The hospitality industry has taken a beating during the COVID-19 pandemic and there\u2019s sure to be a slew of hotels hitting the market either immediately or in the immediate aftermath of the global health crisis. However, in a city like Toronto, where available land is scarce, it could create unique opportunities to retrofit buildings that don\u2019t survive the pandemic.<\/p>\n
\u201cSpeculation is that these hotels are nowhere near a viable proposition and they\u2019ll have to look at repurposing,\u201d said John Miolla, vice president of operations at Koler Builders. \u201cI\u2019ve caught wind of a few of them. Owners\/operators are sitting on assets that aren\u2019t generating revenue. Repurposing them is one way to change that.\u201d<\/p>\n
Demolitions are expensive, but it\u2019s entirely possible to salvage a building\u2019s structure and gut the interior. In fact, The Britt by Lanterra Developments, a 41-storey, 727-unit luxury condo in Yorkville, used to be Sutton Place, one of Toronto\u2019s most storied hotels that opened in 1967. Before that, the old Four Seasons on Avenue Rd., also in Yorkville, was successfully retrofitted.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey took 35 storeys-worth of hotel and flipped it,\u201d said Miolla. \u201cThey gutted the entire building and stripped the old electrical and mechanical systems, old drywall and partitions, so all that was left were vertical structural elements and horizontal floor plates, and they turned it into a viable alternative to a hotel. Obviously it\u2019s been done and has merit.\u201d<\/p>\n
Miolla added that converting hotels into condos isn\u2019t especially difficult considering that both are residential in nature. Demolitions are costly, but by retrofitting, the interior of the remaining structure can be tweaked.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s like renovating a house\u2014you have a box in which you can add on a few extra square feet to units if you want,\u201d he said, \u201cand include modern standards, like a new AC and heating systems.\u201d<\/p>\n
Hotels aren\u2019t the only buildings suffering economically that could benefit from repurposing. Toronto\u2019s office towers are largely barren again now that the city is in the third wave of the pandemic, and while most workers are expected to return to those offices permanently one day, not all of them will. Moreover, Toronto has over 27.5 million sq ft of office space in the development pipeline, and surplus space will doubtless reduce valuations, rents and general economic viability.<\/p>\n
\u201cOffice space may have more significant impact because COVID has forced us into a situation we didn\u2019t experience before, which is working remotely. Now people don\u2019t need to go to offices, so there will be a glut of offices. The Bank of Nova Scotia dumped a bunch of floors because they don\u2019t need the space,\u201d said Miolla.<\/p>\n
\u201cPost-COVID, we have to look at ways to stagger business hours, do more remote work, or if you have an office, you have to provide larger, not smaller, spaces because we have to respect social distancing.\u201d<\/p>\n