In a much-speculated move, Nortel is selling its corporate HQ in  suburban Toronto to Rogers for C$100-million. You wonder if this will change where new CEO Mike Zafirovski will live given he said he planned to move to Toronto next summer - that is if Motorola and Mike Z. can work out a deal over that troublesome two-year non-compete clause Mike Z. signed in January in return for a $16.8-million severance package. In one sense, Nortel dumping its headquarters is another sad chapter in the company's death by a thousand cuts. The 1M square foot facilty used to be a switch manufacturing plant before Nortel spent $46-million to renovate it in the mid-1990s. In its heyday, it was a corporate crown jewel with restaurants, a bank, fitness facility, a Zen garden stone with benches and a Japanese maple tree, and a serenity loft (apparently, people were working 7/24 at the height of the telecom boom so they needed all kinds of amenities). In recent years, however, the headquarters has lost its relevance/importance north of the border  to Nortel's R&D facilities in Ottawa, as well as U.S. operations in Raleigh, N.C. and Richardson, Tex. On the other hand, having a headquarters literally in the middle of nowhere only 30 minutes from downtown Toronto and a short drive from the airport that isn't close to customers or R&D facilities, makes little sense is not that bad, I guess. I wonder how Rogers' employees will feel about moving to Brampton, particularly those who used to work before Call-Net before it was acquired by Rogers earlier this year. If they are the ones moving to Brampton, it could make a very long commute.
Update: Here's the story I wrote in the National Post on the sale of the HQ, looking at how it symbolizes Rogers' transformation into a telecom player from its roots in the cable industry.