A look inside the Flatiron

Vanessa Lu      
Business Reporter     
 
It’s not your typical office space for rent.

Stained glass windows. A walk-in vault on every floor. Soaring 12-foot ceilings.

An old-fashioned Otis elevator where a staffer has to crank a wheel to get it to the right floor.

And the corner office is more a curved office.

PHOTOS: Inside the Flatiron building

Welcome to the Gooderham building, dating back to 1892. It is probably better known as triangular Flatiron building that sits where Front, Church and Wellington Sts. meet.

Clayton Smith, president of the Commercial Realty Group, bought the building in December from Woodcliffe Landmark Properties for $15.29 million.

Smith will be opening the building which is empty except for the basement pub to prospective tenants and brokers in January.

Formal offers are due in Feb. 8, but Smith expects the building with more than 16,000 square feet could work for small fund managers, law or accounting firms and architectural or design companies.

“People recognize this building,” he said. “You could jump in a cab. You don’t need an address. Everybody knows where it is.”

Smith, who will take up space on the first floor, estimates the office rents will start at $64 gross per square foot, which including operating costs, realty taxes and net rent.

That would be in line with Triple A buildings and Class A buildings in the financial district.

Toronto’s economic development office’s Peter Viducis says rates can vary substantially based on type of building, age, layout and location.

Viducis said most Triple A bank towers do not release their numbers, but ScotiaPlaza’s quoted rate is $68 gross per square foot. Other buildings in the financial core range from $34 gross per square foot to $55 gross per square foot.

Smith, who specializes in buying and restoring historic buildings, has revamped 83 Yonge St. and is now in the midst of gutting 2 Temperance St.

“The Flatiron is certainly an icon and flagship for my portfolio,” Smith said as he took the Star on the tour of the building, showing off the different floors. The top floor once housed a dentist’s office, and an old staircase wraps around the elevator.

Built for George Gooderham, then the president of the Bank of Toronto and owner of Gooderham and Worts distillery, the Flatiron building once housed an underground tunnel to the bank.

Not every office can boast of fireplaces and walk-in vaults, although some have been turned into file rooms or closets.

Now that’s a secure place to hang a coat.