Toronto’s Financial District located downtown is Toronto‘s “Wall Street“. The intersection of Bay St. and King St. is often looked at as the heart of Canadian banking and finance. Canada’s five major banks have office towers at this location.

In the past this area was known as “Mint Corner”, which stood for, (Montreal, Imperial, Nova Scotia and Toronto-Dominion) but in 1962 the Imperial Bank merged with CIBC and Nova Scotia re-branded itself so the name was no longer used.

Not a lot of condos in the Financial District. There’s 1 King St. West, a recent nightmare story hotel condo and the new Shangri La on University Avenue. A good old-timer in Empire Plaza on University Avenue and Symphony Place at Roy Thompson Hall on King. Both offer spacious, upgraded units as the obvious market is Canada’s financial elite either wanting a Pied de Terre or choosing to avoid the drive all together and live right down the street from work.

The SoHo is a boutique hotel and condominium development

The financial district in immediately beside the Entertainment District (separated at University Avenue) thus easy walk to nightclubs and to the harbourfront.

Toronto, like most major cities is full of cabs, but what makes Toronto unique is that there is a choice of caliber of cab. That’s right, there are your conventional beaters that you end up having to drive in most cities, but there is a very strong independent cab service in Toronto that has visibly set out to reset the standard for taxiing in Toronto. Cabs are affordable by all standards in Toronto and these well maintained independent cabs charge the same rate as the grungy ones! Go figure! Well, you just step up and flag your cab down. You pick the cab and the quality of ride. I use them every day and cannot give them enough credit.

Another cool thing about Toronto is the way that it has adapted to combat its viscous winter weather. Friends of mine in America consistently tell me that they came to Toronto on business for a couple days one winter and there was nobody on the streets. They are fascinated when I explain to them the intricate maze of underground tunnels connecting the entire down town. You can get into the tunnels as far north as Atrium on Bay which is approximately 38 Elm St. at Minto Plaza and network your way through retail complexes, hotels, restaurants and just about anything/everything else you might name clear down to Royal Bank Plaza, First Canadian Place, Union Station, just to mention a few.

With the tallest buildings in the Country, this area doesn’t really have much to offer tourists from out of town however this area does hold the world’s largest network of underground shopping concourses. Frequently visitors to the city in the height of winter think that the city is abandoned with no-one on the streets facing the blistering winter winds. Although it is sometimes seen as a challenge directionally to make your way around the ‘PATH’ people are always impressed that there is such a lot of retail shops and food restaurants that all those missing people are enjoying.

By using the PATH you can get to 48 office towers, approximately 1100 stores and restaurants, 5 subway stations, 29 tunnels, 3 bridges and approximately 6 hotels.

Toronto summers are excellent, kind of what South Florida winters are, especially to me. I am a heat baby whose tolerance level drops off at about 70 degrees (pardon my imperial measure but you Canadians are the only ones in North America to have changed you weight and measure) - figure that one out! My return this year in early May shocked me back into the reality that Toronto’s weather really is acceptable by my needs analysis chart on or around July 1st and runs somewhere into October normally. I know hardy Canadians who say the best months are when that Northerly wind is blowing torrents of frozen rain, sleet and snow into your face, but I just have never gotten there and don’t anticipate getting there any time soon if you know what I mean.

Underground:
Downtown Walkway "Path"

Neighbourhoods:
Annex, Avondale, Bay Corridor, Bloor East,
Casa Loma, Chinatown, Downtown East, Entertainment District, Fashion District,
Financial District, Harbourfront, King West Village, Merton, North York, Queen West, Rosedale, St.Lawrence, Summerhill, Yonge & Eglinton,
Yonge & St. Clair, York Mills, Yorkville

Charles "Laurie" Hanes 416-783-5000
Sutton Group Tower Realty Inc., Broker

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