Downtowns of Atlantic Canada Grapple with Changing Landscape
HALIFAX– The downtown is the heart of any city. But during the worst of the pandemic, the pulse of downtown cores slowed significantly. Now, the associations representing the businesses in those hearts are trying to adapt to a new way of life.
Recently, a group of Atlantic Canada’s downtown and main street business groups gathered at Hotel Halifax to discuss the common challenges they’re facing in 2023. The “Where do we grow from here?” conference was the first time these groups met in person since 2019.
One of the big topics discussed was the state of downtown offices. Paul MacKinnon, CEO of the Downtown Halifax Business Commission, says it’s clear there won’t be as many workers populating the offices like once before.
“For those communities that have been really dependent on the office…that workforce hasn’t returned to pre-pandemic numbers and probably never will,” MacKinnon told Huddle. “I think that’s one of the things we’re grappling with; what is the reality of hybrid work?”
This is not just an Atlantic Canadian problem. Downtown cores around the world are grappling with less foot traffic and emptier buildings. A recent University of Toronto study looked at how downtowns are recovering post-pandemic.
Halifax is doing better than many cities across North America. The researchers used mobile phone data to track people’s movements; they found activity in downtown Halifax has returned to 72 per cent of pre-pandemic levels.
Other Canadian cities, like Winnipeg and Edmonton, are struggling to return to even half of their pre-pandemic levels.
“It’s all about the return to normalcy,” said Ken Kelly, the executive director of Downtowns Atlantic Canada. “And that normalcy has been elusive. What people are trying to do is find that stability again. People have been slow in coming back, but they are coming back. We’re all social beings.”
There were fears that the pandemic would bring about the death of downtowns as the heart of the city. Instead, it looks as though it will bring about transformation. People may not want to work in downtown offices as much anymore, but there is no shortage of people who want to live there. And now that many cities, including Halifax, are in a housing crisis, there is strong pressure to increase population density.
“As the pandemic dragged on, there was a fear that people aren’t going to want to live in high-density areas,” said MacKinnon. “They’re scared because of the pandemic; they’re going to want to just go to rural areas and have much more space.”
“But we’re seeing huge demand for urban residential living. Moncton, of all places, has seen huge residential growth. They can’t keep up with it from a developer perspective. But if you go there, you see the apartment buildings are being built everywhere. And most of it is of high-density urban living.”
With many offices now sitting empty, and a huge demand for high-density apartments, there’s no surprise that conversations are being had about converting offices into other uses.
“It’s a fantastic opportunity,” said Kelly. “At the end of the conference… that was one of the subjects that came up. It’s our greater abundance of vacant space. How can we more efficiently and effectively animate that so that they become appealing streetscapes?”
“This loss of upper floor office space is resulting in some developers saying we’re going to convert it to residential use.”
MacKinnon said it was clear during the conference that housing is a priority within the business community. There was even a sense that the private sector alone won’t solve the crisis.
“There’s no place for people to live. We’re all experiencing growth in terms of homeless populations and staffing is a huge issue for a lot of businesses. They’ve got staff but the staff have nowhere to live. We need to figure out a way to provide a lot more housing a lot sooner. And the general thought is that… the public sector has to play a bigger role.”
“We’ve depended on the private sector to provide enough housing; that there’s going to be enough supply to meet demand and… that hasn’t happened. And that’s not to blame the private sector, but it simply hasn’t happened.”
MacKinnon notes that there are still a lot of positive signs for Atlantic downtowns, specifically Halifax. Conferences, like the one he had just co-hosted, are returning. It’s obvious that people have gotten tired of only meeting via Zoom and email. Tourism has also been strong in Halifax and other parts of the region.
But one problem businesses are still facing is debt. Loans taken during the pandemic, such as CEBA, are still being carried. That is on top of credit cards and other lines of credit. MacKinnon says it’s important to collaborate with government on many of these issues.
“Governments think that the pandemic is over, but the impact of the pandemic for small businesses are lingering and large debt loads are a big part of that,” said MacKinnon.
Derek Montague is a Huddle reporter in Halifax. Send him your feedback and story ideas: [email protected].