One Queen St. E. and 20 Richmond St. E. have been sold to Infrastructure Ontario for $145M. (Courtesy CBRE) Canada’s largest pension fund, CPP Investments, has finalized the sale of its headquarters located in downtown Toronto, having listed the property over a year ago. This property occupies the entire 1.18-acre block bordered by Queen Street East to the north, Victoria Street to the east, Richmond Street to the south, and Yonge Street to the west. It includes a 26-storey office tower at 1 Queen St. E., along with a seven-storey heritage building at 20 Richmond St. E., known as the Confederation Life Building. CPP Investments obtained complete ownership of both 1 Queen St. E. and 20 Richmond St. E. from the Ontario Pension Board in June 2013 for $220 million, and this class-A complex has acted as its global headquarters ever since. STOREYS reported in March 2025 that this iconic property was put up for sale by Peter D. Senst, Jaysen Smalley, Kai Tai Li, and Connor Yung from CBRE Toronto’s National Investment Team without a specified price. As per transaction data reviewed by RENX, CPP Investments sold these properties on May 14 to Infrastructure Ontario – an independent Crown agency – for $145 million. An industry insider informed RENX that Infrastructure Ontario has been working on acquiring this property for about a year now. RENX reached out to both CPP Investments and Infrastructure Ontario for comments on June 3 but hasn’t received any responses yet.
One Queen St. E. + 20 Richmond St. E.
According to CBRE’s sales brochure, 1 Queen St. E., constructed in 1991, offers a total of 398,527 sq. ft. of leasable space while 20 Richmond St. E., built back in 1893, provides another 105,403 sq. ft. The combined area totals up to 503,930 sq. ft., which includes some retail space on the ground level; currently, it boasts an occupancy rate of 91.9 percent with CPP Investments itself occupying about 78.6 percent – totaling around 396,410 sq. ft. As noted by CBRE, CPP Investments is anticipated to vacate following its lease expiration in December. The two buildings are linked through a five-storey glass atrium and have undergone various upgrades since being acquired by CPP Investments including enhancements to mechanical systems and common areas as well as elevator improvements. This complex holds LEED Platinum and BOMA BEST Silver certifications and features direct underground PATH access connecting it to TTC stations like Queen Station along with CF Toronto Eaton Centre among others.CPP Investments Moving Away from Canadian Offices
Since late last year (2024), CPP Investments has sold off numerous office properties across Canada; all these were class-A or class-AAA assets similar to those at One Queen St. E. and 20 Richmond St. E. In Q4 of last year (2024), CPP along with AIMCo – Alberta’s pension fund – divested their stakes in 2 Queen St. E., directly across from 1 Queen St. E., selling it to Brookfield for $161 million. Then in June this year (2025), they sold off half-ownership interests in seven class-AAA and class-A properties to Oxford Properties – part of Ontario Municipal Employees Retirement System’s real estate branch – fetching $730 million total; co-owned properties included Marine Building , MNP Tower , Guinness Tower , plus The Stack located within Vancouver as well as Calgary’s locations like 400 Third Avenue , Centennial Place , and Eau Claire Tower. This past January saw Oxford alongside CPP selling their final shared office building situated within Vancouver-the class-A Oceanic Plaza-to BGO valued at $246 million overall. A report detailing real estate holdings compiled by CPP dated March end showed remaining Canadian office assets include First Canadian Centre (25 percent stake), Waterpark Place(50 percent stake),100 Adelaide Street West(50 percent stake) ,85 Richmond Street(50 percent stake)and finally Richmond-Adelaide Centre(50% stake). For its new headquarters location going forward , CPP plans on moving into CIBC Square’s recently completed second tower found at141 Bay Street.Source link
