GWL Realty Advisors (GWLRA) has unveiled extensive renovations to the lobby at Berczy Square that put a warm and welcoming new spin on a unique downtown office for Toronto’s back-to-office era.
Anchored by a monumental 90-foot LED screen displaying atmospheric digital art, the reinvigorated design encourages office workers and the wider community to slow down, linger and look up at the 13-storey building’s landmark atrium architecture.
The new lobby is a part of GWLRA’s two-year renovation and rebranding to transform the property at 33 Yonge into a social hub and destination. Steps from Union Station, the Financial District, St. Lawrence Market and the PATH, Berczy Square also includes a new private fitness facility, showers and lockers for commuters who bike and walk, five outdoor patios, two coffee shops, and grab-and-go retail.
The retail spaces are leased up, so now that the lobby is open it completes the repositioning of the building – the idea is to really make Berczy Square a destination in that part of the city and bring in more foot traffic from the neighbourhood, which benefits the retail during work week but also weekends.
GWLRA is stepping up amenities in offices to support employers’ workplace/retention strategies. More office landlords are taking this approach – and retail offerings and hospitality-inspired lobbies are a big part of that.
The Joneses, Ceci Bar and Biff’s Bistro are owned and operated by the Oliver & Bonacini Group. Sammarco is operated by the group behind Giulietta and Osteria Giulia. Also at the Square are Café Landwer, Tim Hortons, Green Box, Surmesur and Rendez Vous barber shop.
“In today’s market, landlords have to earn the commute. Tenant needs and expectations are evolving, and the best office buildings are adapting,” said Devan Sloan, Vice President, Asset Management and Leasing at GWLRA, adding that Berczy Square is 96% leased. “That means real innovation in workplace design and amenities. Berczy Square sets a new standard for creating welcoming spaces that help connect Toronto’s downtown and the people who live and work in them.
“The intention really was to create a place where people want to gather and hang out. Whether that’s a quick coffee meeting with colleagues, grabbing some lunch and eating in the lobby, or plugging in your laptop—we have seating that would suit any one of those.
“So we’ve got soft seating, desk seating where you can plug your laptop in with lighting, casual seating, and high-top seating. It’s a very versatile lobby. We’re really trying to encourage people to gather there and spend some time.”
In August 2024, GWLRA revealed that the landmark building at one of Toronto’s most prominent intersections was getting a makeover with extensive renovations to modernize 33 Yonge’s façade and lobby, part of an overall strategy to reimagine the property as a destination.
Along with the renovations, GWLRA revealed new branding for the property – now called Berczy Square – drawing inspiration from the adjacent Berczy Park and the building’s unique location at the junction of two distinct neighbourhoods in Toronto’s downtown core.
“We went through and did a significant amount of leasing on the retail front, both to full-service sit-down restaurants and a few quick-service retail as well as some amenity retail at the building too. We’ve pretty much fully transitioned following the pandemic. That was a huge lift,” said Sloan.
“Then getting the lobby renovated as part of that plan, it is really the same motivation as the retail repositioning. It’s to upgrade the quality and the experience available at the asset for our primary customer, which is our office tenant.”
Designed for Lingering and Looking Up
Led by Alison McNeil of architecture firm DIALOG, who also redesigned the Four Seasons Hotel Toronto lobby and bar, the new Berczy Square strikes a balance between hospitality and productivity while creating a distinctive connection between Yonge Street’s commercial heart and the iconic Berczy Park in Old Town, said GWLRA.
Evoking a Zen, otherworldly natural landscape, the refreshed space includes tree-like columns at the Yonge Street entrance, a reflecting pool, a vapor-based fire pit, hanging moss pendants, plenty of greenery and new seating, as well as a trellis that wraps the elevator bay, anchors the screen and preserves the original Travertine wall, it said.
All the design interventions to the original building are “soft touch” to preserve architectural details. And all materials used in the renovation are 100% Canadian.
“The lobby at Berczy Square represents a shift in how the office building has evolved,” said McNeil. “No longer simply a place to pass through, we’ve reimagined the lobby as a destination for gathering and connection — a space that reflects both the building’s location and identity.”
“We call this design concept Pause because it invites people to slow down, look up, and take a moment to breathe. We amplified the openness of the original atrium by layering it with new materials and uses tailored to the needs of today’s employees,” added McNeil. “Purposeful spaces to work, wait, or relax draw inspiration from Ontario’s natural landscape and materiality, reinforcing a sense of place.”
GWLRA and DIALOG envisioned the lobby as a contemporary town square that brings together a diverse cross-section of Torontonians from within and outside the building in ways that inspire, connect and ground them.
The Yonge Street entrance features seating around trees and the reflecting pond, creating ideal spaces for workers to sit, read, scroll and take calls. The centre section below the screen and trellis features an elevated “deck” area with custom-designed banquettes and communal tables ideal for gatherings and events. The section adjacent to Berczy Park is styled like a backyard, with lounge chairs and picnic tables, explained GWLRA.
Taking Digital Art to New Heights
Berczy Square features the only atrium-style lobby in Toronto’s Financial District. Highlighting this defining feature was central to the redesign.
The uniquely shaped 90-foot-tall, six-foot-wide screen runs the full spine of the building and features original digital art by acclaimed Montreal-based creative multimedia studio Gentilhomme, which has created large-format immersive art for the Burj Khalifa in Dubai, George Bush Intercontinental Airport in Houston and Cirque du Soleil, noted GWLRA.
For Berczy Square, the company’s team designed and produced a series of original artworks called “capsules.” This generative content responds to a constant flow of data, such as the time, the weather, the seasons and sports games happening in Toronto on a given day, causing the images to morph in real time and triggering “easter eggs” to appear, it said.
The digital art complements DIALOG’s approach the interior design. The four capsules include Living Architecture, the hero piece: a tree that grows by the hour and transforms with the seasons. Breach of Light offers an ambient, hypnotic flow of continuous movement. Mirror of Light presents a calm, passive, dreamlike sky. Surreal Hourglass is the most literal timekeeper, with a parkour for descending balls that mark the passing hours.
“The artwork is the heartbeat of Berczy Square; it responds to the city and the rhythm of the people within it,” says Thibaut Duverneix, Founder and Executive Creative Director of Gentilhomme. “We have treated the screen as an architectural feature, a canvas for atmospheric art rather than advertising, to create a landmark experience that invites the community to slow down and look up.”
Originally built in 1982 and designed by WZMH Architects, the property spans a two-acre stretch between Wellington and Front Streets. GWLRA undertook the renovations and rebranding on behalf of the property owners, the Great-West Life Canadian Real Estate Investment Fund No.1 (CREIF) and the London Life Real Estate Fund.
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