Mac to open satellite space in Toronto

McMaster University is having a homecoming ... in Toronto.

The Hamilton institution says by the end of 2022 it will open a new satellite space down the highway — 90 years after it uprooted from the big city to make its permanent home in the Westdale neighbourhood.

McMaster says it is opening an 8,000-square-foot “event and collaborative learning space” at 180 Bloor St. W., almost across the road from where the university first began in 1887.

Back then it offered courses in arts and theology.

The original site is now home to the Royal Conservatory of Music.

The Toronto building will be used for executive education, events, meetings and short courses for students.

It will also have an information centre for prospective students and administrative offices.

“While Hamilton will always be home, McMaster’s presence in downtown Toronto will be a place to welcome students, alumni, business, government leaders and the world,” McMaster president David Farrar said on Mac’s website.

The “prime location” will give McMaster “a new hub for making connections and tackling local and global issues,” Farrar says.

All McMaster faculties will be able to use the new location. The faculties of business, engineering and health sciences are collaborating on the design, with architectural features “inspired by philanthropist and Mac alumnus Michael LeeChin’s “Crystal” at the Royal Ontario Museum,” says Khaled Hassanein, dean of the DeGroote School of Business.

McMaster also has sites in downtown Hamilton, Burlington, Kitchener-Waterloo and Niagara.