CIBC headquarters will move to new office towers
Bay Park Centre development near Union Station to form ’urban campus’ for 15,000 employees
CIBC is moving its headquarters further down Bay St. into two massive office towers that the bank says will transform Toronto’s skyline over the next six years.
“This is a gem of a location and a significant investment in our future,” said Stephen Forbes, CIBC’s executive vice-president and chief commercial officer, in an interview.
The bank, whose headquarters are currently in Commerce Court at Bay and King Sts., will become the anchor tenant of the long-awaited Bay Park Cen- tre development adjacent to Union Station and the Air Canada Centre. Two connected towers will serve as both CIBC’s head office and a campus for about 15,000 of the bank’s Toronto-area employees, the company announced Wednesday.
Bay Park Centre — a multibillion-dollar development that will eventually be rebranded by CIBC in the next few months — will comprise state-of-the-art facilities on a 2.9-million-square-foot area in Toronto’s financial district. CIBC will lease 1.75 million square feet of office space on the property.
“This is the most coveted space coming on stream in Toronto. It’s going to transform that area in terms of the skyline,” Forbes said.
The bank has 21,000 employees in the GTA and about 15,000 will be relocating from various CIBC offices between 2020, when the first tower is built, and 2023, when the second tower goes up.
The “world-class complex” will feature a strong retail banking presence, with a flagship banking centre serving thousands of residents and businesses in the area, the company said.
The development is a joint project by global real estate firms Ivanhoé Cambridge and Hines, with design by architects Wilkinson-Eyre and Adamson Associates.
The real estate giants expect more than 4,000 construction-related jobs to be created over the course of Bay Park Centre’s development.
“The project’s strategic location at the confluence of all major transit channels in the heart of downtown Toronto will set the site apart as the pre-eminent office complex in the city,” Daniel Fournier, chairman and CEO of Ivanhoé Cambridge, said in a statement.
CIBC will continue to have a pres- ence at its longtime Commerce Court digs along with some offices across the city after the big move.
In 2014, Ivanhoé Cambridge and Metrolinx announced an agreement by which the real estate company would build a new GO Bus Terminal at 81 Bay St., south of its current location.
A Metrolinx spokesperson said the bus terminal move will be seamless for passengers, noting the new terminal will be ready after the first tower goes up in 2020.
Bay Park Centre will feature a series of pedestrian pathways — above, below and at ground level — that will connect the complex to downtown Toronto’s PATH network, businesses and amenities.
The site will also feature a one-acre elevated park linking the buildings to each other and serving as an outdoor space for CIBC employees, clients and the public.
The development deal is “a bold step forward for CIBC” as the historic bank marks its 150th anniversary, said Kevin Patterson, senior executive vice-president of technology and operations, who is responsible for corporate real estate strategy at CIBC.