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Toronto Tableau

by Ron Bernthal

Canada’s business and financial capital is also a leading center for arts and culture.

Last year, about 21 million travelers spent time in Toronto; and it’s not difficult to imagine that every one of them found a fascinating museum to visit, an amazing restaurant to eat in and a vibrant and eclectic neighborhood to explore. The urban landscape of greater Toronto, with over 5 million residents (2.5 million within the City of Toronto), is Canada’s largest metropolitan area, stretching from the shore of Lake Ontario to the far northern suburbs.

Intermingled among the gleaming downtown skyscrapers that overlook the lake and within the growing but still small town-like municipalities of Markham, Brampton and Richmond Hill is a diverse city with a plethora of shops, ethnic cafés, indoor and outdoor sports facilities, art galleries, educational institutions and stunning architecture that has revitalized the city’s reputation for urban design. Toronto is also the largest English-language theater center outside of London, and its annual film festival is considered one of the best in the world. Not only is Toronto a leading arts and cultural center, but it is Canada’s business and financial center as well, with a vibrant stock exchange and headquarters to 176 of Canada’s top 500 corporations; 72 percent of the country’s 25 largest employers maintain offices here, and it is home to 90 percent of foreign banks operating in Canada. The city’s medical and biotech firms make up one of the largest such industry clusters in any North American city.

Toronto has also managed to keep its environment about as pristine as possible for a congested urban center. Corporate Knights magazine rated Toronto as the most sustainable large city in Canada for 2010, citing the city’s ability to reduce corporate greenhouse gas emissions to 40 percent below 1990 levels, as well as having an accessible transit system, solid waste and green building programs and a strong public outreach program called Live Green Toronto.

Although Toronto ranked fourth on The Economist’s list of most livable cities in the world, and Torontonians usually can’t stop raving about its low crime rate, job opportunities and extensive bike trails and sports facilities, the city may be feeling some pressure from Calgary, where a boom in energy prices is drawing in new oil and gas companies, giving that city a lead over Toronto in the proportion of corporate headquarters to population.

As laid-back as Toronto may seem to outsiders, however, innovative architects and local developers see Toronto’s real estate market continuing to grow. Ongoing commercial projects include the $640 million renovation of Union Station and the major East Bayfront project, which will include Sugar Beach, an urban bathing beach, and the Corus Quay entertainment building on Lake Ontario. A 6,000-unit residential complex with 3 million square feet of commercial space and a promenade along the lake is also part of this development. Exhibition Place is undergoing a $24 million facelift in addition to a planned $100 million, 320-suite convention hotel.

Canada, and Toronto specifically, did not experience the same housing foreclosure crisis, as many U.S. cities, and its banks have not suffered the same losses as many U.S. and European financial institutions. Thus, Toronto’s residential real estate market is healthy, and the city continues to attract new residents. New housing and condo projects have been strong in areas like Eglinton/Yonge and King Street/Bathurst, which offer close proximity to city center attractions and corporate offices while providing a quiet, suburban-like ambience. Average home prices in Toronto have been steadily rising for the past 15 years, doubling from about $200,000 in 1995 to over $400,000 during the first half of 2010, according to the Toronto Real Estate Board.

 

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