Cadillac Fairview Launches ‘Olympic Lounges’ at its Canadian Malls [Renderings]

By Mario Toneguzzi

Cadillac Fairview is bringing Canadians closer to the 2018 Winter Games by introducing new CF Brighter Lounges at its properties in a partnership with the Canadian Olympic Committee.

The lounges will showcase live CBC coverage and interactive experiences at all 19 of the company’s shopping centres in Canada as well as four office towers. The lounges will help Canadians stay connected to the actions and accomplishments in PyeongChang. Officials hope they also create and build an Olympic spirit across the country.

Eighteen of the 19 lounges at the shopping centres will feature immersive screens broadcasting CBC Olympics coverage and owned content, with all lounges offering “dynamic backdrops for engaging, shareable moments.” The lounges will operate during regular property hours between February 9 to February 25.

The lounges will be open in the following office towers: TD Centre – Toronto; Tour Deloitte – Montreal; Calgary City Centre – Calgary; and Granville Square -Vancouver.

Jason Anderson, Senior Vice President, Marketing, Cadillac Fairview, said the company believes in the power of the Olympic spirit and Team Canada to inspire greatness in all Canadians and unite local communities across the country.

“Certainly our focus at Cadillac Fairview is on creating amazing, unique experiences at our retail and office properties as we believe that’s how we can drive our business and create really great environments for our shoppers and office spots,” said Anderson.

“So what we did is we looked for opportunities to find a really great partner to help us do that. At Cadillac Fairview we have a really bold, optimistic view of the future and we want to surround ourselves with partners that have a similar view and there’s no better example of that than the Canadian Olympic Committee. So this idea that Cadillac Fairview can become both the physical and emotional home of Team Canada is just a really exciting opportunity for us to bring that idea to life in our properties. So the Brighter Lounges are a great way to do just that. We’ve created these lounges that will be a place to stay in touch with what’s going on in Korea with our Canadian athletes and cheer them on from afar, to share some great content with friends and family through social media, and also to ultimately make a contribution to CF Brighter and help to support that next generation of athletes.”

In September, Cadillac Fairview and the Canadian Olympic Committee announced a multi-year partnership that will include six Olympic Games.

“We are excited to share the thrill of the PyeongChang 2018 Olympic Winter Games with Canadians through our partnership with CF, in their properties and online.”  said Chris Overholt, CEO, Canadian Olympic Committee. “The CF Brighter Lounges are an exciting start to this partnership that will inspire Canadians to go out and cheer together for Team Canada.”

Anderson said the company went from property to property to find places that would create a great hub for the Olympic spirit. For the most part, they are in higher traffic areas of the shopping centres or in the lobbies of the office buildings.

Cadillac Fairview is also launching a platform to raise money for the Olympic movement in Canada. Every time the hashtags #CFBrighter or #CFBriller are used on social media throughout the 2018 Olympic Winter Games, it will commit $1 to the Canadian Olympic Foundation and WE, CF’s major philanthropic partner, who is focused on youth empowerment. CF will donate up to $250,000.

And Cadillac Fairview will sponsor six of Team Canada’s newest Olympians.: Tyler Nicholson (Snowboarding); Brigette Lacquette (Women’s Hockey); Mirela Rahneva (Skeleton); Alex Bellemare (Slopestyle Freestyle Skiing); Laurie Blouin (Snowboarding); and Jamie Macdonald (Short Track Speed Skating).

“What was important to us is really to recognize this idea that while much of the Olympics is about focusing on who gets to the finish line, we actually believe that the real story is the amount of effort it takes to get to the starting line,” said Anderson. “And we think there’s an amazing story there of optimism for young people and really this idea that you should never give up on your dreams. So we went and worked with the Canadian Olympic Committee to go find amazing people that have become part of the Canadian Olympic team that have done an amazing job of overcoming adversities and come to the starting line and take part in the Olympic Games in Korea.

“So we’re working with six amazing young people that represent a variety of different sports that will be represented in the Winter Games. We wanted to support them and partner with them to obviously make a small financial commitment and recognize the work that they’re doing but more importantly partner with them in telling a bigger story for young people about the importance of never giving up on your dreams.”

Cadillac Fairview is one of the largest owners, operators and developers of office, retail and mixed-use properties in North America. The Cadillac Fairview portfolio is owned by the Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan, a diversified global investor which administers the pensions of more than 300,000 active and retired school teachers. The real estate portfolio also includes investments in retail, mixed-use and industrial real estate in Brazil, Colombia and Mexico. Valued at more than $28 billion, the Canadian portfolio includes over 38 million square feet of leasable space at 67 properties in Canada.

Mario Toneguzzi, based in Calgary has 37 years of experience as a daily newspaper writer, columnist and editor. He worked for 35 years at the Calgary Herald covering sports, crime, politics, health, city and breaking news, and business. For 12 years as a business writer, his main beats were commercial and residential real estate, retail, small business and general economic news. He nows works on his own as a freelance writer and consultant in communications and media relations/training. Email: mdtoneguzzi@gmail.com.