DNA Suite 340 - 1005 King Street West

In 2003 DNA stood for "Downtown's Next Address". Since then, the neighbourhood has matured, and has come to offer some of the city's most famous parks, shops, and restaurants. Nowadays, DNA stands for "Downtown's NEW Address".

The building is located at 1005 King Street West, at the corner of King and Shaw. The TTC stops right in front of the building - which comes in handy on rainy and snowy days. Streetcars and buses come every five minutes during rush hour, it's a 10 minute TTC ride to Yonge Street, and a 15 minute walk to Spadina. You'll find a Starbucks, Royal Bank, GNC, and convenience store in the building, on the first floor. Also on the block are Esso, Hasty Market, Shoppers Drug Mart, Second Cup, a veterinarian, a dentist, a video store, and it's only a 10 minute walk to the doctor and Metro.

When visiting the neighbourhood it's a good idea to set aside a few hours to explore the area on foot, so you can check out the stores, go for a walk in the park, and sample the restaurants. Did I mention that it's a 25 minute cab ride to the airport? And that's in rush hour.

"By day, the King West neighbourhood - which for our purposes is the stretch on King west of Spadina to Tecumseh and includes Wellington, Adelaide and Camden streets - is ad agency central. Cossette Communications, Taxi, Bensimon Byrne, Blast Radius and The Nice Agency are the big employers. Indigo and Bodyshop are also here. All the more reason why plenty of restaurants, cafes and clubs have sprung up in recent years for clients to be wined and dined and overworked Account Executives to grab some cocktails and complain about their bosses (and clients).

While King West is home to the Spoke Club and Atelier (both members only), there are more than enough accessible options to drink and dance the night away. Some places like Brant House, West, Cheval and Century Room can sometimes have major attitude. Bouncers are de rigueur here and might not let you in if they don't like the way you're dressed. Footwork, at Adelaide and Brant, is a bit more relaxed and tends to cater to a hipper, more musically savvy crowd."

Once dotcom central, Liberty Village has parlayed its tech cred and industrial roots into a hot spot for burgeoning Web 2.0 start-ups, porn web sites, film and television production companies and a growing residential community settling into former factories turned lofts. Soccer and ultimate Frisbee teams come to play at Lamport Stadium while avid rock climbers tackle the walls at Joe Rockheads. The revitalized Liberty Market Building is quickly becoming a local landmark, home to a growing mix of restaurants and shops.