Vancouver has decided not to convert any of its office space into residential, while Calgary is regarding office conversions as an opportunity to reshape its downtown
In Vancouver, as workers slowly return to downtown, the city has made a firm decision not to cede any of its office-tower space over to residential, resisting suggestions such conversions might help lessen the city’s serious housing crisis.
Vancouver, unlike Calgary and many other cities in the U.S. and Canada that are encouraging owners to remake their offices into residential, is not enthusiastic about giving up a square inch of job space in its downtown because the office vacancy rate isn’t high.Toronto’s downtown office district faces long-term slump as new work patterns take hold
“We’ve been planning around this for a long time,” said Ms. Marchut. “Calgary is in this position because of the oil recession, not the pandemic. And it’s bigger than an office-vacancy problem. We’re never going to get back to 2013. It’s never going to happen.” Two office buildings – B.C. Electric and Qube – were converted to apartments in the condo boom of the ‘90s and early 2000s, while the Hudson condo tower was allowed at the major downtown intersection of Granville and Dunsmuir in the same period. Other projects were halted out of concern office space downtown would be crowded out.
The former SNC Lavalin building, which had sat empty for 10 years, will become home to 112 families, after Maxim Olshevsky at PeopleFirst Developments spends the $37-million it is taking to convert 130,000 square feet. He bought the empty tower in February last year when he knew the city money would be coming available.
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