Restaurants? Offices? A library? A museum? All of the above?
Torontonians have plenty of ideas for what should happen to Old City Hall when the historic building becomes vacant this spring.
A big obstacle standing in the way is money. A 2019 estimate pegged the full restoration cost for the building at $225 million — a figure that has scared off potential tenants in the past.
That’s why city staff think past plans to revitalize the building need a rethink, according to a new report.
Courts have called it home for the last 50 years. Come April, they’ll move to the new St. Lawrence Market complex, leaving Old City Hall “vacant with no further active uses currently planned,” staff said.
The city has been preparing for the vacancy since 2018 but efforts to find a long-term tenant have failed thus far.
Staff will now focus on finding tenants who can occupy the historic building on a short-term basis while rejigging the long-term plans to find a more permanent solution.
What the future could hold
If council approves the staff recommendations on February 5, CreateTO, the city’s real estate agency, “will conduct a new analysis with an eye to Old City Hall’s longer-term future uses,” CreateTO CEO Vic Gupta said in a statement to TorontoToday.
“The analysis will include an updated look at the market to understand what the building’s highest and best use could be in today’s environment,” Gupta said. The agency will also reassess three ideas council voted to pursue six years ago.
Those ideas all revolve around commemorating Toronto’s centuries-long history.
The first is for a refreshed Old City Hall headlined by a “Museum of Toronto,” and coupled with a library branch, wedding chamber, cafés, shops and other event spaces.
The museum would take up about 55,000 square feet and attract about 225,000 people per year, generating around $2.5 million in revenue compared to $3.5 million in annual operating costs, per a 2018 study.
The second proposal is to use the entire building for a Toronto museum, with help from the Art Gallery of Ontario, Royal Ontario Museum, National Gallery of Canada and Canadian Museum of History.
Finally, instead of a museum focused on the whole city, the third idea would see CreateTO work with the TTC to develop plans for a transit museum.
Public consultations in 2016 found significant support for a museum. Some residents were wary about allowing chain stores and certain kinds of retail into the space. Restaurants and event space uses also had solid backing.
Coun. Chris Moise, who represents the Toronto Centre riding where the building sits, is all for a museum.
“It really is a jewel of the city,” he said in an interview. “Most first-class cities have museums.”
Moise said a lot of Toronto’s history — including artifacts from the six pre-amalgamation boroughs — is stashed in various storage facilities.
“It's a shame that we have all these things tucked away and the public doesn't have access,” he said.
Moise is also in favour of moving the city’s archives from 255 Spadina Road to Old City Hall and building an event space and conference centre in the building.
Present day problems
The city has a few interim solutions in mind while work starts on the long-term plan.
These include using Old City Hall to host retail, food and beverage pop-ups, and cultural programs such as Nuit Blanche or Doors Open Toronto. The building could also be leased for event rentals and for film and TV shoots.
However, those come with constraints.
Any installations would need to be “light touch, temporary, easily demountable, reversible and appropriate for the building,” the staff report said.
Temporary tenants would also have to be able to operate in the building “as-is, without the need for capital upgrades.” That means steering clear of the third and fourth floors.
While the city won’t put up money to partially restore the building for a temporary tenant, new uses would incur some operational costs, such as additional security. The city has $16 million set aside to keep the building working in its current condition.
That means the revenues generated from potential new tenants would need to be weighed against additional costs to the city, staff said.
Long-term liability
The estimated $225-million revamp is a big issue.
Past attempts to find a long-term tenant “were unsuccessful, given a range of factors … including market conditions and the costs associated with bringing the building to a suitable state of good repair,” staff said.
In 2018, the city issued a request for proposals for a major new tenant.
CreateTO started negotiations but “potential private sector partners were unable to provide a sufficient capital contribution towards the upfront costs of retrofitting” Old City Hall. As a result, a contract was never offered.
The Romanesque building’s heritage status adds complexity.
Constructed between 1889 and 1899 by E.J. Lennox, the same architect behind Casa Loma and scores of other noteworthy buildings, Old City Hall is an iconic piece of Toronto architecture. It’s a national historic site and a designated heritage property, giving it special protection from redevelopment.
“Any future use will need to be considerate of the need to conserve and protect the heritage character and attributes of the building,” staff said.
Like many old buildings, the layout also presents problems.
“From a modern leasing standard, the building has an inefficient floor plan, due to the grand nature of the interior public spaces,” staff said.
The building is 430,000 square feet but just over 40 per cent, or 177,000 square feet, is actually rentable. Staff said they’ll look at ways to make the attic and courtyard more attractive to potential tenants.
Any potential short or long-term tenants will also need to contend with nearby construction and road closures.
Work on the future Ontario Line Queen Station has a stretch of Queen Street between Bay Street and Yonge Street closed for several more years. Streets to the north and east of Old City Hall are also affected.
COVID’s lingering impact
The same 2018 city study recommended using some of the building for office space. Then the pandemic hit.
“The impact of COVID-19 on feasibility and demand for office space in the Financial District has further complicated staff efforts to find new uses and have narrowed options for a viable use.”
Because the “office leasing environment has changed dramatically” since the 2018 study, staff want to undertake a new analysis to see if and how Old City Hall can accommodate modern work patterns.
