[davidcapizzano]

Hamilton as an institution has been obsessed with the idea of luring big companies from the greater GTHA and having them set up shop in Hamilton, but it's never worked out. There just isn't enough happening downtown to justify it, and the transit connectivity right now is severely lacking. Q4 is one example, but during the pandemic they shifted to a totally remote model of working, so they're likely just riding out their Hamilton lease.

All of the Jackson Square office towers have had huge swaths of vacancies for years now - some floors of Stelco tower have been empty and are used for events since they're basically raw spaces with no fixtures. New office construction in central Hamilton is highly unlikely at this time. The focus should be on getting businesses already located in Hamilton to centralize their offices, however this might be unpopular with suburban councillors who won't want employers to leave their wards.

There are a lot of hypothetical situations like satellite offices, but given the state of the office market at this time, I'm highly doubtful any business would want to sign on to a new commercial lease given that they're usually like 10 years long and workers are extremely apprehensive about returning to offices full time.

Having an influx of students in the core should be great for retail offerings though, which I think will be a fantastic benefit for downtown residents as a whole.