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MARTIN SETS UP WAR ROOM ON PRESTON ST.
Ottawa Business Journal - September 22, 2002 - Sakto Corp. has several reasons to celebrate, including a fully leased office tower, construction for a new residential development and a notable new tenant: aspiring prime minister Paul Martin.
The man who wants to be prime minister is setting up a "war room" in about 6,000 square feet of office space at 333 Preston St.
"It's great having them here," says Brian Murray, Sakto's director of leasing and marketing. "We consider this one of the premier Class A buildings in the city and I think they realize that too. It has great sight lines and it's a people space because it's very open, but it had lots of offices to."
Martin spokesperson Brian Guest says that staff have started to move into the space. They will likely occupy the office for more than one year.
The 16 storey, 220,000 square foot building at the edge of Ottawa's Little Italy has frontage right on the Queensway and retains a handful of prominent businesses, including LaBarge Weinstein, the Clarica Life Insurance Company and Mead Johnson Nutritionals.
Murray says Sakto is also preparing to build its 180,000 square foot 158 unit residential tower on a vacant lot right in front of the Xerox tower. The ground floor of the tower will have 35,000 square feet of retail space. Currently, workers are realigning the driveway that leads up to the tower's entrance, and Murray expects to start construction by late fall. The residential units will be about 1,100 square feet, both one and two bedrooms, and will target medium to high end users. "We think that the rental market is strong," Murray says.
Sakto's confidence extends to the office space market as well.
David Lees, vice president of J.J. Barnicke Oncor International, says the Xerox tower is one of the city's prime sites. "From a location standpoint, it's fabulous," Lees says. "They're less than five minutes from the downtown core and they're right on the Queensway. That area is becoming a real employment node."
The Preston Street site has room to accommodate four buildings in addition to the existing tower (including the residential component.) Murray says he will try to start preleasing for another commercial building and will try to achieve at least a 30 per cent occupancy rate before construction begins.
That may be a challenge for Sakto, which is facing competition from at least three other developers in the downtown core. Even though vacancy rates are at rock bottom levels, tenants are usually reluctant to sign up for space in the core since rates are so high.
For more information on Sakto, or this press release, please email info@sakto.com.
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