A recently completed lobby renovation featuring a nine-storey LED screen has helped GWL Realty Advisors (GWLRA) greatly increase occupancy at a rebranded downtown Toronto office building.

Newly named Berczy Square, formerly known as 33 Yonge in accordance with its street address, is now approximately 96% leased, said Devan Sloan, GWLRA’s vice-president of asset management and leasing, in an interview with Connect.

The big boost came after 13-storey tower reached a record-high 40% vacancy level during the COVID-19 pandemic.

“The lobby hadn’t been upgraded for quite a few years,” said Sloan. “It seemed like the right time to invest in the asset. It’s one that we want to own for a long time to come, and making a strategic investment in order to boost the occupancy and also keep our existing tenants happy was a symbiotic benefit.”

The upgraded lobby centres on the six-foot-wide LED installation that runs the full height of the building’s atrium — the only atrium-style lobby in Toronto’s Financial District, according to GWLRA. The screen showcases immersive, data-driven digital art designed to evolve in real time.

Assembled inside the building, the screen has added greater appeal to an adjacent elevator column that it fronts.

“We thought it was a great way to display some digital art that was interactive,” said Sloan. “We looked at a couple of different options of what that might look like and ultimately settled on that nine story LED screen, which adds a tonne of life to the lobby.

“You have that massive elevator bank that was largely unutilized, not really, not terribly obvious to anyone. It’s a large stone travertine wall and this really brought it to life.”

Created by Montreal-based multimedia studio Gentilhomme, the screen’s content responds to variables such as time, weather, seasons and local sports events, generating shifting visuals. It recently displayed interactive Easter eggs.

“For example, one of the digital-art installations is a tree,” said Sloan. “And over the course of, I think it’s something like six hours, the tree grows to the top of the screen. And so, there’s a variety of different … moving parts to that.

“There’s some vines, there’s all sorts of different stuff on the screen. So, it’s a very interactive screen. It’s not just like a dull sort of [computer] screensaver. It’s an interactive screen. Some of them mimic the weather outside. We have a variety of displays that we can use.”

The artwork includes four themed capsules, led by Living Architecture, which depict the tree that grows and changes with the seasons. Other installations include Breach of Light, a continuous ambient flow; Mirror of Light, a dreamlike sky; and Surreal Hourglass, which visually tracks the passage of time.

The redesign, led by architecture firm DIALOG under Alison McNeil, repositions the lobby while blending hospitality and productivity, according to GWLRA. The space features seating zones inspired by natural and communal settings, including areas with trees and a reflecting pond at the Yonge Street entrance, an elevated central “deck” for gatherings, and a lounge-style section that faces Berczy Park.

The new Berczy Square name is derived from the tower’s close proximity to the park.

“Because we have a just-under-two-acre square piece of real estate, we thought Berczy Square was a very fitting name,” said Sloan.

“It also has a tie to being like a town square. And, when you look at the renovation we’ve done in the lobby, we’ve really created a sense of place and a space where people want to spend time, whether it’s grabbing a coffee from one of our coffee [shop] operators and taking a break from work or taking your meeting down to the lobby or just plugging in your laptop and working from the lobby for a little bit.

“It’s really a nice place to spend some time, whether you’re working or relaxing.”

The newly renovated lobby has capped off a series of upgrades on the main floor that included the installation of the quick-service restaurants, which feature some healthy food options, in 2023. Together, the lobby, restaurants and other amenities, have created a more hospitable, welcoming space, according to Sloan.

“When we think of the retail and we think of the amenity offering, we’re just trying to solve the logistical items that you might need during a day,” he said.

Berczy Square has five restaurants with outdoor patios that allow tenants’ employees or members of the public to shelter from the rain, snow, cold or heat, depending on the season.

“It’s about providing that optionality and thinking through how the average person here might spend their day and providing them with things that make their day easier,” said Sloan.

Looking at Toronto’s hard-hit office sector, the Berczy Square lobby upgrade and the building’s new name have helped GWLRA compete for tenants amid the region’s rapidly expanding return-to-office movement as tenant-employers seek high-quality workspaces to retain and recruit employees.

“The office business has gone through a pretty significant change over the past five years, and the rising vacancy rates that we’ve seen in the marketplace have given tenants a lot more options when they’ve gone to relocate their office space,” said Sloan. “So, we’ve really doubled down on the tenant experience and we’ve made strategic investments that have increased our value proposition to the tenants.

“We’re finding that is really resonating with employers, both large and small, when they’re making those decisions to relocate their office and bring people back.”

The other new amenities, installed in recent years, include secure bike parking, lockers and a full fitness facility that is available to all tenants and includes classes and exercise programs throughout the day. The end-of-trip amenities are designed to help tenants’ employees have a more enjoyable commute to work.

All of the amenities and Berczy Square’s close proximity to Union Station, the PATH, and location in the Financial District have combined to achieve the large vacancy reduction, said Sloan. The building is owned Great-West Life Canadian Real Estate Investment Fund No. 1 and the London Life Real Estate Fund which, along with GWLRA, fall under Great-West Life Assurance Company’s ownership umbrella.

With the lobby renovation now complete, GWLRA does not plan to make any other major upgrades to the building in the near future. But the company will continue to make ongoing minor space upgrades because “owning office buildings is capital intensive” and “there’s always some sort of improvement happening around here,” said Sloan.

“The major capita-investment items would be mostly behind us at this point,” he said.

Pictured: The newly renovated lobby and nine-storey LED screen at the Berczy Square office building in downtown Toronto.

Photo: Courtesy of GWL Realty Advisors