The Value of Investing in Canadian Downtowns - International ...

For example, Toronto’s core has experienced major population
growth and has simultaneously seen renewed interest from
national retailers such as Canadian Tire and Best Buy stores.
Downtown Toronto has also seen more than a handful of large
format supermarkets open in the core in recent years. Notably
these large format retailers are adopting new compact urban
formats. Similar trends have been reported in Vancouver. Winnipeg
has also recently attracted a new Mountain Equipment Co-Op.
Overall these trends are very positive for downtown retailing and
will likely continue as downtown populations continue to grow.
Downtown Victoria has experienced significant population growth in recent
years
Downtowns are retaining office space
Downtowns have generally been able to maintain their
concentration of office space and remain at the heart of commerce
and jobs in their respective cities. Most have managed to retain
over half of their city’s office space inventory. Yet with the
exception of London, which introduced policies to direct office
space downtown, the portion of office space located in each of the
downtown case studies has declined over the past decade.
Therefore, if the downtowns are to maintain their dominance long
into the future, it will be important that they can reverse this trend
and increasingly attract office growth. 2
Calculated from Google Earth
Even ‘big box’ stores will follow downtown population growth. This large
format store is located at the corner of Denman St. and Robson St, Vancouver
Attracting major new office buildings is a challenge for all
downtowns. Downtown Edmonton faced close to two decades
without a large office development before it managed to attract the
new EPCOR building that is reportedly helping to stimulate
additional commercial interest. Downtown Saskatoon also faced a
prolonged period of minimal activity, until 2009 when the new
Discovery Plaza was built. Other downtowns have also seen
recent surges in commercial development, for example downtown
Winnipeg accommodated the Manitoba Hydro building in 2009.
Downtown Fredericton saw the development of the new Chancery
Place in 2011; and, The Atrium was developed in downtown
Victoria in 2010.
90%
80%
70%
60%
50%
40%
30%
20%
10%
0%
Downtown Office Space as a Percent of
City Wide Inventory (2010)
2
The case of Toronto is somewhat more complex and has been summarized
in more detail in subsequent pages of the report.
17
2010 Data Provided by Municipalities,
with support from CB Richard Ellis