Bay Adelaide Centre

The Bay Adelaide Centre is a proposed Toronto skyscraper that has sat unfinished since 1991. The tower was the last of a series of construction projects in downtown Toronto launched in the boom years of the 1980s. The Centre was to be a 57 storey office tower at the corner of Bay Street and Adelaide in the heart of Toronto's financial district. In earlier years a series of massive towers had been build nearby such as, Scotia Plaza. The tower was a joint project by Markborough Properties and TrizecHahn and it was to have cost almost a billion dollars.

The building caused considerable controversy among those opposed to the erection of such massive structures. The tower stood far higher than was allowed by the city's official plan. To gain city hall's approval the developers committed some $80 million towards new social housing and other projects. A portion of the site was turned over to the for use as a park that is now Cloud Gardens. Both of these deals went ahead, despite the tower never having been completed.

Construction began in 1990, but the developers soon ran into problems. The economy collapsed and office vacancy rates in Toronto rose to 20%. Construction was halted, and in 1993, with over $500 million already invested the project was permanently put on hold. All that was completed was the underground parking garage and several storeys of the concrete service shaft that now stands as a monument to the failed project in downtown Toronto.

There have been several attempts to revive the project. In 1998 TrizecHahn briefly revived it, but another shift in the economy caused them to again pause. In 2000 there was again talk of revving the project, but the next year TrizecHahn sold its 50% share to Brookfield Properties for $49 million. Brookfield was committed to completing the structure, but later that year the economy again soured and the project remains on hiatus.