Hudson's Bay Centre

Hudson's Bay Centre is an office and retail complex in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is located in Downtown Toronto at the intersection of Yonge Street and Bloor Street at the east end of the Mink Mile. Brookfield Properties owns and operates the centre. The centre is composed of a 35-storey office tower, a Hudson's Bay department store and a retail concourse.

Hudson's Bay Centre
The Hudson's Bay Centre in Downtown Toronto
General information
Location2 Bloor Street East
Toronto, Ontario
M4W 1A8
Coordinates43.670724°N 79.386606°W / 43.670724; -79.386606
Construction started1972
Completed1974
Height
Roof135 m (443 ft)
Technical details
Floor count35
Floor area535,000 sq ft (49,700 m2)

Description

The tower stands at 135 metres in height. It contains 35 floors and 535,000-square-foot (49,700 m2), and its address 2 Bloor Street East, at the northeast corner of the intersection of Yonge and Bloor Streets. The extensive retail concourse is anchored by a flagship store of Hudson's Bay/The Bay (known as the "Toronto, on Bloor Street" store at 44 Bloor Street East[1]), the main brand of HBC. The mall contains over 45 specialty shops, boutiques, services and eateries. The complex also includes the Marriott Hotel, an RBC Royal Bank branch, apartments, and condominiums.

The centre has space for 1,200 cars in its underground and above-ground parking lots, multiple entrances located on Yonge, Bloor Streets, Park Road and Asquith Avenue and is surrounded by several parks and the Yorkville neighborhood which is known for upscale shopping.

The building is connected to the Bloor-Yonge subway station, the TTC's major east-west/north-south transfer point. There are also below-grade connections to the Holt Renfrew Centre and Cumberland Terrace, which continues westward to 60 Bloor Street West and Manulife Centre. The pedestrian tunnels stretches along Bloor Street West to the Bay subway station, making this Toronto's largest underground network after PATH.

History

Completed in 1974, the International style office skyscraper has served as the headquarters for the retailer Hudson's Bay Company (HBC), and to this day it is still the main tenant although the company relocated its head office to the Simpson Tower in 1978.

In 2013, it was announced that the 342,000 square foot Hudson's Bay/The Bay store could undergo a $100 million renovation to become the Canadian flagship location of Saks Fifth Avenue, the American luxury department store chain which is now also owned by Hudson's Bay Company (HBC).[2] However, it was subsequently announced that HBC would instead be renovating its flagship Hudson's Bay store at Yonge and Queen to include a 150,000 square foot Saks Fifth Avenue, and would leave the Yonge and Bloor location as a Hudson's Bay store.[3]

In August 2014, the centre became the subject of controversy when its property manager, Brookfield Properties Ltd, admitted to regularly confiscating bicycles that were locked to a pole on a municipal right of way on Bloor St. outside of the mall. Many Torontonians are accusing the centre of theft and the City of Toronto has assigned by-law officers to investigate.[4]

References
  1. "Store Locator". Hudson's Bay Company. Retrieved May 27, 2014.
  2. Wright, Lisa (November 29, 2013). "Saks sets sights on Yonge-Bloor". Toronto Star. Retrieved May 27, 2014.
  3. Strauss, Marina (27 January 2014). "Tycoon shows his real estate savvy with sale of Hudson's Bay store". The Globe and Mail. Retrieved 2014-05-27.
  4. "City investigating seizure of bikes at Hudson's Bay Centre". CBC News. 14 August 2014. Retrieved 2015-09-21.


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