
Simple, the panel explains, it takes pressure to make diamonds. Land in the downtown core is getting tight now that most greenland sites have been developed, and so creativity is coming from having to work with what is left. Years ago this site might not have even seemed like a viable place for a development of this scale, but today it will be adding a significant amount of high-grade office to the financial core of Toronto. This pressure, in combination with incredible patience, persistence and a shared vision were the key drivers in the realization of this incredible development. Spanning over 16 years from inception to full delivery, it’s no wonder projects of this size and complexity are not seen often.

Conclusion
It was clear that connectivity was the main theme of CIBC Square and the key to its success. With developments increasingly transit-oriented, one key to the continuation of a thriving and growing Toronto will be improved infrastructure and more efficient movement of people. With these key factors in place, perhaps more and more developments of this scale and complexity will be realized, elevating Toronto to the world-class city we’ve always hoped it to become.

Special thanks to Torys LLP and Ivanhoé Cambridge for sponsoring the evening.