Economy Thread

[Djeffery]

Originally Posted by Djeffery

London has always been huge for distribution centres. We might be missing out on the high profile ones like Amazon (we will have one within 5 years, no doubt in my mind. For sure we will have an Amazon delivery depot by next fall though).

Regarding my comment from a couple months ago about Amazon, I'm hearing a rumour that Amazon is interested in the former Summit Foods building in east London to operate a delivery station out of. Obviously it's only a low level rumour, from someone who works for a company that was eyeballing this location for themselves, so who knows if anything will come of it. It's a little smaller than what they have opened recently in KW and Cambridge but they also tend to take vacant existing buildings for this operation and London doesn't really have any that are suitable either. I definitely think that they will be opening a depot here by this fall though. They are just exploding in volumes year after year and their existing chain with Canada Post, Intelcom and Purolator is straining as it is.

[jammer139]

Harrison Pensa Law firm announces move to Dufferin Corporate Center tower. What will happen too their current building?



https://londonincmagazine.ca/2021/03...ces-2022-move/

[haljackey]

Interesting! So with their move and the abandoned building attached to it on Queens, all that's left is the Marienbad/Chaucer's pub.

If all that could be demo'd you have that + 2 parking lots that could be redeveloped all the way to the edge of the Shoppers/Moxie's bar.

If the Marienbad is determined to be of herritage, maybe it can be incorporated into the design like the Kingsmill's facade?

[jammer139]

Even without the Harrison building the current parking lot is ripe for a major development. Hopefully someone other then the "landlord" owns it and we see a bright and tall future for this location. Minimum heights of 40 floors need only apply.

[Djeffery]

Originally Posted by haljackey

Interesting! So with their move and the abandoned building attached to it on Queens, all that's left is the Marienbad/Chaucer's pub.

If all that could be demo'd you have that + 2 parking lots that could be redeveloped all the way to the edge of the Shoppers/Moxie's bar.

If the Marienbad is determined to be of herritage, maybe it can be incorporated into the design like the Kingsmill's facade?

Cities Heating building was demolished a year ago, unless there is another empty building there as well that I'm forgetting about.

[MolsonExport]

Marienbad/Chaucers is one of the few interesting, unique places in that bombed out landscape known as downtown Fahri parking lot (err, London).

[jammer139]

CBRE report on commercial and office leasing markets.



- https://londonincmagazine.ca/2021/04...f-two-markets/

[ssiguy]

^^^ Kind of expected and mirrors what's happening in much of the country.

Industrial, commercial, and distribution usages do not house the kind of jobs where working from home is an option. The classic downtown office space is exactly the opposite where workers spend most of their day sitting in front of a computer which they can do at home.

Considering the economic times and upheaval and the downtown office space vacancy only increased marginally, this is actually a pretty good report.

[jammer139]

Another 3 year extension for some of the Landlords surface parking lots.


https://london.ctvnews.ca/farhi-hold...ncil-1.5422510

[Djeffery]

Accuride has sold its east London property for $16.5 million. But they aren't closing, rather they are leasing back the plant and planning to hire a few more workers. The article says they have 180 workers, and an article I found from 2013 said they had 130 then and were fearing the plant was going to close. In fact, I recall from a friend that worked there then that they were under the impression that collective agreement they settled on back then was a closing agreement, that the plant was going to close at the end of it. Obviously it stayed open and has grown a bit since. But it's also still a long way from years ago when probably 1000 people worked in there.

https://lfpress.com/business/local-b...-up-production

[MolsonExport]

Originally Posted by jammer139

Another 3 year extension for some of the Landlords surface parking lots.


https://london.ctvnews.ca/farhi-hold...ncil-1.5422510

Farhi strikes again.

[jammer139]

Major rental purchase. 7 London apartment buildings purchased.



https://londonincmagazine.ca/2021/06...on-investment/

[MolsonExport]

the photo in that article is a pretty ugly slab. What's the deal with the cheap siding on the uppermost floors?

[Djeffery]

Originally Posted by MolsonExport

the photo in that article is a pretty ugly slab. What's the deal with the cheap siding on the uppermost floors?

I've never understood that myself. There are clusters of older brick buildings around the city, such as beside White Oaks Mall, Mornington Ave, and Huron/Highbury that have siding on the upper floors. I don't know if it's something to do with the brick losing it's integrity up there or what, but I agree, these buildings look even uglier than they are without the siding.

[jammer139]

Your exactly right. The top courses of external bricks on these buildings are/were subject to serious ice and water damage. Covering the top couple of floors with metal siding protects the brick from additional damage and has been used in many buildings that adopted external brick veneers. You'll notice architects no longer use external brick veneers designs in new buildings especially on the top floors. Live and learn. The same thing with glass walled high rises. Many of those condos are looking at serious costs to replace and remediate the glass walls due to leaks and deteriorated window/balcony seals. Buyer beware if your considering purchase of high rise condo that is over 20 years old with glass wall panel designs. Condo reserve fund better be well financed.

[Djeffery]

https://lfpress.com/news/local-news/...cVUZNsBoY_ZB04

Ford Talbotville land sold, queue the Amazon talk.

[GreatTallNorth2]

Originally Posted by Djeffery

https://lfpress.com/news/local-news/...cVUZNsBoY_ZB04

Ford Talbotville land sold, queue the Amazon talk.

Rumour is that IKEA is building 2 Mega IKEA stores on the site.

[Djeffery]

Originally Posted by GreatTallNorth2

Rumour is that IKEA is building 2 Mega IKEA stores on the site.

And Target is making its triumphant return to Canada there as well lol. Hey, it's a big property, they can fit it all. Maybe the south Costco will go there with the long awaited gas bar too

[ssiguy]

This is a very big deal and means something REALLY huge is about to take place. This is a massive purchase of land so no one did it to just sit on it and wait for the price to double and this is especially true as it is zoned industrial/commercial.

[jammer139]

Don't forget Sams Club, Olive Garden and Outback Steakhouse. Plenty of space for those too.


All jokes aside I suspect we'll have to wait for the zoning application to goto the county before we get a sense of who is involved. That will take a year to get approved followed by another year for the detailed site plan and building permit to be approved and issued. Then again its the county and not City of London and they may get the approvals in weeks.

Originally Posted by Djeffery

And Target is making its triumphant return to Canada there as well lol. Hey, it's a big property, they can fit it all. Maybe the south Costco will go there with the long awaited gas bar too