- What 67 Richmond Street West is fully available
- Why Dream Office REIT has spent over $8m modernizing the building
- What next A similar lack of leasing was seen at 2 Queen Street West
A Class-A office building in downtown Toronto remains fully available as it nears the end of a full refurbishment.
The eight-storey building at 67 Richmond Street West has approximately 38,000 sq ft of office space across its upper six floors, the entirety of which is available for lease. Dream Office Leasing and Avison Young are marketing the property on behalf of Dream Office REIT.
A similar lack of leasing was seen this summer at 2 Queen Street West: As a six-year restoration project wrapped, the mixed-use building remained fully available. Other recently completed assets have fared better, though, including 160 Front Street West, which was 100% pre-leased when it came online in Q1.
Full-floor suites are available immediately for terms of three years and under, and there is the opportunity to lease the full building. Per leasing materials, total additional rent is $24.89/sq ft, and operating costs are $16.78/sq ft. Signage opportunities are available.
The heritage property was built in 1941. Dream began an extensive modernization in 2022, which is expected to be completed by yearend. The $8.1m project includes a full retrofit and renovations to the lobby, common areas and elevators. The property is BOMA-certified silver.
Daphne Restaurant and the Wine Academy occupy street-level retail space in the building, and a fully furnished model suite is on the seventh floor.
Near the corner of Richmond Street West and Bay Street, 67 Richmond is in the heart of Toronto’s financial district. Osgoode, St Andrew and Union stations are within a kilometre, and PATH access is available at 80 Richmond Street West.
According to Colliers, 6.6m sq ft of office space was available in the financial core in Q2. The node’s vacancy rate of 13.5% was slightly below the downtown average of 13.7%.
The submarket recorded nearly 12,000 sq ft of negative net absorption in Q2, and a further 1.4m sq ft of space is under construction in the area. Market pros have asserted that leasing activity remains strong for well-located, highly amenitized assets.
As of June 30, Dream Office REIT had $2.6b of total assets and owned over 5m sq ft of office space, the majority of which was in downtown Toronto. Michael Cooper is chair and chief executive.
