The Exchange is staying true to its financial roots, with Credit Suisse having just secured National Bank as anchor tenant at the uber-green 31-storey downtown office tower, which will incorporate the old stock exchange on Howe Street.
SwissReal Group’s Nadja Gehriger, whose firm is Credit Suisse’s local project partner, tells us the team was in talks with National Bank for months, and the deal was finalized late last year. The bank will occupy 45k SF. “It is symbolic for The Exchange to secure an anchor tenant that is a financial institution,” said Nadja’s father, Franz Gehriger, head of SwissReal and the project mastermind (the pair are pictured at the site with Nadja’s daughter Ella). Franz also noted the green ties shared by The Exchange, set to be Canada’s second-tallest LEED Platinum office tower, and National Bank, ranked one of the world’s top 20 sustainable banks.
The Exchange, a $240M development, broke ground a year ago. It’s the first major project in North America that Credit Suisse has built “from the ground up,” managing director Rainer Scherwey says. Nadja says they’re in the midst of renovating and restoring the stock exchange building (circa 1929)—Canada’s first LEED Platinum heritage conversion—and excavating next to it for a seven-floor underground garage. Construction on the tower, with space for 1,700 workers, is slated to be complete by spring 2017. The building will have retail in the podium.
The deal with National Bank demonstrates confidence in The Exchange's “forward-thinking, next generation office space,” says Nadja. The 370k SF tower will have a stormwater retention system, radiant cooling/heating, and occupancy sensors, reducing energy costs by 45%, consumption by 60%, and carbon emissions by 85% versus conventional buildings, according to SwissReal. And with a raised-floor plenum distributing fresh air throughout, says Nadja, “employees should be excited to come to work.”
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