London’s downtown office vacancy rate is expected to hit a record high 33 per cent in 2025, according to a new regional outlook report by CBRE, a top Canadian commercial real esate firm. This is an almost two per cent increase from the previous year, and up almost five per cent from the 2023 office vacancy rate of 28.5 per cent. This puts London at the top of the country in projected office vacancy rates.
Buzz Bagelz, is a restaurant located at the corner of Dundas and Richmond has vacant office properties sitting across from it on both streets. The vacancies have compounded with other issues present in the downtown core that they claim to have directly impacted their business and made others reconsider opening in the area.
“You know people are getting scared of them and like they would shout here inside a restaurant, say bad things, that affects our customers too, which is I think one of the reasons why, you know.” says Carlo Ignacio, manager at Buzz Bagelz.
Ignacio pointed out not only the poverty in the area but also other issues like rent.
“I think with rent as well. Especially here in London. Going up and I don’t think the businesses here can keep up with the amount of work, the prices of the rents and stuff.”
On top of these issues, a problem with a high amount of office vacancies is that people aren’t travelling into downtown for work and supporting the surrounding business ecosystem.
“I think the bigger issue since the pandemic is that people haven’t returned to the office as much. So there’s a lot more vacancy in offices, which typically were centered again downtown, less feet on the street means less traffic.” says Brahm Wiseman, owner of Heroes Comics.
Wiseman thinks that the city needs to focus on getting more people into downtown rather than expecting them to come for work.
“London and the heart of London is down here. So are your biggest acts of culture. You know whether it’s sports or entertainment or food, it’s all going to happen downtown or it should mostly happen downtown. That’s what downtowns are for.”
It may not be too late for London to change course. Calgary, the former leader in office vacancies has seen a decrease in recent years.
The CBRE website says a decrese in Calgary is likely, due to, “Office inventory, both downtown and in the Beltline, is anticipated to decline in 2025 as buildings are removed from inventory for conversion and redevelopment opportunities.”
The City of London has proposed redevelopment ideas and laws similar to those in Calgary, but has yet to enact any major changes to address the increasing numbers.
Another vacant building on Dundas street. (XFM News/Will Bruce)
