‘This will get worse before it gets better.’ Office vacancy rate in Toronto hits highest level in nearly three decades
A new study by commercial real estate firm CBRE found that the vacancy rate for downtown Toronto office space hit 15.8% in the second quarter of 2023, the highest it’s been since 1996. That’s up from just 2% in March 2020, when the pandemic was declared.
The work-from-home trend that gathered momentum during the pandemic, fears of an economic slowdown and layoffs in the tech sector have been a triple whammy for office space, said Michael Case, managing director of CBRE’s downtown Toronto office. “It’s a bit of a perfect storm right now.”
The downtown office vacancy rose half a point from 15.3% in the first quarter, as an extra 502,545 square feet of office space came available. Case expects the vacancy rate to rise to 18% by the end of 2023. “This will get worse before it gets better,” Case said.
Among the reasons? Many companies are only partway through long-term leases, and still haven’t had to sign new ones since the pandemic accelerated the trend toward working from home, Case said.
While workers are starting to come back, the days of employees being expected to work in the office five days a week are likely gone for good, said Case. That means companies are needing to rethink how much space they actually need.
To read the full article, visit the Toronto Star website.
CCL Industries Announces Bolt-on Acquisition for Avery
CCL Industries Inc., a world leader in specialty label, security and packaging solutions for global corporations, government institutions, small businesses and consumers, announced on July 5th that it has acquired Oomph Made Limited, a privately owned designer and supplier of Radio Frequency Identification (‘RFID’) and Near-Field Communication (‘NFC’) access cards and wristbands based in Liphook, United Kingdom.
Geoffrey T. Martin, president and CEO of CCL Industries Inc., commented, ‘This acquisition continues to build on Avery’s rapidly growing portfolio of access control, badging and credentials technologies, products and brands focused on the retail, hospitality, live events and conferencing markets.’
To read the full article, visit the Globe Newswire website.
Canon U.S.A., Inc. Announces New Executive Appointments
Canon U.S.A., Inc.,has announced a number of executive appointments and promotions that took effect July 1. The new leaders are as follows:
- Brian Mahar — promoted to senior vice president and general manager, Imaging Technologies & Communications Group. He has now been appointed to the executive leadership team, and will also serve as chairman of Canon Information Technology Services.
- Peter Kowalczuk — appointed as chairman and CEO, Canon Business Process Services, in conjunction with his current position as president, Canon Solutions America.
- Mark Walker — promoted to president, Canon Business Process Services.
- Steven Himelstein — promoted to senior vice president, legal administration.
- John Zaharias — promoted to vice president, Canon Solutions America.
Also effective July 1, Joseph Marciano retired as president and CEO, Canon Business Process Services, and Tony Kano retired as executive vice president and general manager, Imaging Technologies & Communications Group.
To read the full article, visit the Yahoo Finance website.
