London's Malls

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Westmount models Galleria
London's mall wars are officially over.
The company that manages the Westmount Shopping Centre says London is "over-retailed" and the suburban mall is becoming a mixed-use complex, following the lead of Galleria London.
The mall wars broke out in the 1980s and early 90s with the rapid expansion of Westmount, White Oaks and Masonville Place and the creation of Galleria London.
Masonville and White Oaks are thriving, but for the past 10 years, Galleria has been filling up vacant retail space with office and institutional tenants.
Galleria will soon relaunch under a new name, Citi Plaza. Michael Dobrijevic of Bentall LP, managers of Westmount, said the mall is following the "same pattern" as Galleria.




"Obviously London is over-retailed, certainly in the mall sector, with two strong malls, and we don't need a third one in Westmount," he said. The second floor has been emptying out for years. Some merchants have moved to the ground floor.
The Cineplex movie theatre will soon move out to a new building in the rear parking lot, leaving only the food court and a single rug retailer on the second floor. The future of the food court, a fixture of suburban malls, is up in the air. "We're still contemplating where it should go, if it should go, or if we should have one altogether," Dobrijevic said.
He said retail would be concentrated on the first floor of the mall and the company is looking for office/commercial tenants for the second floor, although some retail may remain. Dobrijevic said Westmount offers office-commercial tenants a large underground parking garage and an expanded London Transit Commission bus terminal. The office vacancy numbers also favour Westmount.
A study by CB Richard Ellis predicts the suburban office vacancy rate will be 9.3% in 2009 compared to 14.3% in the city core. The study says suburban office space rents for about $9 a square foot compared to $11 in the core. New buildings have sprung up in the Westmount parking lot, catering to stand-alone tenants who need features such as drive-throughs.
TD Canada Trust, a long-time tenant, has moved into a new building in the parking lot that includes a drive-through. A building on the southeast corner, that formerly housed TD Canada Trust, will soon be demolished to make room for two 5,000 sq. ft. family restaurants. One will be Shoeless Joe's, a sport-themed restaurant, new to the London market. Bentall is still looking for the second restaurant tenant. The original supermarket anchor, now under the A&P nameplate, has signed a long-term lease and will soon renovate and rebrand as a Metro store.
Westmount opened in 1971, anchored by a Dominion supermarket and 15 retail shops. It was expanded in 1973 and 1981 and reconstructed in 1989 with Zellers and Eatons (now Sears) as anchor tenants. Westmount was once owned by the Ontario Teachers Pension Fund but is now owned by a consortium of investors.