royal bank plaza sale

The owner of Zara is buying one of Toronto's most-opulent downtown skyscrapers

This week in bizarre-sounding acquisitions, the billionare owner of the fast-fashion chain Zara has agreed to purchase the iconic Royal Bank Plaza skyscraper in downtown Toronto.

Bloomberg News reports that 85-year-old Spanish clothing tycoon Amancio Ortega will buy the RBC Plaza at Bay and Front Streets from Oxford Properties and the Canadian Pension Plan Investment Board for roughly $1.2 billion CAD.

According to Bloomberg, this will be among the biggest transactions for office space in the world since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic.

While not the tallest office building in the area, the RBC Plaza is massive, spanning an entire city block with its own North Tower (built in 1976) and South Tower (built in 1979).

It's also famous for being clad in literal gold.

The gleaming structure is said to have some 2,500 ounces of goal built into its windows, lending it an unmistakeable brilliance along the Toronto skyline.

The two towers' roughly 14,000 windows are currently estimated to be worth around $5,688,900 alone.

The building in the heart of Toronto's financial district went up for sale in September, with its owners asking for at least $1 billion at the time.

Bloomberg says that a representative for Ortega's family office confirmed the impending transaction, which will not impact RBC's operations in the area. The bank is expected to continue on as a tenant once the property sells.

It is not clear if Ortega has any plans for changing the skyscraper, which contains nearly 1.5 million square feet of leasable space — 1.35 million of it office space and 125,000 retail.

Lead photo by

Andrei.P


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