Commercial Office Leasing Guide Toronto 2012

The Costs and Benefits of Office Design

If you’ve been reading for a while, you’ve no doubt seen offices designed on the cheap as well as ones that cost a pretty penny. Because of this wide range in price, I find myself wondering: At what point does the cost of a project outweigh the benefit of the proposed results?

Broad Reasons for Great Office Design

Without getting into the specifics of each, there are fairly clear reasons that a well-designed workplace can be an important asset for any company.

• Improve efficiency of employees
• Improve workplace atmosphere
• Improve employee wellbeing
• Improved means of enticing prospective talent
• Improved means of impressing potential customers

The Costs of Great Office Design

Let’s take a peek at some reasons you might find a well-designed office to be expensive:

• Construction/Designer Costs
• Furniture
• Larger Space
• Time Intensive

Analyzing the Costs and Benefits Together

Without putting dollar signs on each of your employees, it is important to think through your reasons for improving your space and whether or not those are worthwhile investments. That’s not to say that you either make the improvements or don’t make them, but rather a call to make intelligent decisions about what is most important for your organization.

• Google obviously feels comfortable designing posh, fun, and photogenic workspaces in an effort to entice employees, but is it really necessary for the average employer to spend incredible sums of money on an office as a means of recruiting? Probably not. Instead, focus on building a great company that your employees love working for.
• That said, many companies do see the importance of using their space as an advertisement for their company, their creativity, and their product. But please know that just spending money on an office to make it seem like your are an amazingly creative company is not enough to actually make you an amazingly creative company.
• If you’re really keen on spending $2000 on each employee’s workstation, but can achieve the same efficiency or wellbeing gains for $1500, why not go for the less expensive option?
• Construction costs are the bulk of any major office redesign, while furniture is the least expensive. Facebook’s Palo Alto office was completed with a low cost/sqft because they were able to chose a space without needing major construction work.
• Sometimes, beyond money, redesigning an office can be a real pain and used up more time than you would actually save by having a redesign.

All of this said, envying over photos of offices is one thing, but when it comes to actually designing an office, please make sure that the goal of your design isn’t to win the prettiest office award, but rather to win the best functioning space to work in.

Original Post by Office Snapshots – By: Stephen Searer

Waterfront Toronto releases 2015 Pan Am Games plans

Written by Derek Flack

In a press release issued earlier today, Waterfront Toronto released some of its plans for the Athletes’ Village at the 2015 Pan Am Games, including renderings of what the site is supposed to look like when it’s all said and done. To be built on the West Don Lands — the area nestled between the Port Lands, Corktown and the southern terminus of the Don Valley Parkway — the project will provide temporary housing for 10,000 participants in the Games before eventually taking shape as mixed-used community.

Included in the renderings below is a peek at some of the amenities that will become part of what some day might become a neighbourhood. There will be a massive, 82,000 square-foot YMCA (which will be used as a training facility throughout the Games), a George Brown student residence, 787 units of what’s termed market housing (5 per cent of which will be reserved for affordable ownership), and 253 units of affordable rental housing.

Full article via BlogTO

WTF Group – Office Space – Spadina and Queen Toronto

Here are the availabilities for January 2012 for the WTF Group.

OfficeSearchToronto.com helps tenants determine the best office space for their budget from one of the largest database of available listings online. For a free survey call us at 416-643-3713 or E-mail Us Here or Contact Us!

Commercial Real Estate Virtual Tour – Toronto – 2000 square feet

I recently went on tour with a tenant looking for approximately 2,000 sf of office space in the financial core.  They were hoping to find something fully furnished that required less than a 1 or 2 year lease commitment.  Finding landlord’s that will lease space for less than 3 years has become difficult it what has become a landlord’s market in Toronto. After 30 or so phone calls we did, however, come up with a few sublease and fully furnished alternatives.  I took my new camera on tour to test out the fish eye  lens and I’m happy with the results.

If you are looking for office space or commercial real estate in Toronto give my team a call at 416-643-3713 or E-mail us!!

What do you think of the video tour – comments welcome!!

Queen Street Market still awaits renewal as the Grove

The beautiful but mostly empty Queen West Market, across from the MuchMusic building will soon be transformed into a healthy food court, but not as soon as originally planned. The Grove, as it will be called, was initially scheduled to open by the end of 2011. But delays in design and planning have set the grand opening back until April of this year, says Lisa Borden, a founding partner of establishment.

The historic market space will be filled with a variety of food alternatives in a neighbourhood that is currently mainly populated by either sit-down restaurants or junky fast food like Pizza Pizza and Subway. “I want a group of ten coworkers to be able to walk in to The Grove and realize they never have to fight about where to eat lunch again because it has something for everyone,” says Borden.

Full article

Spadina – Bathurst – Liberty Village Office Space – Toronto

OfficeSearchToronto.com tracks available office space across the GTA. Want a survey or availability report somewhere else in Toronto? Are these space too big? Call us at 416-643-3713 or E-mail Me!

Address	Available Space (sf)	Asking Gross Rental Rate (psf)	Asking Monthly Rate
1 Atlantic Avenue	2,205	$29.19	$5,363.66
1 Atlantic Avenue	1,722	$29.19	$4,188.77
111 Peter Street	3,742	$33.46	$10,433.94
116 Spadina Avenue	1,912	$27.65	$4,405.57
119 Spadina Avenue	1,804	$31.60	$4,750.53
129 Spadina Avenue	2,000	$33.00	$5,500.00
130 Spadina Avenue	3,765	$27.55	$8,643.81
147 Spadina Avenue	1,911	$24.65	$3,925.51
179 John Street	3,752	$31.91	$9,977.19
19 Duncan Street	2,534	$29.44	$6,216.75
20-30 Maud Street	1,624	$28.30	$3,829.93
214 King Street W	3,520	$36.49	$10,703.73
214 King Street W	2,679	$36.49	$8,146.39
214 King Street W	1,512	$36.49	$4,597.74
219 Dufferin Street	1,590	$24.93	$3,303.23
219 Dufferin Street	1,836	$24.93	$3,814.29
219 Dufferin Street	1,640	$28.93	$3,953.77
26 Soho Street	2,716	$30.40	$6,880.53
326 Adelaide Street W	3,047	$22.00	$5,586.17
33-35 Fraser Avenue	1,937	$27.55	$4,447.03
355 Adelaide Street W	2,191	$32.00	$5,842.67
487 Adelaide Street W	3,873	$28.87	$9,317.79
543 Richmond Street W	3,686	$23.95	$7,356.64
543 Richmond Street W	1,944	$23.95	$3,879.90
555 Richmond Street W	2,127	$26.25	$4,652.81
720 King Street W	2,500	$32.17	$6,702.08
99 Atlantic Avenue	2,400	$29.84	$5,968.00

Midtown Toronto – December Office Space 2011

OfficeSearchToronto.com helps tenants determine the best office space for their budget from one of the largest database of available listings online. For a free survey call us at 416-643-3713 or E-mail Us Here or Contact Us!

Address	Available Space (sf)	Asking Gross Rental Rate (psf)	Asking Monthly Rate
1 Eglinton Ave E	1,839	$33.60	$5,149.20
1 St. Clair Ave W	3,100	$32.62	$8,426.83
1 St. Clair Ave W	1,514	$32.62	$4,115.56
110 Eglinton Ave E	1,576	$31.16	$4,092.35
111 Eglinton Ave E	2,646	$29.15	$6,427.58
112 Eglinton Ave E	2,465	$29.00	$5,957.08
113 Eglinton Ave E	1,859	$31.04	$4,808.61
1650 Yonge Street	1,550	$29.00	$3,745.83
1881 Yonge Street	1,577	$35.66	$4,686.32
1992 Yonge Street	2,108	$24.95	$4,382.88
2 St. Clair Ave E	2,404	$37.16	$7,444.39
3 St. Clair Ave E	2,046	$41.16	$7,017.78
4 St. Clair Ave E	2,470	$41.04	$8,447.40
20 Eglinton Ave W	2,265	$38.95	$7,351.81
21 St. Clair Ave E	1,942	$33.48	$5,418.18
22 St. Clair Ave E	3,337	$33.48	$9,310.23
2190 Yonge Street	1,765	$36.35	$5,346.48
22 St. Clair Ave E	1,933	$47.50	$7,651.46
2200 Yonge Street	2,115	$36.99	$6,519.49
2221 Yonge Street	1,526	$28.67	$3,645.87
30 St. Clair Ave W	1,501	$40.84	$5,108.40
3080 Yonge Street	1,650	$34.48	$4,741.00
36 Eglinton Ave W	3,074	$29.78	$7,628.64
40 Eglinton Ave E	2,524	$32.97	$6,934.69
41 Eglinton Ave E	1,808	$32.97	$4,967.48
40 St. Clair Ave W	2,352	$35.14	$6,887.44
4141 Yonge Street	1,544	$31.86	$4,099.32
45 Sheppard Ave E	1,523	$33.45	$4,245.36
46 Sheppard Ave E	3,371	$33.45	$9,396.66
4576 Yonge Street	2,795	$33.76	$7,863.27
4576 Yonge Street	1,535	$33.76	$4,318.47
4950 Yonge Street	2,866	$39.50	$9,433.92
4950 Yonge Street	1,864	$39.50	$6,135.67
5001 Yonge Street	2,894	$36.28	$8,749.53
5160 Yonge Street	2,865	$39.54	$9,440.18
55 St. Clair Ave W	2,745	$39.01	$8,923.54
5775 Yonge Street	1,551	$36.41	$4,705.99
5775 Yonge Street	3,426	$36.41	$10,395.06
60 St. Clair Ave E	3,389	$27.30	$7,709.98
90 Eglinton Ave E	2,097	$35.90	$6,273.53

HAPPY NEW YEAR 2012!

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