What’s the most exciting building in Canada right now?
Is it the headquarters of the city’s largest private employer?
Or the new home of a tech startup?
The answer could be an office building that’s about to be demolished.
The $20-million, 57,000-square-foot office building in Vaughan, Ont., is being converted to apartments.
The building, which is owned by a private company called Lego, will be torn down.
It’s the first time since the 1990s that the city has demolished a new office building and the first building in Toronto to be done so since the building was built in the 1960s.
“We’re really proud of this building,” said Scott Thompson, a spokesperson for Lego, the company behind the building.
“It’s really a milestone for us.”
The city says it is saving the building from demolition because it will create 1,300 new jobs in the downtown area, and it will help alleviate some of the congestion in the area.
Thompson said the building will be rebuilt with a new layout and a new exterior, including glass, steel and a more contemporary design.
“This building is going to be the most significant of its kind in Toronto, possibly in Canada,” Thompson said.
“It’s going to change our downtown for the better.”
The building is a classic office building on a busy block of Queen Street that is home to several businesses, including a fitness centre, a gym and a restaurant.
The city said it will build a new, more modern office building to replace the old one, which will house the city staffs headquarters, and an expansion of its parking garage.
Thompson says the city is also planning to renovate the site, adding more space to accommodate the anticipated growth of the downtown.
The demolition is the latest in a series of demolitions that have taken place around the world, most recently in London, Ont.
The Lego building is one of many projects the city says has helped it meet its climate change targets.
The office building is the second of two Lego offices in the city.
The other is being built in downtown Kitchener, Ont.’s Bloor Street East.
Both buildings will house about 1,400 workers.