Why more work needs to be done in London's core, despite growth

New numbers show that the city's core is growing with places and people but officials say there's more work to be done to fill some growing vacancies.

City staff released a 2014 to 2015 report Monday, outlining a growth in the number of new businesses. This has driven the overall retail space vacancy rates down to between six and eight per cent.

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It also shows that more people are leasing state-of-the-art office spaces with current vacancy rates sitting between eight and10 per cent a drop from 15 percent in 2004.

"The steady growth is exactly what we were looking for," said Downtown London CEO Janette MacDonald."But, we're not there yet, there are numbers that aren't so good."

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Vacancy rates for less modern buildings are slowly increasing, reaching between 22 and 30 per cent by the end of 2015 more than double the number from 2011.

And a quarter of the downtown core is also vacant, mostly occupied by surface parking lots.

Vacancies

The issue around rising vacancies for heritage site buildings was raised Monday in a committee meeting.

And althoughstaff didn't have a clear answer as to why, Jim Yanchula, urban regeneration manager, said it could be because of people choosing more modern facilities.

"It could be a hundred year old building but it's outfitted with things that today's high paying tenant office user would want such as fibre optics, energy efficiency and parking," he said.

MacDonald said building owners have to be willing to invest in their stock in order to attract keen investors. Because right now, she said some of the vacancies are "unsafe and they have no heat or hydro or plumbing in them so you couldn't occupy it if you wanted to without investment."

Building value

The city's taxable assessment which outlines the value of the buildings in the core sits at more than $1 billion, an increase over previous years.

"That pretty much indicates that the people want to come here and that the buildings are going up in value because the area is more attractive," said MacDonald.

Yanchula said new entertainment attractions such as the London Music Hall and existing ones are drawing crowds to the core.

• In 2015, London Music Hall 135,000 people
• In 2014- 2015, Budweiser Gardens 670,000 people
• In 2014- 2015 Grand Theatre 100,000 people
• In 2015, Museum London 100,000

"Downtown is more vibrant, there are more feet on the street, there are more occupancies along the sidewalk store fronts and there's more residential units being built," he said.

"All of those things contribute to the sense that we've got a lively downtown."

Did you know?

• City staff have clarified in the report that the boundaries of the downtown stretch from the Thames River, a little north of Oxford Street, down to Horton Street and a little beyond Adelaide Street.
• The downtown contains more than 80 per cent office space employing about 35,000 people in the area.
• In 2014, the total number of building permits issued was 196 that number dropped to 172 in 2015.
• 2,000 Fanshawe College students are expected to fill the downtown campuses.