- What EY Canada has renewed its lease at its namesake tower and expanded by 50,000 sq ft
- Why The deal brings the firm’s total footprint at EY Tower to over 300,000 sq ft
- What next EY Tower remains 100% occupied
EY Canada has signed downtown Toronto’s largest office lease of the year, Green Street News can reveal.
Oxford Properties will announce today that the accounting firm has renewed its current lease at EY Tower by five years, and has expanded its space by nearly 50,000 sq ft.
The deal brings EY’s total footprint in the Oxford-owned building, at 100 Adelaide Street West, to over 300,000 sq ft, and maintains the tower’s occupancy rate at 100%. JLL brokered the deal on behalf of EY.
“While people are still debating return-to-office mandates and saying the office is dead, you’re seeing one of the largest accounting firms in Canada expand its space by 20%,” Nick Kordic, vice president of office leasing at Oxford, told Green Street News.
“EY is signaling that they believe in culture. They believe in community. They want people back in the office, so they’re making sure there’s actually enough space for everybody.”
That desire to establish culture, and the view that that’s best done face to face, is what spurred EY’s two-floor expansion. Overtaking space vacated by Google – which has moved into its new headquarters at 65 King Street East – the firm is in the final stages of a build out that will create flexible, modern office space that fosters collaboration.
“It’s not earth shattering to see an accounting firm renew in their space. PwC renewed at Southcore Financial Centre. KPMG renewed at Bay-Adelaide Centre. Both in the last 18 months or so,” Kordic, who led the deal, said.
“But what’s important about this deal, a deal of this magnitude, is that it’s a statement. It’s a statement to renew at this size. It’s a statement to take more space, not shrink. It’s a statement in the value of this asset.”
The deal exemplifies the flight-to-quality trend that has taken hold in Toronto’s office market: Users continue to shift their focus from B and C Class spaces to AAA assets that are highly amenitized and well-located.
EY Tower has a fitness centre, bike storage, underground parking, showers and green space. In the heart of the financial district, it’s connected to the PATH and is less than 1 km from Union Station and the Gardiner Expressway. It’s LEED Canada Gold certified and WELL Health-Safety rated.
Completed in 2017, there has not been availability at EY Tower since 2019, Kordic said. For comparison, the office vacancy rate in downtown Toronto was 17.7% in Q3, according to CBRE, and 14.2% in the financial core.
On the ground, Kordic said Oxford’s leasing team has seen numbers that rival pre-pandemic years, with touring activity, deal volume and total square footage increasing in 2024.
“We can preach that the office is back, but you need proof. And I think when you see the commitment that EY made, you start to really believe it,” he told Green Street News.
“EY is leading the charge. I truly believe that other organizations will now naturally follow suit. Downtown, the energy is back. The office is not dead.”
