Quote:
Originally Posted by Keith P.
Wouldn't the natural progression of things involve some of the older buildings losing office tenants to some of the newer buildings, which then opens up the opportunity to repurpose them to other uses? The Radisson Hotel Hilton Doubletree Suites on Hollis was formerly office space. The former Canada Permanent building where Starbucks and Durty Nellys are on the ground floors became apartments. If, for example, one of the Purdy's Towers lost a significant number of office tenants, it could become a killer condo development. Same with the Homburg Building up on Brunswick.
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Yes. The part of downtown that's dominated by office towers could use some more residents. The older office buildings are also a great asset to cities because they provide affordable space for up and coming businesses. Buildings like the former Royal Bank tower could serve that purpose.
I'm not sure how many conversions we'll really see though. It would be completely realistic to imagine these buildings filling up over the next few years. This is not a Dubai type situation, it's just a couple of moderately-sized office buildings. The office construction happening right now is much more modest than what happened in the 1980's in Halifax and those buildings did not sit empty even though the economy tanked in the 90's.
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