Obviously baseless speculation but it would be nice if some of this office space were converted to retail.

A couple of the south retail units could probably accommodate an escalator to L3&4.

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Would require a sale of the space from Allied to RioCan and a rezoning, not to mention the ordeal of finding a tenant of this size. Great corner signage opportunity.
The demand for retail space in this area will likely increase drastically in the next few years given Queen West retail between University and Spadina will be much less accessable/welcoming due to Ontario Line construction.

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Very unlikely to happen but one can dream!
 
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99% chance, they're just gonna find another office tenant. It's not gonna become a retail space, short of a minor miracle. Might take a little time but it'll happen. This is a new, premium space, that's about to have a GO station built across the street. Someone will want it sooner than later. The effort of selling the space between owners, rezoning it, changing how the access to it works (especially given you'd have to cut off access to the office elevators), etc. is simply not worth it to either RioCan or Allied.

The fantasy of getting a Simons here is exactly that, a fantasy. I say this as someone who loves Simons and hopes they open a downtown store sooner than later. I'm sure it'll happen, but I highly doubt it'll be here.
 
TossYourJacket said:
99% chance, they're just gonna find another office tenant. It's not gonna become a retail space, short of a minor miracle. Might take a little time but it'll happen. This is a new, premium space, that's about to have a GO station built across the street. Someone will want it sooner than later. The effort of selling the space between owners, rezoning it, changing how the access to it works (especially given you'd have to cut off access to the office elevators), etc. is simply not worth it to either RioCan or Allied.

The fantasy of getting a Simons here is exactly that, a fantasy. I say this as someone who loves Simons and hopes they open a downtown store sooner than later. I'm sure it'll happen, but I highly doubt it'll be here.
Click to expand...

My understanding is that RioaCan and Allied share as 50% - 50% joint owners of the entire office and commercial components of The Well project. The difference is that RioCan has marketing and property management responsibility for the commercial components, while Allied has marketing and property management responsibility for the office areas. Should space within the complex change in use between office and commercial, or between commercial and office (which has already happened with respect to the area which was originally intended to be cinema, but is now an office use), the most that would be required would be to realign the property management responsibilities accordingly.

Also, one further point of clarification - at this point, all that has been said is that Shopify does not intend to occupy the space. As a tenant with a valid in place lease, Shopify is legally bound to continue to pay their rent (which they have been doing) until the space has either been successfully sub let and the replacement tenant(s) enter in new head lease(s) with the landlord, or until a mutually agreeable settlement is reached between the parties.

What Shopify has obtained by their decision to not occupy their space at Well at this point is to get out of the costs associated with the customization, fit up and furnishing costs for the new space, any associated moving costs, as well as clarifying their office occupancy plans for their staff.
 
To echo the above, article in the Globe today says Shopify has a 15 year lease and it certainly implies there is no out clause. Has quotes from RioCan and Allied saying that Shopify is continuing to pay its rent and has not said it intends to break the lease.

So maybe it sits empty for a few years and Shopify slowly starts using it over time. Or (more likely) they slowly sublet it out.

Still not great news, but doesn't seem catastrophic as feared IMO.
 
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are office building owners like allied ok with the company leasing the space and not using it at all?
or is it just free money to them?
I guess subleasing is an option
 
generalcanada said:
are office building owners like allied ok with the company leasing the space and not using it at all?
or is it just free money to them?
I guess subleasing is an option
Click to expand...
...you can almost say it's win/win situation for those involved in the end.
 
UtakataNoAnnex said:
...you can almost say it's win/win situation for those involved in the end.
Click to expand...

Yep agreed, with that said, it signals head winds if the amount of space for sublease increases over time as it implies it may be harder to find a replacement tenant once the original lease expires.

I suspect it's in fact a triple win as there is likely commercial real estate agents involved with the sub lease so .... :)
 
generalcanada said:
are office building owners like allied ok with the company leasing the space and not using it at all?
or is it just free money to them?
I guess subleasing is an option
Click to expand...
Would be curious to see how the retail tenants feel about this. I know that they don't have a ton of say, but I'm sure the marketing materials had the number of employees that would work in this ecosystem - and with a large portion already signed by Shopify they felt more comfortable paying those rents. Now with the large vacancy, would they have any ability to push back on Riocan/Allied?
 
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