BMO to build new downtown ‘campus’
Four-storey building at Yonge and Dundas Sts. planned to attract ‘best and brightest talent’
BMO is transforming one of the city’s most recognizable intersections by building a new four-storey “urban campus” for 3,500 of its employees across from Yonge-Dundas Square.
The site on the southwest corner of Yonge and Dundas Sts., a former Sears department store, will give BMO workers direct subway and PATH access to the bank’s Toronto headquarters at First Canadian Place.
It also puts them at the heart of Toronto’s restaurant and entertainment scene.
“These are all key qualities that new entrants into the workforce are looking for, and key advantages that will help BMO continue to attract the best and brightest talent,” said Darryl White, CEO of BMO Financial Group, in an email prior to Thursday’s announcement.
The “cutting-edge,” 346,000-sq.-ft. workspace, next door to Ryerson University’s Ted Rogers School of Management, is expected to open in 2021.
It will feature advanced digital technology, natural light through a four-storey atrium and collaborative workspaces.
The undisclosed investment is part of a competitive business transformation designed to provide BMO customers with up-to-the-minute technology and innovation, the bank said.
“This is one of BMO’s most significant workplace design projects since First Canadian Place broke ground 40 years ago,” White said.
The bank recently extended its lease at First Canadian Place for another 15 years.
The employees at the Yonge-Dundas location will be brought from other locations based on collaborative and customer considerations, the email said.
The space will encourage more flexible, efficient decision-making, BMO said.