Bay-Adelaide Centre
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The Bay-Adelaide Centre is a proposed Toronto skyscraper that has sat unfinished since 1991. The tower was the last of a series of construction projects in downtown Toronto launched in the boom years of the 1980s. The Centre was to be a 57-storey office tower at the corner of Bay Street and Adelaide in the heart of Toronto's financial district. In earlier years a series of massive towers, such as Scotia Plaza, had been built nearby. The tower was a joint project by Markborough Properties and TrizecHahn and it was to have cost almost a billion dollars.
The building caused considerable controversy among those opposed to the erection of such massive structures. The tower stood far higher than was allowed by the city's official plan. To gain city hall's approval the developers committed some $80 million towards new social housing and other projects. A portion of the site was turned over to the city for use as a park that is now Cloud Gardens. Both of these deals went ahead, despite the tower never having been completed.
Construction began in 1990, but the developers soon ran into problems. The economy collapsed and office vacancy rates in Toronto rose to 20%. Construction was halted, and in 1993, with over $500 million already invested, the project was permanently put on hold. All that was completed was the underground parking garage and several storeys of the concrete service shaft that stood as a monument to the failed project in downtown Toronto. The stump of the service shaft was known to security and the locals as "the bunker" or simply "the stump".
There have been several attempts to revive the project. In 1998 TrizecHahn briefly revived it, but another shift in the economy caused them to again pause. In 2000 there was again talk of reviving the project, but the next year TrizecHahn sold its 50% share to Brookfield Properties for $49 million. Brookfield was committed to completing the structure to a smaller height of either 40 or 50 storeys, but later that year the economy again soured and the project remained on hiatus.
As of October 2005, plans have been filed with the City of Toronto to improve the structure. An information sign (notice to amend the by law regulating zoning) was placed on Bay St. between 347 Bay and 355 Bay, both also Brookfield properties. The notice, in short, informs the public that three mixed use high rise towers, surrounding an urban plaza will be built. The 3 towers will vary in size from 43 to 50 storeys and contain and aggregate density of 240,396 Sq. Meters.
In June 2006, both buildings on Bay St. attached to this property were emptied of tenants and by December 11, 2006, both buildings had been taken down, with the north and west facades of the National Building (347 Bay) being removed for incorporation into the new buildings. The National Building had only recently been designated a heritage building under the Ontario Heritage Act (Part IV)[1]. By December 2006, dismantling of the service shaft stump was complete.
