General Updates and News

[Keith P.]

The biggest problem with converting office buildings to residential is the typical lack of indoor parking. There are only so many well-to-do people willing to use a bicycle as their main mode of personal transport.

[Empire]

Originally Posted by Keith P.

The biggest problem with converting office buildings to residential is the typical lack of indoor parking. There are only so many well-to-do people willing to use a bicycle as their main mode of personal transport.

Could be a long bike ride to your office in Bayer's Lake or Bedford.

[Jreeb]

Also with office to residential conversions, the office building needs to have the right floor plate size. Too big of a floor plate with a small core results in a lot of inefficient space for a multi-res building. You'd end up with really slim units and wide hallways. You could mitigate this by putting storage lockers on every floor but still is inefficient. With larger/slim units your rent on a PSF basis is on the lower side.

[Colin May]

Long detailed article on office conversions in Toronto and includes vacancy rate by building and the owners (primarily pension funds through REITS). I read the article while on way home from the city ...https://www.theglobeandmail.com/busi...dings-vacancy/
Only available to subscribers.
If your employer has a pension plan you may (should) be interested.
Quote : " While some towers are chock-full of tenants, one-third of the biggest office buildings in the core of Canada’s most important financial district are at least one-fifth empty, with some grappling with even larger voids of up to 50 per cent."