Another day, another milestone for True North Square.
On Monday, the first tenant officially moved into the building.
Thompson Dorfman Sweatman has taken over the top three floors of the 17-storey building at 242 Hargrave St.
“When you have a transformational project that comes to our city… We knew we had to be here,” CEO and Managing Partner Keith Labossiere said. “We can see that Winnipeg has gained a new sense of confidence and energy that extends throughout the downtown, which is no longer defined by one intersection.”
It’s the first privately-developed officer tower built in downtown Winnipeg since 1990 when the 31 floor building at 201 Portage Ave. was erected.
The 365,000 square foot tower is now more than 50 per cent leased.
“We have less space here than we had at Portage and Main but its much more efficient space,” Labossiere said. “Even as we’re adding people. We have more than 90 lawyers, 120-125 staff, all on these three floors.”
The law firm not only upgraded to a new building but took the opportunity to upgrade its business.
“We’re outfitting our lawyers with technology that allows them to access paper as if they are holding a binder in their hands,” Labossiere said. “What it cost to move dropped in half, to the time we got the quote and moved, because we got rid of so much paper.”
TDS used to have a two floor library in its old space, but because of digitization there is just one small book case that remains.
“People carted around books, heavy briefcases. We wanted to do away with that,” Labossiere said. “You can have everything literally in the palm of your hand.”
By upgrading its technology and efficiency, TDS was able to downgrade its space. They went from having four floors at 201 Portage to less than three.
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A recent market outlook noted if other companies followed suit, it could push the current six per cent office vacancy around the city to have a massive spike by late 2018.
“It’s expected this new supply will take 2 to 3 years to be absorbed into the marketplace,” according to Cushman & Wakefield’s most recent Office Market Beat of the year.
The construction of 225 Carlton will now focus on the completion of the building envelope. Installation of high-performance glass curtain wall has already begun and is set to be complete by late summer 2018.
The apartments there will be ready for tenants to move in by spring 2019.
The site has been a hub of construction since the ground breaking. At any given time there are more than 300 workers on site.
Sutton Place Hotel is expected to break ground within the next few months and be completed in 2021. Chop Steakhouse was announced as its anchor restaurant.
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