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Yesterday, Toronto’s city council announced it endorsed an agreement with a private company to serve as head lessee, and lease and operate all retail space in Union Station, including new space planned in the lower retail concourse. The firm’s name will remain confidential until a lease agreement is signed in six to eight weeks, the council said.

The city is managing a $640 million Union Station revitalization project, which is scheduled to start next year and conclude in 2015. Since the city acquired Union Station in 2000, Toronto officials have strived to promote the station as a multi-modal transportation hub, preserve the more than 80-year-old facility’s heritage and character, and revitalize the terminal into a premier transportation center and major destination point.

The project calls for creating a 120,000-square-foot retail concourse level; establishing several new entrances; building a tunnel to connect to the city's PATH system; constructing two new GO Transit concourses; and renovating the Great Hall, GO Transit's offices and VIA Rail Canada Inc.’s areas. During the next two months, the city plans to complete design work and hire a construction manager.

“With federal and provincial funding in place and a council-approved head lessee, Toronto is poised to fully undertake the massive revitalization of an iconic Canadian landmark,” said Toronto Mayor David Miller in a prepared statement.