GBC looks toward the future with the purchase of a new building.

George Brown College (GBC) has acquired the Corus building, located at 25 Dockside Dr. 

While the move expands the Waterfront campus and sets GBC up for the future, students and faculty should not expect to be moving in anytime soon. 

Instead, the college will be maintaining the leases of current tenants in the building. This includes Corus, a company that has a lease for at least the next 10 years, which includes using up to 95 per cent of the building, says Michelle McCollum, VP of facilities and sustainability. 

“We became aware that the building may be available for sale. And although there are long term leases that we will continue to support in the building, we knew that opportunities to buy a waterfront property and buy the property right next to our existing campus, wouldn’t be one that would come along very often. So, knowing that the opportunity was there, we felt it was prudent and important to review how we could move forward with that thinking about the long term goals,” said McCollum. ” As of today, we’re announcing this acquisition as a long term project and a long term vision for the college; so we can ensure that the future of our learning community of our students in the future can benefit from making sure that we’ve secured this location for the long term.” 

The deal, valued at $232.5-million, is expected to close in spring 2024. 

McCollum says the deal is really about planning for the future and the next 20 to 30 years. 

“This is us looking out to the next 20 [or] 30 years that we will gradually be able to create more academic space in the building…in terms of for Corus and Irene and the other lease holders, their lives will be the same, we will be continuing to maintain levels of service for them. And then gradually over time, we’ll look at opportunities to start to bring future academic programming into the building.” 

In a media release, Dr. Gervan Fearon, GBC president, also noted the investment for the future. 

“The joint acquisition of 25 Dockside is a vital long-term investment and asset for George Brown College and partners in support of our students and their success in Ontario’s labour market, and in the economy of today and tomorrow. It will enable us to expand our academic offerings and fulfill our commitment to the development and education of our future leaders.” 

With the tenants intending to be housed in the building for the foreseeable future, McCollum noted that there could be partnerships which could potentially benefit students. 

“We can absolutely explore with Corus and with Irene [and] other tenants, what opportunities there might be for partnership. And certainly from our work integrated learning partnership. There’s a lot of alignment with our programs and with these two organizations so we can absolutely start to explore and really build our relationship. And that’s what we’re really excited and looking forward to further building on our relationship.” 

GBC was not alone when making the deal for the building, partnering with Halmont Properties. McCollum says they’re an equity partner with the college maintaining everything to do with the building and tenants. 

The Waterfront campus opened initially in 2012 with the Daphne Cockwell Centre for Health Sciences. The Daniels City of the Arts building (3 Lower Jarvis St.) was the second addition to the campus in 2019, becoming the new home for students of the school of design. Limberlost, set to open in 2025, will be the new home to many groups of students including architectural technology and computer technology.