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It was a veritable political who's who at Corus Quay last Friday as Waterfront Toronto unveiled plans for a 350k SF innovation centre in East Bayfront, a funky-looking facility that developer Peter Menkes says will reinvent how leading creative and tech firms do business in our city.  Toronto Mayor John Tory joined federal finance minister Joe Oliver and Ontario economic development and infrastructure minister Brad Duguid for the big rollout of the innovation centre, first reported by Bisnow last year. The Sweeny & Co Architects-designed building — powered by a waterfront-wide ultra-high-speed broadband fibre optic network — will feature a series of interconnected private, semi-private and public spaces aimed at facilitating collaboration and innovation. Amenities at the centre will include a presentation theatre, workshop areas and digital production facilities.
 Menkes has developed several high-profile office projects in the vicinity: 25 York Street (TELUS House) was a pioneering office tower in the South Core district, where it's now building One York Street (Sun Life Tower). Commercial division president Peter Menkes — whom we snapped after the event — said there's growing demand from businesses whose employees “want to be located in the heart of the action, not outside of it.” East Bayfront “fits the bill." No tenants have been signed at the innovation centre yet, but Peter expects it will attract a broad spectrum of firms in the creative arts, film, TV, digital media and tech sectors.  The complex, overlooking Sugar Beach, will have street-level retail servicing tenants and the surrounding area. Its westernmost portion, The Exchange, will offer interactive meeting and conference spaces that are accessible to all tenants, and open to the broader community. The facility's largest component (the source of most rent, Peter says) is The Hive, at the eastern end, with leased office space (and 30k SF raised-floor plates that can be easily reconfigured). The third section, The Nexus, an atrium, will function as a public link between the centre's other parts, an informal space with retail where people can mix, mingle and network.  Waterfront Innovation Centre's development will be 100% private-sector funded, Waterfront Toronto CEO John Campbell stressed to the gathered media, and the building's expected to bring 2,000 employees to the waterfront. The innovation centre — targeting LEED Platinum — represents the latest addition to the rapidly growing East Bayfront precinct, home to Corus Quay, George Brown College and several new condo developments, a dynamic mixed-use community with 20,000 new residents within a half mile of the site, Peter noted.  The Toronto-Waterloo corridor is the talk of Silicon Valley, Minister Duguid said, adding Toronto ranks sixth in the world for startups, and has lured big names like Google and Cisco in recent years. “They're coming because they're attracted to the talent." Menkes will soon be going on the road to find an anchor tenant for Waterfront Innovation Centre, Peter says, and construction could begin in 18 months.
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Canadian Investment In U.S. Real Estate Is Unrivalled Canada poured US$10B in direct investments into the US in 2014, according to new research from CBRE. That puts us ahead of Norway, China, Japan and Germany. (All we're asking is for a nice thank-you note.) Of the total $41B in foreign direct investment in US real estate last year, Canadian investors accounted for 26%. There's no indication things are slowing; Canadian investors did $2.75B in US real estate deals as of mid-January, including Ivanhoé Cambridge's $2.2B acquisition with Callahan Capital Properties of Manhattan's Three Bryant Park office property.  The US is “by far” the largest destination for Canadian global capital, CBRE says, with 44% of the $22B Canada invested outside its borders in 2014 going to the States (to compare: 14% of Canuck cash went to the UK; 17% went to Australia). The resurgent US economy is a factor driving Canadian investment south of the border, as are exchange rates, notes CBRE's Ross Moore, “but the overriding motivation is that Canadian institutional investors need to look beyond their borders to find product and achieve greater diversification.”
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Why Target Canada Landlords Want It Pushed Into Bankruptcy Target Canada landlords want the retailer pushed into bankruptcy to take away its control over lease sales for locations it's vacating, which could be worth $2B, the Globe and Mail reports. Switching to a bankruptcy would mean a third-party trustee acting on behalf of creditors would oversee the winding down and liquidation, the newspaper notes, providing deadlines for the disposition, and more certainty to the process. Instead, the Globe reports, Target, which is under court protection from creditors, is in control and looking at a 45-day extension of the lease sale process. Richard Orzy with Bennett Jones LLP, who's representing landlords RioCan REIT and Kingsett Capital, told the Globe a vacant Target store hurts the shopping centre and all the other tenants.
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