^^^There was already a façade improvement planned, my guess it that will be sped up.
The reality is that amount of square footage being used and office workers in the Downtown is stagnant, and has been for a very long time. Owners of the current CWB building will have to be very aggressive at attracting smaller firms, small engineering companies or tech start ups (Jasper/103st and area could be a bit of a tech hub if positioned correctly).
Well Edmonton doesn't have a history of being a head office city. The city doesn't put much effort into attracting head offices, it mostly pays lip service to it and I don't think it really understands the benefits having more head office would bring.
However no, that is not the fault of the current or past mayor or a councillor or two someone may not feel is pro business enough. Its way beyond that, is a systemic thing in the City of Edmonton.
Also, part of the problem arises is that larger commercial office buildings are often owned by large companies in distant cities that either don't understand or care about the local market. I think I have called them absentee landlords before. I don't mean physically absent, but mentally absent.
So, if the owners of the CWB have to get more aggressive to lease the space, I think that would we a good thing, at least from my perspective as a commercial tenant smaller firm. I find it puzzling how some landlords here just sit on vacant space for years and years when there are smaller tenants who could use the space, but perhaps not at a premium price. It is not Toronto here, where perhaps the passive approach to being a landlord works. You do have to adjust your strategy to suit the market, if you want to be successful here.
