TORONTO — Carttera Private Equities has announced that Google has signed a long-term lease to occupy all 18 floors of its 400,000-square-foot office tower currently under construction at 65 King East in Toronto.
The project is owned by Carttera, a Canadian real estate investment fund manager and developer, in conjunction with institutional co-investors OpTrust, Manitoba Civil Service Superannuation Board and Investment Management Corporation of Ontario. Architects are IBI Group and WZMH Architects and the contractor is PCL Construction. Other participants in the project include CBRE, Entuitive, Soberman Engineering, GBCA Architects, Smith + Andersen, and Cavendish Management.
Construction started in 2018 and completion is targeted for 2021.
A Feb. 6 release said Google’s tenancy represents a consolidation of its current offices in the GTA.
Besides the office space, the building will feature 18,000 square feet of outdoor terraces, 196 bike stalls and 10,675 square feet of retail space. The release said Wired Score Gold has already been accomplished and the owners are seeking LEED Gold certification. Design features include a raised floor HVAC system and exposed concrete ceilings.
“We are extremely pleased to announce that 100 per cent of the office floors of 65 King East are now leased to Google, one of the most prominent, influential and well-recognized companies in the world,” said Dean Cutting, partner at Carttera, in the statement. “Our vision for 65 King East has always been to combine innovative office architecture and an employee-centric workplace design with a dynamic, forward-thinking organization. Google truly recognizes how 65 King East promotes sustainability, employee wellness, collaboration, productivity and health.”
You would think that an innovative and progressive company ie Google, would have a building that would look revolutionary, awe inspiring-a work of art in its design-(Sidewalk Labs/Alphabet)-A building of distinction and serve as a template for other buildings to follow-not just the internal design and infrastructure-what we can’t see….A poignant and apt statement subtly communicated by Google….You’ve got to do better….