Scotia Plaza

Scotia Plaza

Scotia Plaza in June 2009
Alternative names Scotia Plaza Tower
General information
Type Commercial offices
Location 40 King Street West
Toronto, Ontario
Coordinates 43°38′57″N 79°22′46″W / 43.64917°N 79.37944°W / 43.64917; -79.37944Coordinates: 43°38′57″N 79°22′46″W / 43.64917°N 79.37944°W / 43.64917; -79.37944
Construction started 1985
Completed 1988
Owner Dundee REIT (~66.63%)
H&R REIT (~33.33%)[1]
Height
Roof 274.9 m (902 ft)
Technical details
Floor count 68
Floor area 149,000 m2 (1,600,000 sq ft)
Lifts/elevators 44
Design and construction
Architect WZMH Architects
Developer Campeau Corporation
Bank of Nova Scotia
Structural engineer Quinn Dressel Associates
Hidi Rae Consulting Engineers
Main contractor PCL Construction
References
[2][3][4][5][6][7]

Scotia Plaza is a commercial office complex in the city of Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The complex is situated in the financial district of the downtown core bordered by Yonge Street on the east, King Street West on the south, Bay Street on the west, and Adelaide Street West on the north. At 275 m (902 ft), Scotia Plaza is Canada's third tallest building and the 22nd tallest building in North America. It is connected to the PATH network, and contains 190,000 m2 (2,045,143 sq ft) of office space on 68 floors and 40 retail stores.

The complex was developed by Olympia and York as an expansion of the adjacent headquarters of Scotiabank and the bank continues to occupy approximately 24-floors of the structure. Olympia and York owned the complex from its completion until the company was liquidated due to overwhelming debt in 1993. Scotiabank led a consortium of banks to purchase the mortgage for Scotia Plaza and over the next five years, it purchased additional shares from its partners until it was majority owner of the property.[8]

On January 19, 2012, Scotiabank announced it would sell the iconic building[8] and on May 22, announced a final agreement with Dundee Real Estate Investment Trust and H&R Real Estate Investment Trust for $1.27 billion, making it the last of Canada's major banks to divest ownership of its Toronto headquarters property.[9]

Architecture

The tower incorporates the historic Beaux-Arts Bank of Nova Scotia Building at 44 King Street West, by architects Mathers and Haldenby with Beck and Eadie, constructed between 1946 and 1951. The 115 m (377 ft), 27-storey structure was designated as significant under the Ontario Heritage Act by the City of Toronto in 1975[10] and was renovated with a historically-sensitive design that includes a 14-storey glass atrium connecting it to the new structure. The atrium houses a large banking hall incorporating architectural features from both the historic and modern components of the complex and includes a 40-metre (131 ft) large, metal structure referred to as the Circle of the Provinces which houses the teller services for the Bank of Nova Scotia's main branch.

WZMH Architects designed the modern tower which was constructed between 1985 and 1988. Excavation for the tower extended 33.5 m (110 ft), the deepest for a building in Canada's history.[7] The tower consists of 68 storeys above ground and 6 storeys below ground with a parallelogram floorplan. Red Napoleon Granite, quarried in Sweden, cut and polished in Italy, then imported to Canada, covers much of the exterior and many interior surfaces. Windows are dark tinted glass framed by the granite. The north and south facades follow a step profile giving many floors over 12 desirable corner offices. The east and west façades feature a deeply recessed, stepped-chevron extending between floors 56 and 68. The area within the chevron is covered with the same glass in metal frames, creating a visual void. Instead of a steel skeleton to bear structural loads, the tower employs high strength reinforced concrete. The tower has two low-rise wings extending east to 104 Yonge Street and north to 11 Adelaide Street West. The Adelaide wing incorporates the historic façade of the Wood Gundy Building, previously located at 40 King Street West,[11] and Yonge Street wing incorporates the Dunfield Building.

Essential to the project during construction was maintaining the Bank of Nova Scotia's head office and Toronto Main banking Branch functions with minimal disruption throughout the eight-year, two-phase construction. The tower's project and construction managers were Goldie-Burgess Ltd., followed by W. Tamm Consulting Limited.

Within the basement levels lies Canada's only gold bullion bank vault.[12][13]

See also

References

  1. ↑ "Scotiabank sells downtown Toronto HQ for $1.27B". CBC News. The Canadian Press. 22 May 2012. Retrieved 2013-04-09.
  2. ↑ Scotia Plaza at CTBUH Skyscraper Database
  3. ↑ Scotia Plaza at Emporis
  4. ↑ Scotia Plaza at Glass Steel and Stone
  5. ↑ Scotia Plaza at SkyscraperPage
  6. ↑ Scotia Plaza at Structurae
  7. 1 2 "Scotia Plaza". York Excavating and Grading LTD. Retrieved 2013-04-09.
  8. 1 2 Grant Robertson; Boyd Erman; Steve Ladurantaye (19 January 2012). "Scotiabank set to sell Bay Street tower". The Globe and Mail. Retrieved 2013-04-09.
  9. ↑ Steve Ladurantay; Grant Robertson (23 May 2012). "Scotiabank's landmark Toronto tower sells for record $1.27-billion". The Globe and Mail. Retrieved 2013-04-09.
  10. ↑ "44 King St W". City of Toronto. 29 July 1996. Retrieved 2013-04-09.
  11. ↑ "40 King Street West". City of Toronto. 17 July 2007. Retrieved 2013-04-09.
  12. ↑ The National Inflation Association (8 April 2010). "Is Canada's Only Bullion Bank Gold Vault Nearly Empty?" (Press release). PR Newswire. Retrieved 2013-04-09.
  13. ↑ Tyler Durden (7 April 2010). "The Latest Gold Fraud Bombshell: Canada's Only Bullion Bank Gold Vault Is Practically Empty". Zero Hedge. Retrieved 2013-04-09.

External links

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