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Windsor's oversupply of vacant commercial properties prompts call for freeze on new development - Invest Windsor Real Estate
March 23, 2010
The oversupply of vacant commercial properties in Windsor has raised the possibility of a freeze on new development.
Documents prepared as part of the official plan review point to the oversupply and recommend the city not add more commercial space for the next five years.
While there’s “a very serious vacancy issue” across the city, the vacancy rate within Windsor’s BIA commercial corridors jumped to “a quite alarming” 24.5 per cent last year from 18 per cent two years earlier, Rowan Faludi, of Toronto economic consulting company urbanMetrics Inc., told council this week.
Windsor’s ailing economy has turned the city’s retail sector into a “zero sum game” in which new commercial expansion comes at the expense of existing commercial development being vacated, he said.
But critics worry the restriction — which would be enshrined in a new official plan expected to go before council within the next year — sends the wrong message to investors.
“Perception is the concern … a municipal body is going to dictate to the investment community where it’s going to make its investment,” said Patrick Persichilli, executive vice-president of the WindsorEssex Development Corporation. He said the restriction might persuade retail giants like Target and Ikea to set up shop elsewhere.
“We want to portray this area in a positive light,” said Dean Clevett of the Windsor-Essex Regional Chamber of Commerce. Windsor has already suffered from “some misconceptions for quite some time” that it’s not business-friendly, he added.
City planner Thom Hunt insists it’s not a five-year “freeze” that is being recommended and denied the changes are anti-development. He said investors will be advised of Windsor’s “incredible choice of sites” but that if they still want a so-called greenfield property, or are interested in lands not already designated for commercial development, the city would first require a market impact study proving the project’s viability.
“I’m a little perplexed by this — I think somehow it got miscommunicated,” said Hunt.
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