33 Yonge Street is a 13-storey office and retail building in the heart of Downtown Toronto, now rebranded as Berczy Square. It sits at the corner of Yonge and Front Street, positioned between the Financial District and the St. Lawrence neighbourhood.
The building is undergoing a major transformation, including five new ground-floor restaurants and a dramatically redesigned lobby, making it one of the most ambitious office tower repositioning projects currently happening in the city.
What Is 33 Yonge Street in Toronto?
Most Torontonians have walked past this building dozens of times without thinking twice. That’s changing. 33 Yonge Street officially rebranded as Berczy Square sits where the Financial District meets the historic St. Lawrence neighbourhood.
Right at the corner of Yonge and Front Street. It’s a 13-storey tower with roughly 550,000 square feet of space, built in 1982, and for decades it worked hard in the background while flashier neighbours grabbed the headlines.
The property is jointly owned by the Great-West Life Canadian Real Estate Investment Fund No. 1 and the London Life Real Estate Fund, with GWL Realty Advisors handling day-to-day management.
Anchor tenants include Altus Group, which is why some people still call it the Altus building. CIBC once occupied close to 190,000 square feet here before vacating, and that departure opened the door for the current repositioning effort.
Berczy Square
The new name Berczy Square draws directly from Berczy Park, the lively public space just east of the building. It’s a smarter branding move than it might seem. Naming an office tower after a neighbouring park ties it to place rather than to a corporate tenant that may eventually leave, and that kind of identity tends to last far longer.
What Is the History of 33 Yonge Street?
From the Toronto Board of Trade to a Parking Lot
The story starts well before 1982. The site once held the Toronto Board of Trade Building, a six-storey structure built in 1892 and one of Toronto’s earliest genuine skyscrapers. It housed the Toronto Board of Trade alongside the headquarters of the Toronto Transit Commission.
TTC at a time when this corner sat at the true centre of the city’s commercial life. The building was demolished in 1958, and the lot spent several years as a parking lot before anything replaced it. A familiar story for downtown Toronto.
Construction and Early Identity
Developers Canlea Ltd. and Rostland Corporation began construction in the early 1980s, with WZMH Architects on design and Eastern Construction Company Ltd. handling the build. The building was completed in 1982 under the A.E.
Lepage Building name, later became the EDS Building, and eventually took on the Altus Group identity as anchor tenants shifted over the decades. That string of name changes reflects how much the building’s commercial context evolved and the Berczy Square rebrand is simply the latest chapter in a long line of reinventions.
What Restaurants Are Opening at 33 Yonge Street?
Five new restaurant concepts are replacing the four that previously occupied the ground floor, covering close to 30,000 square feet altogether. If you follow the Toronto dining scene, the names involved should get your attention immediately.
O&B’s Three New Concepts
Oliver & Bonacini O&B is bringing three distinct restaurants to the building. The Joneses take a retro Americana angle with mid-century modern décor. Ceci Bar goes bold with Latin-inspired cuisine, the kind of spicy, high-energy menu that tends to draw the after-work crowd consistently.
Biff’s Bistro revamps the long-running Biff’s concept with refined classic French fare. Corporate Executive Chef Anthony Walsh has served guests at 33 Yonge Street for nearly 25 years, and he’s described all three as chef-driven experiences rather than formula dining, the right instinct if you want people returning on a Tuesday, not just on expense accounts.
Café Landwer and the Italian Steakhouse
Café Landwer’s ninth Toronto location is setting up here, filling a genuine all-day café gap in the Financial District. Right beside it, the team behind Giulietta and Osteria Giulia, two of the most decorated restaurants in the city, is opening an Italian steakhouse, with the final name still being confirmed. In our view, that pairing of an accessible café and a serious dinner destination on the same floor is exactly what a busy office building needs, because they serve completely different occasions without ever competing for the same customer.
What Renovations Are Happening at Berczy Square?
The restaurant additions are only part of this story. Ownership is investing substantially in both the lobby interior and the building’s exterior facade and the scope goes well beyond a surface refresh.
Designer Alison McNeil of DIALOG is leading the lobby redesign. The concept draws from natural elements: a pond surrounded by seating, hanging moss pendants overhead, a wooden deck with a fireplace, and flexible arrangements built for people who want to pause rather than simply pass through.
The building’s central atrium which already pulls natural light down into the lower levels, a genuine luxury on a dense downtown block, is being upgraded with an elevator bay wrapped in a nine-storey trellis structure filled with live plants, paired with an 80-foot-tall digital screen displaying rotating artwork. It sounds theatrical. The renderings suggest it earns it.
Where Exactly Is 33 Yonge Street Located in Toronto?
The building is bounded by Yonge Street to the west, Front Street to the south, Wellington Street to the north, and Scott Street to the east. Union Station is a short walk west. The Hockey Hall of Fame sits directly across the street. Berczy Park is immediately adjacent to the east.
That specific position matters more than it might appear on a map. You can reach Bay Street in under two minutes or turn east and land squarely in the St. Lawrence Market neighbourhood almost immediately.
For office tenants, that dual access financial core on one side, neighbourhood character on the other makes this building genuinely different from the glass Towers clustered a few blocks north. It’s not quite on Bay Street, which is arguably part of its appeal.
FAQ About 33 yonge street
33 Yonge Street Toronto
33 Yonge Street, now proudly rebranded as Berczy Square, is a 13-storey office and retail building sitting at the corner of Yonge and Front Street in Downtown Toronto, managed by GWL Realty Advisors on behalf of the Canada Life and London Life Real Estate Funds.
33 Yonge Street Restaurants
The ground floor at 33 Yonge Street is home to five exciting dining concepts, including Café Landwer, a refined Italian steakhouse, and three O&B restaurants The Joneses, Ceci Bar, and the beloved Biff’s Bistro making it a true food destination in Toronto’s Financial District.
33 Yonge Street Toronto Parking
Several parking facilities sit within easy walking distance of 33 Yonge Street, including options near Front Street, Yonge Street, and around Union Station, with the building also offering dedicated bike parking and end-of-trip facilities for tenants commuting into Downtown Toronto.
33 Yonge Street Café Landwer
Café Landwer opens its ninth Toronto location right on the ground floor of 33 Yonge Street, bringing its signature all-day café experience to the heart of the Financial District, a warm, welcoming spot that genuinely fills a gap in this busy downtown corridor.
33 Yonge Street Tim Hortons
There is no confirmed Tim Hortons location currently listed inside 33 Yonge Street, though several Tim Hortons outlets operate within a short walk along Yonge Street, Front Street, and near Union Station in Downtown Toronto.
Berczy Square 33 Yonge Street
Berczy Square is the exciting new brand for 33 Yonge Street, a name drawn from the charming Berczy Park located right next door, representing a full transformation of the building’s lobby, facade, and ground-floor restaurants into a vibrant Downtown Toronto destination.
33 Yonge Street Directions
33 Yonge Street sits at the corner of Yonge and Front Street in Downtown Toronto, just a short walk from Union Station, with Berczy Park to the east and the Hockey Hall of Fame directly across the street, truly hard to miss once you’re in the financial core.
33 Yonge Street Directory
The 33 Yonge Street building directory includes major anchor tenants like Altus Group and GWL Realty Advisors, alongside a growing collection of ground-floor restaurants and service-oriented businesses, with leasing handled through JLL for any remaining retail space still available in Berczy Square.
