THE $300 MILLION MOVE

CPP Investments built Canada's pension plan into one of the largest in the world. But can it justify the 10-year $300-million-plus price tag on its new luxurious office?

- ANA PEREIRA

The people who run the investment arm of the Canada Pension Plan are moving to a new, upscale office in downtown Toronto, the Star has learned, and the estimated 10-year cost of the move will likely be between $300 million and $430 million.

According to a quarterly office market report by Colliers Canada, between January and March of this year, CPP Investments signed a new lease at CIBC Square, comprised of a pair of luxurious new office towers that insiders say offer some of the most expensive office space available in the country.

The money to pay for the move will come out of returns on the reserve fund for the Canada Pension Plan, which more than 22 million Canadian workers must contribute to by law.

CPP Investments confirmed the move to 141 Bay St. — which is still being built — will take place within the next two to three years. It’s not moving because it requires more space, as the new office will be 10 per cent smaller than the current office, at 1 Queen St. E., which CPP Investments owns outright.

In an email to the Star, Michel Leduc, managing director of public affairs and communications at CPP Investments, said the organization is moving to ensure it can continue to attract top talent in a competitive market, and the CIBC Square tower is “the only major office tower in the downtown core in the development pipeline for 2025-2027 that meets our commercial objectives for cost, availability, fit with business needs and proximity to a major transit hub.”

Leduc added that CPP’s current office is “not ideally suited to long-term business needs” as “remaining in place would require improving our current workplace for efficiency and ways of working, in addition to introducing business disruptions through renovations.”