Issue link: http://digital.canadawide.com/i/687429
J UNE 2016 | 59 One York Street PHOTOGRAPHY BY JIMMY WU/COURTESY SWEENEY &CO ARCHITECTS; RENDERINGS COURTESY HOOPP REALTY INC. One York Street by ROBIN BRUNET M ixed-use developments are intended to stimulate human activity, but their success isn't necessarily a fait accompli. For example, a pleasing but not dazzling retail experience might turn away people in droves, and compromising on natural light penetration and sightlines can spell disaster. In the end, success is achieved by developers, designers and builders who are not only intimately acquainted with mixed-use developments and how they will be used and valued by their occupants, but also preferably have worked together in the past. And for those reasons, One York and Harbour Plaza Residences, which are owned by HOOPP Realty Inc., Menkes Developments Ltd., Sun Life Financial and Oxford Properties, designed by Sweeny &Co Architects along with architectsAlliance, and built by Menkes Developments and EllisDon Corporation, are generating considerable attention. Located south of the Gardiner Expressway in Toronto's south core neighbourhood, One York and Harbour Plaza consist of an office tower rising 35 storeys, and two condominium towers rising 65- and 69-storeys high to the east. The condo towers sit upon a four-storey podium (the office tower entrance by contrast meets street level), which contains approximately 150,000 square feet of retail space with indoor access to the residences and the City's pedestrian PATH network via the Air Canada Centre and Union Station. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan (HOOPP) and Sun Life are key tenants, each relocating its head office to the approximately 800,000-square-foot office tower. The commercial portion of the building is on track to achieve LEED Platinum certification – as overseen by LEED Consultant Green Reason – and includes elements such as a rooftop solar power array, grey water reuse and flywheel technology to reuse heat generated by the offices. As of April 2016, the office tower is being prepped for occupancy and the residential and retail components are scheduled for completion in 2017. "Considering the complexity of the project, with different ownership, design and construction groups, it's a major achievement that we've remained on schedule and have stayed within the original construction budget," says Guy Belanger, project manager for Menkes. Belanger adds that the achievement was made possible largely because "of our long-time relationship with HOOPP, which earlier resulted in the development of 25 York Street, better known as the TELUS Tower." Nick Macrae, senior portfolio manager, real estate for HOOPP, agrees that the development "has gone phenomenally well since we began five years ago. We had a clear idea of what we wanted to achieve early on, but delivering on a development of this magnitude, including the variety of uses, with a timeline of over five years is a huge challenge with many risks." Sweeny &Co Architects president Dermot Sweeny was inspired to "push structures really hard" and outdo his past successes. "Once we properly configured the towers and maximized floor plates, we divided up the work: we did the podium and office tower, and architectsAlliance did the residential towers and commercial components for the podium roof." Once the design of the residential towers was complete, Sweeny &Co produced the construction documents and provided construction contract administration services for the residential towers. Sweeny maximized daylight on One York by eliminating traditional perimeter beams. "We pulled the columns 15-feet inward from the slab and then cantilevered the slabs out, with dropped caps over the columns – which makes the columns tapered with the thick end on top of the column." Sweeny adds, "In addition to looking elegant, this approach allowed us to go to the outside wall only with the flat plate slabs, and this in turn enables people to look along the ceiling slab to the exterior with no obstruction to the view." To which Macrae adds, "Light and air were our priorities, given the enhanced quality of space we wanted to deliver for our tenants and their employees." The tapered columns and flat plate slabs also resulted in more ceiling height: 10 feet eight inches instead of nine feet, and that allowed us to use more vision glass and dramatically increase the daylight penetration," says Sweeny. The office tower was designed to come all the way to the ground rather than rest on the podium, "because all great offices have to greet the street with a clear and continuous relationship with the public realm," explains Sweeny. A north and south through block entrance with a porte cochere and a drive up/drop off zone with significant lobby space was given LOCATION 1 York Street and 90 Harbour Street, Toronto, Ontario OWNER HOOPP Realty Inc. / Menkes Developments Ltd. / Sun Life Financial (for the commercial portion of project); Menkes Developments Ltd. / Oxford Properties Group (residential portion) DEVELOPER Menkes Developments Ltd. ARCHITECTS Sweeny &Co Architects (Commercial) architectsAlliance (Residential) ARCHITECT/CONSTRUCTION DOCUMENTS AND CONTRACT ADMIN Sweeny &Co Architects (Residential) GENERAL CONTRACTOR EllisDon Corporation (Commercial) BUILDER Menkes Construction Ltd. (Residential) STRUCTURAL CONSULTANT Stephenson Engineering Ltd. MECHANICAL CONSULTANT The Mitchell Partnership Inc. (Commercial) MECHANICAL/ ELECTRICAL CONSULTANT Hidi Rae Consulting Engineers (Residential) ELECTRICAL CONSULTANT Mulvey & Banani International Inc. (Commercial) LANDSCAPE ARCHITECT NAK Design Group (Residential) INTERIOR DESIGN CONSULTANTS Sweeny &Co Architects (Commercial) Cecconi Simone (Residential) LEED CONSULTANT Green Reason TOTAL SIZE Approximately 800,000 square feet (office); 1 million square feet (residential); 150,000 square feet (retail) TOTAL COST Undisclosed