Office vacancies reach record level
Office vacancies have reached a record level while residential ones are crawling under an ant. The government should be throwing money at office building conversion projects.
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thomas 21:31 on 2021-05-10 Permalink
I am not an expert, but it is my understanding that office->residential conversions are very difficult due to the necessity to reconfigure the plumbing system.
david90 03:03 on 2021-05-11 Permalink
It’s a lot more than plumbing. The code requirements are different up and down. Would love to see a huge wave of office conversions, but the big problem is, of course, that you’re talking about pretty significant charges on converting a non-hotel commercial tower to residential use.
“Throwing money” isn’t probably a great idea either – it would probably work, but it’s not so efficient.
The thing the city should do is just lift regulations and charges to lighten the burden.
Ephraim 06:29 on 2021-05-11 Permalink
The city has no interest in that. Residential tax rates are significantly less per square metre than commercial rates.
Kevin 10:23 on 2021-05-11 Permalink
This type of conversion has been happening a lot over the past few years in Calgary — which has twice as much office vacancies as Montreal.
The design firm Gensler has a checklist, and their biggest issues are location, windows on all four sides, and the shape of the building. Because offices generally have thick floors, very high ceilings, and kitchenettes, the plumbing changes are not as much of an issue as you’d think.
It can happen a lot faster than building a new tower too, so in terms of bang for the buck, it could be the fastest way to get housing into a downtown core.