The Cube, an office-to-residential conversion in Calgary by Strategic Group. Despite much talk about office conversions, only five have actually been completed as the city’s office market continues to struggle. (Courtesy Strategic Group)
With Calgary’s downtown office vacancy rate stuck in the 25 per cent range, many real estate experts have suggested converting empty space in the Central Business District into residential use as one solution for the market.
But landlords and property owners haven’t been stampeding to actually follow through on that strategy. RENX has learned only five buildings during the past two years have been converted from office to rental in inner-city neighbourhoods such as Southwood, Beltline, South Calgary, Eau Claire and Tuxedo Park.
And, there are no further conversions planned, at least for the short term.
“We don’t have any in the queue right now, nothing in the queue at this moment,” said Sonya Sharp, the City of Calgary’s team lead, business and local economy, in an interview with RENX. “These (five buildings) are the ones that have been completed.”
According to commercial real estate firm CBRE, the downtown Calgary office market has an inventory of 42.3 million square feet across a total of 148 buildings.
That means about 10 million square feet of vacant space. So why haven’t there been more conversions?
Challenges repurposing office to residential
At the recent Calgary Real Estate Forum, a session highlighted the challenges landlords face in repurposing those offices to residential uses – Giving Older Assets A New Life: A Look at Repurposing Existing Properties & Sites.
Six buildings in the downtown core are more than 75 per cent vacant, while three buildings are empty said Greg Kwong, CBRE‘s executive vice-president and regional managing director in Alberta.
“People from the city and other people want to say ‘what are the solutions to getting our vacancy down, let’s repurpose half of downtown Calgary.’ It’s really just not possible given the current vacancy right now,” said Kwong.
In the suburban office market, 11 buildings are greater than 75 per cent vacant and nine buildings are 100 per cent vacant. There are 366 buildings in the suburban Calgary office market with a total of 25.8 million square feet.
“Even if we took (the completely vacant buildings) and converted them to condos – took them out of the office market – we still would have a very high vacancy rate,” Kwong added.
Also during the forum, Marco Civitarese, Calgary’s chief building official and manager, said the age and classification of a building is important in how it could be repurposed.
City tries to remove red tape
On June 13, 2017 Calgary council approved an initiative called the Centre City Enterprise Area. The directive made a number of amendments to a land use bylaw, removing significant barriers to save businesses thousands of dollars if they choose to open or relocate into the Central Business District.
The initiative was developed in collaboration with Calgary Economic Development, city administration, BILD Calgary, NAIOP, local business improvement areas, community associations and small businesses.
“The strategy behind it is really to increase vibrancy in the downtown. Gain some activation to residential living and repurposing buildings that are facing the crunch of vacancies right now,” said Civitarese.
During the real estate forum, Brian Rowland, associate with Zeidler Architecture, said architects can face design challenges in these conversion projects. These include existing layouts, windows that don’t open, and how exteriors are designed to suit the original purpose of the building.
“Usually they don’t include a bunch of vents. So they’re not anticipating 12 or 14 kitchens, and bathrooms, and washer/dryers on every floor,” he said.
Then there are surprises that are not anticipated in the architectural drawings.
“You start cutting into these buildings and finding these surprises you have to deal with as you go through. So it does create a new challenge,” Rowland explained. “The idea is just that we can take something that’s existing and repurpose it and really make it into something that’s contributing again to someone’s portfolio of holdings.”
Strategic Group’s office conversions
Ken Toews, senior vice president of development for Calgary’s Strategic Group, which has been busy converting office space to residential use in both Calgary and Edmonton, said it has been involved in six conversions.
He said while conversions are important to add residential space in downtown Calgary, for property owners they can take a non-performing or low-performing asset and convert it to a much more attractive asset.
“Why can’t we do more of these? Well, there’s a whole bunch of challenges that come when you’re repurposing a building. The first challenge is that the residential floor plate is almost always different than what you have for an office floor plate. So you have to really work with it to make it work,” said Toews. “And most buildings, it won’t.”
Even with the success of its conversions however, several weeks after the forum Strategic Group announced it was putting 56 of its Alberta properties under creditor protection.
The assets are primarily office buildings in Calgary. The challenging real estate market and continued uncertainty in the economy were cited as the reasons for the move.
New flexibility for vacant offices
Under Calgary’s Centre City Enterprise Area plan, businesses no longer require a development permit for changes of use, exterior alterations and small additions in the Beltline or Downtown for a three-year period (ending July 1, 2020).
Sharp said the Centre City Enterprise Area is a mapped out area of the downtown and into a small area of the Beltline to reduce retail and office vacancies in the core.
The city also wanted to make it easier to allow pop-up and interim uses in vacant office spaces.
“Pop-up uses are uses in approved buildings and no approvals are required. So a retail store can go in and out as long as they aren’t breaking any code rules,” said Sharp. “An interim use is up to six months and we’ve waived the development permit, and we’ve waived the business licence, and they would only be required to get a building permit if the building had been vacant more than six months or they’re doing any changes inside the building that will be required to get a building permit.
“We focused on the city wide for that because we have vacancies all over the city. We wanted to animate city spaces citywide. We wanted to provide opportunities for businesses to try out their product without having to go through all the city permits. It was an opportunity to reduce barriers and costs of starting a business in Calgary.”
TORONTO – The Toronto Regional Real Estate Board says home sales in October surged as buyers continued moving off the sidelines amid lower interest rates.
The board said 6,658 homes changed hands last month in the Greater Toronto Area, up 44.4 per cent compared with 4,611 in the same month last year. Sales were up 14 per cent from September on a seasonally adjusted basis.
The average selling price was up 1.1 per cent compared with a year earlier at $1,135,215. The composite benchmark price, meant to represent the typical home, was down 3.3 per cent year-over-year.
“While we are still early in the Bank of Canada’s rate cutting cycle, it definitely does appear that an increasing number of buyers moved off the sidelines and back into the marketplace in October,” said TRREB president Jennifer Pearce in a news release.
“The positive affordability picture brought about by lower borrowing costs and relatively flat home prices prompted this improvement in market activity.”
The Bank of Canada has slashed its key interest rate four times since June, including a half-percentage point cut on Oct. 23. The rate now stands at 3.75 per cent, down from the high of five per cent that deterred many would-be buyers from the housing market.
New listings last month totalled 15,328, up 4.3 per cent from a year earlier.
In the City of Toronto, there were 2,509 sales last month, a 37.6 per cent jump from October 2023. Throughout the rest of the GTA, home sales rose 48.9 per cent to 4,149.
The sales uptick is encouraging, said Cameron Forbes, general manager and broker for Re/Max Realtron Realty Inc., who added the figures for October were stronger than he anticipated.
“I thought they’d be up for sure, but not necessarily that much,” said Forbes.
“Obviously, the 50 basis points was certainly a great move in the right direction. I just thought it would take more to get things going.”
He said it shows confidence in the market is returning faster than expected, especially among existing homeowners looking for a new property.
“The average consumer who’s employed and may have been able to get some increases in their wages over the last little bit to make up some ground with inflation, I think they’re confident, so they’re looking in the market.
“The conditions are nice because you’ve got a little more time, you’ve got more choice, you’ve got fewer other buyers to compete against.”
All property types saw more sales in October compared with a year ago throughout the GTA.
Townhouses led the surge with 56.8 per cent more sales, followed by detached homes at 46.6 per cent and semi-detached homes at 44 per cent. There were 33.4 per cent more condos that changed hands year-over-year.
“Market conditions did tighten in October, but there is still a lot of inventory and therefore choice for homebuyers,” said TRREB chief market analyst Jason Mercer.
“This choice will keep home price growth moderate over the next few months. However, as inventory is absorbed and home construction continues to lag population growth, selling price growth will accelerate, likely as we move through the spring of 2025.”
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 6, 2024.
HALIFAX – A village of tiny homes is set to open next month in a Halifax suburb, the latest project by the provincial government to address homelessness.
Located in Lower Sackville, N.S., the tiny home community will house up to 34 people when the first 26 units open Nov. 4.
Another 35 people are scheduled to move in when construction on another 29 units should be complete in December, under a partnership between the province, the Halifax Regional Municipality, United Way Halifax, The Shaw Group and Dexter Construction.
The province invested $9.4 million to build the village and will contribute $935,000 annually for operating costs.
Residents have been chosen from a list of people experiencing homelessness maintained by the Affordable Housing Association of Nova Scotia.
They will pay rent that is tied to their income for a unit that is fully furnished with a private bathroom, shower and a kitchen equipped with a cooktop, small fridge and microwave.
The Atlantic Community Shelters Society will also provide support to residents, ranging from counselling and mental health supports to employment and educational services.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 24, 2024.
Housing affordability is a key issue in the provincial election campaign in British Columbia, particularly in major centres.
Here are some statistics about housing in B.C. from the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation’s 2024 Rental Market Report, issued in January, and the B.C. Real Estate Association’s August 2024 report.
Average residential home price in B.C.: $938,500
Average price in greater Vancouver (2024 year to date): $1,304,438
Average price in greater Victoria (2024 year to date): $979,103
Average price in the Okanagan (2024 year to date): $748,015
Average two-bedroom purpose-built rental in Vancouver: $2,181
Average two-bedroom purpose-built rental in Victoria: $1,839
Average two-bedroom purpose-built rental in Canada: $1,359
Rental vacancy rate in Vancouver: 0.9 per cent
How much more do new renters in Vancouver pay compared with renters who have occupied their home for at least a year: 27 per cent
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 17, 2024.