Economy Thread

[jammer139]

Here is the link to the announcement - https://news.westernu.ca/2021/10/western-goes-downtown-with-new-property-buy/

Originally Posted by ssiguy

^^^^ Funny how I made that comment yesterday and proof of it comes today.

Western has just bought the Swift Building on Queen. It will be a centre for lectures, art, classes, and cultural events. The law business that is in the building is moving to Dufferin Court lowering their vacancies while not adding any new office space. Whether this is being done for no other reason than Fanshawe embarrassing Western by greatly increasing it's downtown presence I don't know but who cares.

Also saw that last year a company named Aspire is opening up an automated "cricket protein" manufacturing centre in the city. It is the first of it's kind in the world and further cements the city's growing reputation as one of Canada's primary agri-food centres. Agric-food is an EXCELLENT and near recession proof industry as demand for food with less environmental impact will only grow and no matter how deep the recession, people will always have to eat. When was the last time you say a grocery store go under? Insect-based protein is growing exponentially and this will continue as climate change increasingly effects our more traditional sources of protein.

London really has created a "critical mass" in terms in technology, workers, infrastructure, innovation, and research to make it one {if not the leading} agri-food centres of the country.

[Djeffery]

I don't think there is more than the people at Western involved in this purchase who know this as the Swift building, so for anyone not clicking on jammer's link, it's the Harrison Pensa building on Talbot between Queen and Carling.

Also, Nestle has broken ground on their new expansion on Wilton Grove Rd.

[jammer139]

LFP article of the need for workers to fill thousands of new jobs in London.


https://lfpress.com/news/local-news/3000...ndon-region-will-there-be-enough-workers

[haljackey]

6k unfilled jobs and 3k more needed for Amazon Fulfillment and meat packing?

I mean a demand for workers is good, but these jobs (mostly) 🞵🞵🞵🞵. Working for Bezos keeping up with robot paces or cutting meat all day? Not really ideal, plus they are stressful and on the lower pay end.

The 700 jobs at the casino seems a little high. I'd imagine most of the staff at the current location will go there, so maybe the number of new staff needed is like half that.

[Djeffery]

So, what, we should only seek out work from home office jobs? Whether certain jobs 🞵🞵🞵🞵 in someone else's view, they are still there to be filled. Lots of lower paid jobs 🞵🞵🞵🞵, but those of you in the upper income brackets would hate it if they weren't being done.

[haljackey]

Originally Posted by Djeffery

So, what, we should only seek out work from home office jobs? Whether certain jobs 🞵🞵🞵🞵 in someone else's view, they are still there to be filled. Lots of lower paid jobs 🞵🞵🞵🞵, but those of you in the upper income brackets would hate it if they weren't being done.

From the working conditions I've seen in the USA, working at Amazon Fulfillment or meat processing does not look very appealing. I certainly hope pay and working conditions/safety are better in Canada, else there are plenty of other jobs available to be filled in London.

Either way, it's a big win for London I think. We've gone from not enough jobs to too many jobs available. The power is now in the employee's hand rather than the employer.

[Djeffery]

For sure, they are physically demanding jobs. But they are jobs that are going to get done so they might as well be in London. I don't buy into the internet hype about how bad certain places are though. No doubt, some of those issues happened, but I doubt they are the norm in all locations. In my blue collar trucking job, I've been to hundreds of plants and warehouses around London in my 30+ years, and there are countless worse than what I have seen in both Amazon facilities here. Some of them 🞵🞵🞵🞵 the life out of you just going there for 10 minutes, they are so miserable. Amazon is also known to pay higher than the average warehouse job, and they also are facing a big push by the Teamsters union to get organized.

[jammer139]

London makes list for up and coming Top tech talent market cities.



https://www.ledc.com/news/halifax-london-tech-markets-watch

[jammer139]

Interesting article on the future Hybrid office space.


https://www.computerworld.com/article/36...world-office-downsizings-are-coming.html

[jammer139]

Another lump of coal for downtown with the announcement that Farhi has purchased the vacant Greyhound Bus property on York St. They plan to commission CRBE to find a tenant and in the meantime use it for parking for their tenants up at the Bell building. Seems odd that the building they tore down kitty corner to this last year is still a hole in the ground and they haven't even bothered to level it and put some gravel or pavement to make it surface parking.

[jammer139]

London downtown office vacancy hits record high. Sadly this record will be broken again later this year I expect.



https://lfpress.com/news/local-news/londons-downtown-office-vacancy-rate-hits-record-high

[jammer139]

CBC take on the grim office vacancy rate in London.


https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/london/downtown-london-office-space-1.6377242

[jammer139]

LFP article on the drive to build outside the city.


https://lfpress.com/business/real-estate...tax-revenue-outside-city-london-builders

[MolsonExport]

gas is no longer cheap, and as roads become more clogged, the relative 'benefits' of driving another 20 minutes each way, each day (with no option to bike or walk to work if one's workplace is in London) will diminish. I've had colleagues tell me that their ppty taxes in Ilderton were half of mine in London. yeah but how much time is spent, and gas used, having to drive everywhere, when I walk/bike for many trips?

[jammer139]

Interesting article on the rapid increase of wood framed low rise buildings. Ontario recently changed the building code a few years ago to allow up to 6 stories in wood frame construction. A number of low rise buildings have gone up in London using steel framed wall units as well. These wall units are pre-fabricated in factories to exact dimensions then shipped to the site and assembled like lego blocks.



https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/...ew-apartment-buildings-all-look-the-same

[jammer139]

New factory to open in London and make electric fireplaces.



https://lfpress.com/news/local-news/elec...ems-manufacturer-opening-plant-in-london

[ssiguy]

More good economic news for London.

[Djeffery]

That's interesting news. That's the old Hunt Windows building at the northwest corner of Pond Mills and Wilton Grove. I'm curious which company vacated their space in there. We have 2 Dimplex electric fireplaces in our house, and I've bought several from them over the years through their employee scratch and dent sale in Cambridge. A guy I used to know worked there and any chance he had to buy a "not quite up to sales standard" fireplace, he bought it and resold it. I paid $300 for the most expensive one and the scratch was on the side of the firebox which you don't even see when it's inside the unit.

[jammer139]

the "Landlord" has purchased Millar Berry Farm.


7390 Longwoods Road
type Speculative development land
price $4,200,000
seller Millar Berry Farms Inc.
buyer Farhi Farming Corp.

[Djeffery]

Maybe the Millars figured Matt joining the whackadoodle New Blue party would be bad for business lol.