Article
Canada Goose Flocks to Toronto Waterfront for its New HQ
May 31, 2022 3 Minute Read
Iconic luxury brand Canada Goose has finalized a deal for its new Canadian headquarters, leasing 115,000 sq. ft. over four floors at Menkes Developments’ 100 Queens Quay East in Toronto.
This is one of the biggest office transactions the city has seen since the start of the pandemic and is a huge vote of confidence in the future of office.
CBRE’s Brendan Sullivan, Brian Porter, Byron Ahmet and Myah Ollek represented Menkes in the deal, which Sullivan says resulted from a highly competitive process. “Many landlords would like to have Canada Goose as part of their project. So we’re thrilled to welcome them to the new centre of gravity that Menkes is helping create along the Toronto waterfront.”
Suburban to Urban
Canada Goose will be shifting its office operations to the waterfront from the company’s existing location at its manufacturing facility near Caledonia Road and Eglinton Avenue north of Toronto. The offices at its factory will be converted to create additional manufacturing space.
Sullivan says he and his team pursued Canada Goose with gusto, recognizing the importance of having a “nationally synonymous brand” become part of the innovation corridor Menkes is establishing in East Bayfront with 100 Queens Quay East and the Waterfront Innovation Centre at 125 Queens Quay East. “It was a hand in glove fit between their brand and this development.”
“To put them next to the new second location for MaRS, which is such a Canadian success story; to put them next to theScore, an incredibly successful Canadian tech company. And in the same project as one of the largest Canadian private wealth management companies, Richardson Wealth. It all made perfect sense that it was going to be them.”
Canada Goose will share rooftop signage at 100 Queens Quay East with LCBO, the anchor tenant. “We needed to create the environment where the brand became visible and connected to the community,” Sullivan says.
Office Confidence
In addition to being among the biggest office leases inked in recent years, the Canada Goose deal is significant in that it represents a shift where larger users are making meaningful real estate decisions for the first time since the pandemic. “It signals an underlying confidence in the market and in the return to office,” says Sullivan.
Brian Porter notes that the deal is another example of flight to quality in the Toronto office market, with tenants looking for spaces in state of the art, amenity-rich buildings in top locations. “And in this case, we’re talking about Toronto’s first true offices on the waterfront, which gives Canada Goose and all the other companies located here a clear advantage when it comes to enticing employees to join their organizations.”
The Canada Goose deal brings 100 Queens Quay East to 92% leased, with 50,000 sq. ft. of inventory remaining. Waterfront Innovation Centre, directly across the street, has just under 40,000 sq. ft. of space available for lease.
“This has solidified the East Bayfront as the fastest-growing office submarket in the city, and arguably the country,” says Byron Ahmet, noting that the momentum is being underpinned by the flurry of condo development in the area. “This deal helps to cement East Bayfront’s position as the next great community in Toronto.”
“As companies plot their new workplace strategies, we continue to have leasing success by offering new, state of the art office space that appeals to these changes,” says Sean Menkes, Vice President Office/Retail. “Tenants also benefit from the many amenities within our Sugar Wharf project – retail, parks, and an elementary school – as well as in the broader East Bayfront area along Lake Ontario.”
With Menkes’ two office projects nearly leased up, attention turns to Hines’ T3 Bayside project, now under construction just down the road. Leasing for that project, the first of two 10-storey mass timber office buildings, is expected to begin in the coming months, with CBRE managing the process.
Boasting 250,000 sq. ft in the first phase, “T3 Bayside is the next great opportunity for space on the Toronto waterfront,” says Sullivan.