At first glance, 302 Bay Street, soon to be the newest co-working space from iQ Offices, looks exactly like a high-end hotel or restaurant inside. A bar extends across one side of the lobby. An aesthetically-designed seating arrangement of couches, lounge chairs, and coffee and pedestal tables conjure London’s Mayfair district with a rich palette complemented by the Art Deco grandeur of the former Bank of Montreal building.
That hospitality feel is precisely what Co-founder and CEO Kane Willmott was hoping to create. In this way, he’s bringing a fairly unique model to the co-working landscape. There are no hot desks monetizing the open areas for transient users. Rather, the 14-storey building is highly focused on private offices, so all spaces on the ground floor will be entirely devoted to those members.
Stepping inside the PATH-connected building, or from the street, members will hear music playing while a full-time barista prepares hot and cold beverages at the bar in the Bay Street Lounge—originally named the Grand Banking Hall back in 1917.
“The barista really becomes a big part of creating this vibrant community because the person knows everybody and knows what they drink,” says Willmott, who piloted the complimentary service in Montreal. “What we experienced is that people will come and work at the bar.”
Besides the on-site staff, he says food and beverage is a real connector for people, whether it’s the free snacks offered throughout the day or a catered breakfast for team meetings.
The mezzanine.
Amenities are realized across four floors. On the mezzanine level overlooking the lounge, breakout spaces allow members to move around. There are bar-height tables and restaurant-style booths, bookshelves, and a games room with a convertible pool table for meetings.
On the third floor, showers and a bookable thermotherapy room with a sauna and cold plunges—a first for the workspace operator’s portfolio—offer a break from mid-afternoon doldrums. There’s also an abundance of large meeting spaces. “We’ve overbuilt meeting rooms because we have found, post-COVID, that companies are using them more than they ever did,” says Willmott.
Traditionally, companies with 50 employees, for example, would sign a lease for 7,500 square feet, at one desk per 150 square feet. “Nowadays, companies are asking ‘who is coming into the office and when are they coming into the office. I don’t need 50 desks; I need 25 desks, but I need the ability to bring 50 people together.
“We really focus on creating these interesting meeting room environments with all of the latest technology, touchscreen TVs and directional mics. . . to connect people on-site with people virtually, as well.”
The rooftop terrace.
All the private offices are located on floors four through 14. The 15th floor features a members lounge and rooftop terrace with views of Bay Street to the south.
Heritage elements of the property—marble, brass, Art Deco motifs—lend to the ambiance.
“One of the great things about working with these properties is the natural elements already built into the space,” says Willmott. “You just need to bring them to life.”
The design team carefully restored the interior to create a cohesive heritage experience from the ground-floor lounge to the rooftop. Outside, a full-height columned portico still dominates the front entrance. The former Toronto Trust and Guarantee Building received its heritage designation in 1976. The Ontario Heritage Trust called it a “notable example of the classical temple form considered especially appropriate to banks during the late nineteenth and early twentieth century.” It remains a symbol of the city’s financial quarter.
While its location may very well cater to banks and the fintech sector, the co-working space isn’t necessarily tailored to a specific industry.
Sometimes the clientele is surprising. iQ Offices’ first location at 140 Yonge Street, formerly the Dineen Hat and Fur Company, is also a heritage property in the Financial District, featuring exposed brick and vaulted ceilings. “We thought it would be entrepreneurs,” says Willmott. “But we found it’s enterprise companies that are on the leading edge, investing in workspace and their people, recognizing the value of focusing on their core business and creating environments that allow their teams to fly.”
As more companies come off the leases they’ve held through the pandemic, Willmott is seeing them move away from traditional offices and into his co-working spaces as a permanent solution. “We’re also seeing a lot of companies that weren’t using co-working to the same extent now shifting a good chunk of their portfolio into co-working space.”
There’s a trend, especially with large enterprises like banks and tech organizations, using co-working strategies for their smaller spaces under 10,000 square feet, he notes. Companies can offer an experience through scale, amenities, and having enough people in-house to create a vibe that “really earns the commute of their teams.”
Other companies that are taking on cheap sub-leases or getting sharp deals from landlords, may also face the reality of taking on too much office. “It’s the empty restaurant syndrome where there’s this big beautiful space but only 10 people sitting in the corner and it’s not very inspiring,” Willmott points out.
The intention at 302 Bay is to alleviate this concern, to provide a space where people can connect and create, while exemplifying the future of hospitality-infused workspace in North America.
The new space officially opens this fall.
