Slight delay on Churchill Square complex repairs
Owners installing two accessible units, new heating system
Commercial and some residential and tenants of a building in Churchill Square damaged during March’s windstorm will be waiting another number of months before repairs are completed.
As such, property management company Martek says it will be late fall before the commercial tenants are back in their ground floor units and early 2018 before 63 residential tenants can return to the upper floors.
“They went in and brought everything back to the basics, right back to the structure and it’s been rebuilt up,” explains Martek chief executive officer Charlie Oiiver.”that includes electrical, plumbing and windows.
“The project is going to be virtually new project built on the old bones that were structurally solid.”
Commercial tenants were expecting a three-month delay, while residential tenants were told it could take up to nine months.
The delay, according to Martek president Ed Nash, who handles the leasing for the property, is a result of bringing the old building up to today’s building codes.
“Code compliant for today and code compliant 50 years ago are two different things,” he says.
“It’s going along swiftly in my opinion and hopefully we can get our commercial tenants back sooner rather than later and make way for the residential tenants.”
Based on directives from the building’s owner, Nash wasn’t able to confirm which of the commercial tenants were returning.
“I can tell you most of them are coming back, but we’re still in the negotiations with them and we’re hoping to have some finalized numbers by the middle of September,” he says, noting that there’s always a list of potential tenants interested in moving in to the Square.
As for the residential units, he says that all the previous occupants will be offered first right of refusal to reclaim their units.
The damage also created an opportunity for the property owner to make some changes to the property. Instead of oilfired furnaces, the buildings are going to electric heat, with heat pumps for the commercial tenants who will also have access to air conditioning for the first time.
The owners have also opted to convert at least one, perhaps even two, commercial units that face Elizabeth Avenue into accessible residential units.
“That’s new to the project and it’s great to see an owner taking that,” says Oliver.
Terrace tenants take off
At Terrace on the Square, the strickly commercial building opposite the apartment complex, Oliver says two tenants are on their way out.
Canadian life insurance company London Life are leaving their office space on the building’s top floor in favour of a new office on Kelsey Drive.
Instead of looking for one tenant to occupy the approximately 7,500 square foot space, Oliver says the plan is to subdivide it into a number of smaller offices.
“What we’re seeing is a demand for smaller office space, 1,000 to 2,000 square foot space. On that already we’ve got two of those committed,” says Oliver, who wasn’t ready to divulge the new tenants until the contracts were signed.
It’s going along swiftly in my opinion and hopefully we can get our commercial tenants back sooner rather than later and make way for the residential tenants.