(Becky Robertson / blogTO)
Definitely feels like a downturn but I can’t help but wonder why they point to office space as such a large concern. Unless there was major offshoring going on however that was left out of the article it seems.
T.O. added 63,800 tech talent jobs between 2017 and 2022 — the second-most of any city in the continent, after only San Francisco — but our massive glut of empty office space post-lockdown has been a cause for concern.
I can’t help but wonder why they point to office space as such a large concern.
Because it is thought to be the lifeblood of a city.
Commercial real estate is Toronto’s best customer, paying 225% more than the equivalent residential customer. Further, it is the force that binds people to the city. Traditionally, “I can’t leave because it is where my job is” say the workers, and “I can’t leave because it is where the workers are” says the business.
While there is currently only concern – it is not clear what is going to happen – with more time, it is possible that commercial real estate will start to be abandoned. Even if it is converted to residential space, that is a tremendous hit to city revenues. So then the city is fighting a need to be more attractive than before, with “I can’t leave because it is where my job is” being no longer enough to keep people around, all with less tax revenue or a higher tax burden on residents.
That is a difficult situation to be in, and we only have to take a trip down the 401 and across a bridge to see what can happen to a city if it fails to manage the situation.
But the thing I don’t get is that while office space is good revenue, retail is far better. And investing in mix-use buildings is quite a perfect way to get exactly that while reducing the issues with housing. You don’t need to worry about “living where you work” if people naturally want to live in Toronto due to being close to everything you want. Toronto is only one of three cities that is easy to live in without a car, even more so if you want 95% of everything you want within walking distance.
The turnaround, and hence tax revenue, of retail and entertainment so close to such dense housing boarders on the obscene, whereas suburbs tends to lean towards actually costing tax dollars rather than being a revenue source for the governments. Hell, the numbers are easy to collate, so the leaders are obviously just ignoring real data and instead just doing whatever they want and only paying lip service.
Who cares about tech oriented office space when 80% of that can be done from home, and you can just make those workers want to live in Toronto due to the amenities rather than transit to work.
Get people to stay in the city because they want to and not because they have to? Wat.
Well, you got the mayor for it, imho.
That presumes that mayors have any actual power to change anything. Maybe if she can convince the council to raise property tax all-round, then there’ll be leeway to actually make the changes needed, but I won’t hold my breath for a miracle. Not when the only mayors we have that managed to make a difference in the last decade have all made ones that made the city demonstrably worse.
