what's big and empty and waiting to be used?

[Palomar]

Long time lurker, former Londoner.

Am hoping this board can provide some creative expertise. I'm seeking a building in London with good clear height. 28 minimum. Snafu is I only need 10,000 or so square feet, and most buildings that height are much bigger. Real estate agent has come up with nothing. Weeks of google searching have come up with nothing. I am hoping that collective hive mind here is aware of some beautiful gem of an underused warehouse sitting along the river somewhere that might be an option.

If this is too commercial a posting I am sure the mods will delete this. I don't want to break any rules but am getting nowhere through usual channels. I am a one man operation trying to start a business. This is a serious attempt and there is funding in place. The business is in commercial recreation.

Feel free to PM me.

ps--in exchange for any ideas or assistance, and to demonstrate my SSP cred I can share stories from my brief career in rope access.

[Highinthesky]

10,000 Sq.F. is not a common size. Too big for majority of small operations and too small for large ones. Add that with your 30 foot height requirement and you're going to be looking for a long time.

[Palomar]

Have been looking a long time already. They're scarce in any city. Though London seems to have a dearth of properties compared to other Ontario cities. Would take a small piece of a larger building, or a smaller building.

Have been told theories that it has to do with the heights a fork-lift can reach, or with zoning regulations around shadowcasting, but I think it's mostly that industrial property in the area is cheap and building stairs is expensive. Unless you need a big overhead crane (I'm looking at you GM diesel) there's no reason for most business types to go up.

[K85]

Not sure if this would work, but I drive by the buildings aside the CP rail line on Highbury and Dundas (at the bridge to the right going southbound), and although I'm not sure the size, think they height is good?

[Palomar]

Thanks K85. Are those buildings empty right now? Height looks right and sometimes its possible to get an empty section.

Happy easter all,

J

[QuantumLeap]

http://www.icx.ca/propertyDetails.as...dKey=928045446

http://www.suttonselect.com/properti...618/index.html

[Palomar]

Highinthesky I might owe you a beer. The former is too short, but the latter could be perfect.

How did you search for those? ICX always come up for me with 'your search did not produce any results'--I've been left to troll through commercial agent sites.

J

[jammer139]

Downtown vacancy rate heading north of 20% in 2021? This article looks at what can be done. - https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/londo...ings-1.5960786

[haljackey]

I want to see a breakdown of that number. What is the vacancy rate in buildings owned by Farhi vs others?

That may paint a very different picture.

[Djeffery]

I'm curious what ever happened with the OP's potential business. I doubt that person has ever come back to this page after 10 years and only posting on this thread, but it sure is a curiosity.

[MolsonExport]

long dormant thread.

[jammer139]

Article with the "landlord" about downtown London - https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/londo...-ont-1.5979641

[MolsonExport]

What's big and empty and waiting to be used?

Answer: Anything owned by Farhi.

[jammer139]

The old Westinghouse factory at Clarke and Huron has been sitting empty for decades. Toxic clean-up was done over a decade ago and the entire property and building is still vacant. The land immediately to the east has signs up for available for development but still no opportunities have come up.

[Djeffery]

That place needs to get demolished. I know Bradford Exchange used part of it for warehousing up to a few years ago but the only thing ever going on there now is police K9 training. Maybe Dancor will be interested in it. They are almost out of land at their airport industrial park and seem to have good success finding tenants. I wonder who owns the property now?

[GreatTallNorth2]

The parking lot bounded by Horton, Bathurst, Ridout is a great spot for a stadium.

[Djeffery]

Originally Posted by GreatTallNorth2

The parking lot bounded by Horton, Bathurst, Ridout is a great spot for a stadium.

Someone was proposing a soccer stadium (CPL maybe?) on that site a few years ago.

[ssiguy]

I think the big boy on the block, at least downtown, it the massive parking lot bordered by the railway, York, Wellington, and Waterloo.

It would be the ideal {perhaps even only} location for a downtown supermarket.

[jammer139]

- The London Free Press building and parking lot.
- The empty store building in the Food Basics plaza at Commissioners and Highbury.

[Djeffery]

Originally Posted by jammer139

- The empty store building in the Food Basics plaza at Commissioners and Highbury.

If you are talking about the former Zellers store, it's not empty. The head office for Windley Ely is in one part of it, and Public Health Ontario recently moved in from the LPH site into another section. I don't know if there is any space left, but if there is, it's not a lot.