Unoccupied rate to further decline once the federal Cannabis Act comes into effect
Legal cannabis will play an important role in deflating vacancy rates in downtown Calgary, according to a new study by Barclay Street Real Estate.
Calgary’s central business district saw a 10% vacancy rate in Q2 2018, and the Barclay Street report is projecting “a significant drop” once the federal Cannabis Act comes into effect in October 2018.
“We anticipate seeing a marked increase in retail subleases from prospective cannabis vendors whose retail applications have been declined, whether this be for reasons such as market share limits or oversaturation in certain neighbourhoods,” Barclay Street noted, as quoted by StarMetro Calgary.
Read more: Calgary in a conundrum over unused expanses of office space
The report is also anticipating a further drop in commercial space vacancy as soon as Calgary finalizes its cannabis store approval process. As of press time, over 280 cannabis business applications are pending in Calgary alone, significantly above the 250 licenses that Alberta is initially planning to issue.
“Obviously, they’re not all going to be approved and there are some restrictions in terms of where they can go,” said Zoe Addington, the Calgary Chamber’s Director of Policy, Research and Government Relations. “But I think it sounds really positive.”
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