- What Optimize Financial acquired the Comstock Building in Toronto
- Why A private consortium sold the building for $469/sq ft
- What next Optimize plans to occupy the office space
A mixed-use office building in downtown Toronto has sold for $15m, Green Street News can reveal.
Optimize Financial acquired the Comstock Building, at 2 Lombard Street, from a private consortium and plans to occupy the building’s office space. Colliers had the marketing assignment.
The valuation for the 32,000 sq ft building is $469/sq ft. The corner property, which also has the address of 75 Victoria Street, initially was priced at $18.5m when it hit the market in fall 2023.
The Comstock Building was completed in 1890 and has heritage status. A structural renovation was carried out in 2013. The main floor and lower level comprise restaurant space, while office space occupies the second and third floors. There is one passenger elevator and one freight elevator.
It’s zoned CR – commercial residential, permitting a variety of uses including medical office, education and student residence. Per marketing materials, there is future redevelopment potential for a 20-storey mixed-use residential building.
Near the intersection of Yonge Street and Queen Street East, the property is on the cusp of the financial district. It’s within 300 m of Queen and King stations as well as CF Toronto Eaton Centre. Union Station and the Gardiner Expressway are within 750 m.
PATH connections are available from the Yonge Richmond Centre, at 151 Yonge Street, and the Dynamic Funds Tower, at 1 Adelaide Street East, both of which are within 150 m of the Comstock Building.
As of Q4 2024, the office vacancy rate in Toronto’s financial district was 13.9%, according to a recent report from Colliers, on par with the downtown Toronto average of 13.7%. The node registered negative net absorption of nearly 503,000 sq ft for the quarter. Weighted average asking net rents were $38.03/sq ft.
