Excavation is underway for Daniels Waterfront - City of the Arts, a master planned community with 1.3M SF of retail, office, residential and cultural space. First up, the commercial component, including the waterfront’s only office-condo.

We snapped Daniels Corp’s Don Pugh and Dominic Tompa on-site the other day as they got set to launch sales on the east tower of the office complex, 130 Queens Quay E. The 10-storey building (the west tower will be 13 floors) has 51 office-condo units (from 804 SF to 1,894 SF), some with private terraces; entire floors can be bought as well. “It’s the first office-condo on the waterfront,” Dominic says, noting the project's been attracting both end users and investors. The west tower will have leasable office space, also available to investors, with Daniels managing the properties.

The commercial complex on the site’s south side is the first building to go up. In addition to the office space—slated for spring 2018 occupancy—this will include a northern extension of Sugar Beach, with a restaurant and patio, plus commercial parking space. To follow will be two residential towers, the first goes on sale this fall, and The Yard, an outdoor courtyard/event area lined with retail that will serve as the heart of Daniels Waterfront, as will the community’s Creative Industries Hub, a 150k SF facility housing a cluster of arts organizations, such as Artscape Toronto.

Building the community’s commercial components before the condos means that when the initial wave of residents moves in come fall 2019, the office and retail will be up and running. “It creates all the amenities first,” Dominic says, “versus what you often see happen where people move into a condo but nothing's developed around them.” Daniels will be relocating its HQ to City of the Arts, taking space in the west tower of 130 Queens Quay E. The complex’s ninth-floor amenity area will have a 4,900 SF terrace (above), two boardrooms and lounge space available to all occupants.

City of the Arts, the first privately owned plot in East Bayfront, will have 25k SF of retail, much of it in The Yard (above). Don says Royal Bank of Canada has signed on to take space at Daniels Waterfront and his team is in conversations with food-service providers and restaurateurs for the other spots. “We’re really looking to curate the space,” he tells us. “We want to make sure we get the right mix of operators that we’re comfortable will service the commercial as well as the residential components of this community.”