Surprised there was no mention of this here:
http://www.newswire.ca/en/releases/a.../10/c8879.html
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servl.../Business/home
Telus to join Toronto skyline
ELIZABETH CHURCH
Globe and Mail Update
TORONTO — Telus Corp. is adding its name to the Toronto skyline as the major tenant for a new 30-storey tower to be constructed beside the Air Canada Centre.
The $250-million tower is being built by privately held Menkes Developments Ltd. through a joint venture partnership with Hospitals of Ontario Pension Plan and U.S. private investor, Halcyon Partners Fund. Construction is expected to begin this fall with a target date for completion of January 2009.
Telus has leased 60 per cent of the 780,000-square-foot tower and plans to move 2,000 workers to the site as part of a major consolidation and expansion effort in Ontario.
"We see Toronto as a significant growth market for us," said Andrea Goertz, vice-president of Enterprise Services at Telus. The Vancouver-based firm plans to move staff from 15 different locations throughout the Toronto area to two sites, one in Scarborough on the east side of the city and the new building downtown.
Telus currently has 400 staff working in the city centre, but Mr. Goertz said the new tower will allow all staff involved in services to business clients to work out of out of the same location and in close proximity to major customers. The building, situation between the Gardiner Expressway and a major commuter rail line, will also give the firm huge visibility on the city's skyline.
"It will be like a jewel box,' said Peter Menkes, president of commercial and industrial projects at his family's firm, when asked to describe the new, glass-clad tower. The building will belinked directly to Union Station to the north andis the first office project for the firm in the downtown,which until now has focused its office development inthe north end of the city.
Yesterday's announcement was widely expected and follows a competition that concluded in May with the selection of the Menkes site. The decision by Telus to consolidate staff in the city centre, rather than at a suburban location, is a shot in the arm for Toronto's downtown. The site has long been pegged for office development by the city, but has sat empty for years because of lack of demand.
The Telus building is the second major downtown office project announced this year after more than a decade of little activity. This spring, Cadillac Fairview, the property arm of the Ontario Teachers Pension Plan Board announced a tower on the western side of the downtown near Roy Thomson Hall. Brookfield Properties Corp. also is expected to announce this summer that construction will begin at its long-dormant Bay-Adelaide site.
Telus shares trading down 10 cents at $45.30 on the Toronto stock market Monday.
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