Empty offices left behind by newly minted remote workers and other upheaval caused by the pandemic have begun to show up on the rental market, and it’s presenting some prospective tenants with opportunities they couldn’t have imagined prior to COVID-19.
“They’re getting the red carpet rolled out,” said Darren Fleming, an Ottawa-based commercial real estate broker.
It’s almost a year into the pandemic, and Fleming and his team at Real Strategy Advisors are seeing companies that were on the fence about what to do with office space that’s been sitting empty now starting to downsize.
“It’s to either get rid of about half their space or go [fully] virtual,” said Fleming, the firm’s CEO.
That’s an even bigger shift than he expected just six months ago, when he estimated clients would shed about 25 per cent of their space.
WATCH | Pandemic has led to slump in demand for office space, broker says:
Commercial real estate broker Darren Fleming of Real Strategy Advisors says he’s seeing some landlords offer one year of free rent to attract tenants to empty office space — and it’s not the first time. 0:27
But for those clients who are looking for new space, Fleming says they have an “unparalleled amount of choice” and the potential to land incentives such as free rent for one year.
“If you’re a tenant looking for space right now, there’s a whole lot of people who don’t have a lot of alternatives to rent to,” he said.
Michael McNaught and his growing team at RVezy, an RV rental marketplace company, are prospective tenants seeing the market change first-hand.
In March 2020, McNaught was about to sign a lease for new office space in Ottawa, but then the pandemic hit. RVezy sent all of its staff home to work remotely and put the lease-signing on hold.
Since then, RVezy’s business has doubled and its workforce has nearly tripled from about 20 employees at the start of 2020 to 55 now, with plans to keep hiring.
“We just happened to be one of the fortunate businesses that was well suited during this pandemic,” McNaught, the company’s co-founder, said.
Michael McNaught, co-founder of RV rental listings marketplace RVezy, says his company was about to sign a lease for new office space in Ottawa last March when the pandemic hit. Now that its search has resumed, there are ‘endless’ options to choose from, he says. (Pierre-Paul Couture/CBC)
Now, RVezy is on the search for office space again — and it’s not just the company’s needs that have changed.
“Pre-pandemic, it was a much more difficult [rental] market. We had probably four to five options that we were looking at. At this time, it’s really endless,” McNaught said. “There’s so much available in all areas of the city and even different types of spaces. We’ve seen anything from office buildings to old firehouses to even a yoga studio.”
Office availability on the rise across Canada
According to Altus Group, which collects data on commercial real estate transactions across the country, office availability in Ottawa increased from 8.8 per cent in the last quarter of 2019 to 10 per cent in the fourth quarter of 2020.
Other cities have seen even bigger jumps over the same period. In Toronto, office availability rose from 8.7 per cent to 12.4 per cent, while in Vancouver, it increased from 5.9 per cent to 9.1 per cent.
Raymond Wong, vice-president of data operations and data solutions at Altus Group, characterizes the difference in availability in Toronto from pre-pandemic to now as “night and day.”
Raymond Wong, vice-president of data operations and data solutions at Altus Group, says rental prices haven’t changed substantially, but that could start to change depending on how long the office availability rate stays high. (Jacqueline Hansen/CBC)
“That’s why [the city has] close to nine million square feet under construction right now in the downtown to facilitate that [pre-pandemic] pent-up demand,” Wong said.
For more than five years, Toronto has had the most construction cranes in operation in North America, according to international construction cost surveyors and consultants Rider Levett Bucknall (RLB). The firm is set to release its latest crane index ranking later this month that it says will show Toronto is still at the very top.
In the first quarter of this year, RLB says, 208 cranes have been in use in Toronto, with 19 involved in commercial construction. But the firm suggests that could be impacted by the working-from-home trend.
“With companies reconsidering the traditional model of the office — some have already committed to permanent remote working — going forward, we may see a decreased demand for commercial space in the city,” Terry Harron, principal and resident manager of RLB’s Toronto office, said in an email to CBC News.
For more than five years, Toronto has had the most construction cranes in operation in North America, according to Rider Levett Bucknall. In the first quarter of this year, RLB says, 208 cranes have been in use in Toronto, with 19 involved in commercial construction. (Michael Wilson/CBC)
As some tenants in commercial office space already try to shed square footage, listings website Spacelist.ca is seeing an increase in the total space available for sublease.
Spacelist Commercial Listings, founded in 2012, aggregates commercial real estate listings from brokerages, property management groups, owners and third-party property marketing platforms. It tracks real-time data from active listings and demand from those searching for space.
According to its data, Spacelist says total office square footage listed for sublease in 2020 compared with 2019 increased by 230 per cent in Edmonton, 400 per cent in Vancouver and 524 per cent in Toronto.
More than half of tenants expected to downsize: survey
For a prospective tenant, a suitable sublease can be valuable, as it can take over a space that has already been renovated for similar needs or even furnished.
Steven Jaffe, CEO of Spacelist, says despite the pandemic and the growth in working remotely, there is still demand for office space.
“In fact, there may even be increased demand. [But] the differentiation from pre-pandemic is the type of demand,” he said.
“Instead of one 10,000- or 5,000-square-foot office in downtown Toronto, they may be looking for 1,500 square feet downtown and then a smaller one out in the suburbs — or maybe two, closer to employees.”
What the future of work looks like is still in flux for many, and according to Altus Group, it may be less drastic than some had suspected last spring.
“The expectation back then was that, ‘why do we need office?'” Wong said.
In November, Altus Group conducted a survey of 85 clients from across Canada to get a sense of whether they still expect tenants to downsize and by how much.
A ‘For Lease’ sign on a building on Bank Street in Ottawa in October 2020 advertises vacant office space. According to Altus Group, office availability in the city increased from 8.8 per cent in the last quarter of 2019 to 10 per cent in the fourth quarter of 2020. (Brian Morris/CBC)
The survey found that 57 per cent of the respondents expected their tenants to downsize, but 62 per cent anticipated space needs would decrease by just 20 per cent or less.
It’s a small snapshot of landlord expectations, not tenant intentions, but Wong still finds the results interesting.
“That’s a big shift,” he said.
Wong suspects it’s a result of waning productivity, Zoom fatigue and the expectation that people will want to come together again to work collaboratively.
“I still believe that … when people feel safe again with the immunization and the vaccine, the office will return,” he said.
Landlords offering incentives
But it will likely look very different, according to Fleming of Real Strategy Advisors.
“There’s going to be a huge amount of capital required to transition these spaces into these hybrid hub models,” he said.
“We’re going to need to lean on technology more than we did before: screens, better cameras, better audio, better bandwidth to make sure that those people [working from home] are included and don’t feel isolated.”
Fleming said he’s seeing landlords offer incentives such as cash to cover renovations to create custom spaces, in order to lock in new tenants.
This office for lease in downtown Ottawa was among those viewed by RVezy in its hunt for a hybrid work-friendly space. (Pierre-Paul Couture/CBC)
Wong said rental prices haven’t changed substantially, but that could start to change depending on how long the office availability rate stays high.
Michael McNaught of RVezy said that during his renewed search, landlords have been far more flexible now than prior to the pandemic on lease terms such as rental price and including extras such as more parking spots.
“Everything’s on the table in these negotiations right now,” he said.
WATCH | Growing Ottawa business finds options for office space:
Michael McNaught of RVezy is considering some non-traditional spaces as the RV rental marketplace company sets up its new hybrid office to accommodate employees post-pandemic. 0:24
And while the allure of downtown may be fading for some, McNaught said RVezy is still interested, and he’s confident his employees will still want to be in downtown Ottawa with access to restaurants, coffee shops and culture.
“No one’s going to forget what pre-pandemic life was like,” he said.
TORONTO – Roots Corp. may have built its brand on all things comfy and cosy, but its CEO says activewear is now “really becoming a core part” of the brand.
The category, which at Roots spans leggings, tracksuits, sports bras and bike shorts, has seen such sustained double-digit growth that Meghan Roach plans to make it a key part of the business’ future.
“It’s an area … you will see us continue to expand upon,” she told analysts on a Friday call.
The Toronto-based retailer’s push into activewear has taken shape over many years and included several turns as the official designer and supplier of Team Canada’s Olympic uniform.
But consumers have had plenty of choice when it comes to workout gear and other apparel suited to their sporting needs. On top of the slew of athletic brands like Nike and Adidas, shoppers have also gravitated toward Lululemon Athletica Inc., Alo and Vuori, ramping up competition in the activewear category.
Roach feels Roots’ toehold in the category stems from the fit, feel and following its merchandise has cultivated.
“Our product really resonates with (shoppers) because you can wear it through multiple different use cases and occasions,” she said.
“We’ve been seeing customers come back again and again for some of these core products in our activewear collection.”
Her remarks came the same day as Roots revealed it lost $5.2 million in its latest quarter compared with a loss of $5.3 million in the same quarter last year.
The company said the second-quarter loss amounted to 13 cents per diluted share for the quarter ended Aug. 3, the same as a year earlier.
In presenting the results, Roach reminded analysts that the first half of the year is usually “seasonally small,” representing just 30 per cent of the company’s annual sales.
Sales for the second quarter totalled $47.7 million, down from $49.4 million in the same quarter last year.
The move lower came as direct-to-consumer sales amounted to $36.4 million, down from $37.1 million a year earlier, as comparable sales edged down 0.2 per cent.
The numbers reflect the fact that Roots continued to grapple with inventory challenges in the company’s Cooper fleece line that first cropped up in its previous quarter.
Roots recently began to use artificial intelligence to assist with daily inventory replenishments and said more tools helping with allocation will go live in the next quarter.
Beyond that time period, the company intends to keep exploring AI and renovate more of its stores.
It will also re-evaluate its design ranks.
Roots announced Friday that chief product officer Karuna Scheinfeld has stepped down.
Rather than fill the role, the company plans to hire senior level design talent with international experience in the outdoor and activewear sectors who will take on tasks previously done by the chief product officer.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 13, 2024.
VANCOUVER – Mediated talks between the union representing HandyDART workers in Metro Vancouver and its employer, Transdev, are set to resume today as a strike that has stopped most services drags into a second week.
No timeline has been set for the length of the negotiations, but Joe McCann, president of the Amalgamated Transit Union Local 1724, says they are willing to stay there as long as it takes, even if talks drag on all night.
About 600 employees of the door-to-door transit service for people unable to navigate the conventional transit system have been on strike since last Tuesday, pausing service for all but essential medical trips.
Hundreds of drivers rallied outside TransLink’s head office earlier this week, calling for the transportation provider to intervene in the dispute with Transdev, which was contracted to oversee HandyDART service.
Transdev said earlier this week that it will provide a reply to the union’s latest proposal on Thursday.
A statement from the company said it “strongly believes” that their employees deserve fair wages, and that a fair contract “must balance the needs of their employees, clients and taxpayers.”
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 12, 2024.
MONTREAL – Travel company Transat AT Inc. reported a loss in its latest quarter compared with a profit a year earlier as its revenue edged lower.
The parent company of Air Transat says it lost $39.9 million or $1.03 per diluted share in its quarter ended July 31.
The result compared with a profit of $57.3 million or $1.49 per diluted share a year earlier.
Revenue in what was the company’s third quarter totalled $736.2 million, down from $746.3 million in the same quarter last year.
On an adjusted basis, Transat says it lost $1.10 per share in its latest quarter compared with an adjusted profit of $1.10 per share a year earlier.
Transat chief executive Annick Guérard says demand for leisure travel remains healthy, as evidenced by higher traffic, but consumers are increasingly price conscious given the current economic uncertainty.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 12, 2024.
