It's one trip to Mars that's going to take longer thanks to a slowing economy, says the vice-president of the $300-million Medical and Related Sciences complex in Toronto's hospital district.
The second phase of the two-square kilometre project, dubbed MaRS, has been put on hold because the developers can't find enough tenants ready to move into the 750,000 square foot complex by the completion date set for 2010. Phase I of the project was finished in 2005 and its 700,000 square feet are filled.
"The construction has been suspended. It's a reflection of the market conditions right now," says Randal Froebelius, vice-president of real estate for MaRS, a not-for-profit corporation. "We don't want to build an empty building."
