Oxford Properties, the real estate arm of OMERS, the pension plan for Ontario’s municipal workers, has signaled its intention to build a $3.5 billion mixed use project just north of the Rogers Centre and CN Tower. The proposed development would see two office towers of 58 and 48 stories respectively, 800 rental apartments in two buildings, and 200,000 square feet of retail space built; just over 20% the size of the Eaton Centre. The project is innovative for several reasons and is receiving a buzz of largely positive attention.
For one, the designers involved are internationally renowned: Pelli Clarke Pelli Architects. Responsible for the International Finance Centre in Hong Kong, the well known Petronas twin towers in Kuala Lumpur, and other major landmarks. The building designs appear sleek, curvy, and modern while avoiding the usual uniformity of Toronto high-rises. Second, the towers will be largely re ntals with an integrated day-care on site. The units will also feature 2 and 3 bedroom units which Oxford claims are sorely lacking in Toronto’s downtown core. The office blocks are designed to cater to large scale tech. and financial employers undergoing rapid growth with young work forces who prefer downtown living to their older counterparts. A fair amount of retail space and a connection to the PATH will provide convenience and more employment opportunities to locals as well.
The real unique aspect of the project is that a large park will be built over the rail lands the project is adjacent to. The rail deck park complements recent proposals to build a $1-2 billion park above the rail corridor to provide the downtown core with much needed green space. To put the scale of this project in context, in total Union Park represents over 4.3 million square feet of retail, office, and residential space, more than twice the size of the square footage of the Toronto Eaton Centre complex and 25% bigger than the West Edmonton Mall, once the largest mall in the world. The project is a gamble. It is a expensive proposition and depends on a large number of tenants occupying its retail and office spaces in particular. Bold and ambitious, Union Park highlights the scale of Toronto’s ongoing construction boom and signals to the world that we’re just getting started!