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Considering Office Space for Lease in Calgary? 2022 is the Time to Move.

An image of tall blue skyscrapers in front of a blue sky with white fluffy clouds in Calgary, Alberta, Canada

After a long stretch of empty office spaces and overall gloom and doom in Calgary’s downtown office space, it looks like the tide is finally turning. 

“It’s really been quite a dreary time for Calgary’s downtown office space in recent years,” says John Savard, owner of Bedrock Realty Advisors. “We’ve seen a lot of factors, both pre-and post-pandemic which led to high vacancy rates for the last few years.” 

Taking a walk downtown is all you need to see to understand just how empty Calgary’s downtown has become since the 2014 oil and gas bust, followed closely by a pandemic which aggravated an already slow market. This resulted in the city hitting a new vacancy milestone, with one-third of Calgary office space vacant and negative absorption since 2017.

But as of Q4 of 2021, we’re starting to see a turn in the market. 

“In Q4 we actually hit the first positive absorption since 2017,” says Savard. “It wasn’t huge at just under 18,000 sq. ft., but it gives us some optimism that the tide is turning.” 

CBRE, Avison Young and other real estate and investment groups seem to agree. As the Covid pandemic restrictions ease, return-to-work policies come back into place and industries like tech and oil and gas start to burgeon, the future is starting to look bright in Calgary’s downtown office space again. 

“We’re starting to see the growth of the tech industry bringing in a lot of new leases,” says Savard. “And oil and gas commodity prices are really bringing a vitality back to the market, pushing economic activity and bringing new tenants back to the downtown as they look to re-hire and repopulate their operations.” 

Savard says this has been a mix of new tenants and tenants looking to relocate from the suburbs, a market that may have previously been unavailable or out of their price range. “There is a lot of great space out there, high quality space is still abundant and well-priced, but we do expect that to change.” 

Forecasters see slow but steady growth coming back to Calgary’s office space market, meaning moderate price increases and decreasing vacancy rate. “This will first come to the higher quality spaces, which are already seeing lower vacancy rates,” says Savard. “But it will eventually cascade to all the other classes of office space as well.” 

For people who are looking for downtown office space, Savard says now is the time to make your move. 

“If you’re looking for office space in Calgary’s downtown, especially higher quality space, it’s time to take advantage and lock in those affordable lease rates. There is still a lot of choices available, but you’ll want to get in while the market is still relatively soft.” 

If you want to look for space online, you can do it right from this website. Check out our Commercial Lease Search Engine – this easy tool will allow you to quickly find the downtown office space that suits your needs. Just enter your criteria and we’ll send you a report with your results. 

If you have any questions about Bedrock Realty Advisors, contact us.

 

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Three Great Reasons Why You Should Lease Office Space in Downtown Calgary

Calgary Commercial Real Estate

The recession hit Calgary hard. There is no getting around that. Yet, despite the fallout, slow recovery, and the impact it had on Calgary’s downtown commercial spaces, there are plenty of reasons for optimism. As per Colliers International Calgary Downtown Office Market Report Q2 2019, the downtown core’s vacancy rate is just above 24 per cent, which is roughly 1.5 per cent lower than 2018. However, that number is actually 14 per cent higher than a balanced market vacancy rate. While the report notes that high vacancy rates will continue in the near future, migration to the downtown core is expected. In fact, if you are looking for Calgary office space for lease downtown, now may be the best time to sign a contract.

Here are three reasons why you should be eyeing the downtown core for your commercial location:

1. Low Lease Rates

The Globe and Mail report that Calgary’s downtown office values fell by 32 percent by the end of 2018. This is a shocking statistic for many, but welcome news for new, emerging, and tech-focused companies that typically avoided the high rents of Calgary’s hottest commercial location. Attractive lease rates provide powerful motivation for small businesses and startups to operate downtown, effectively rebuilding the core with a more diverse range of products and services. If you are a small business, a business looking to relocate, a startup, or a company considering a move to Calgary, now is the time to take advantage of Calgary’s office space for lease downtown.

2. Growing popularity

In addition to attractive rates, Calgary office space for lease downtown is getting a boost by the increase in property taxes levied on buildings outside of the core. Now, being outside of the core means higher property taxes, less access to transit, and fewer amenities for both staff and patrons. These are some of the reasons why migration is increasing into the core. Downtown office space is growing in popularity. Getting in now secures your spot before it’s too late.

3. Industry Diversity

As Calgary continues to push for a more diverse economy and offers attractive incentives for the tech, healthcare, education, etc. sectors to take a closer look at the city, Calgary’s downtown can expect a comeback that features a new array of corporations. In the past Calgary office space for lease, downtown was dominated by the energy sector. The future is wide open. Efforts are in place to attract local and foreign investment to the downtown core. Again, the time to act is now if you want to secure a location in the most convenient part of the city.

So, what are you waiting for? The lower prices and push to diversify means downtown is poised for a spectacular comeback, and you can take advantage of it by securing a lease today. Bedrock Realty Advisors prides itself on offering solid advice. Let us help you find your ideal Calgary office space for lease downtown. Want to learn more about what sort of office spaces are available? Use our Office Locator Tool today at and we’ll send you a list of spaces that fit your needs and budget!

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Calgary Commercial Realtor Featured in Business in Calgary Magazine

Magazine clipping of Bedrock Realty in Business in Calgary magazine

Calgary Commercial Lease realty company Bedrock Realty was recently featured in the May 2017 issue of Business in Calgary magazine. Below is the article, or see it for yourself in the online version of the magazine here.

Magazine clipping of Bedrock Realty in Business in Calgary magazine

A recession like the one Alberta has experienced over the past few years can devastate industries, communities, and corporations. It’s important to have advisors who understand the cycle and can help clients weather the storm. John Savard of Bedrock Realty Advisors is one of those resources.

In the 14 years that he has been working as a commercial and Office Space for rent in Calgary, Savard has seen it all.

“I’ve seen a few different markets going from a balanced market to an extreme landlord’s market to a tenant’s market and back again. Now we’re fully in a tenant’s market,” he says.

That’s great news for Savard’s clients. He specializes exclusively in tenant transactions, eliminating the conflict of interest some competitors encounter when representing both sides of the coin.

“We believe we can only serve one master. We feel we can offer the best services to our local tenant clients because we don’t have anyone else’s interests at heart,” he says.

With the downtown vacancy rate sitting at around 25 percent, there is an immense amount of office space available and tenants have their pick. Savard uses his expertise and experience to ensure clients are getting the best deal possible regardless of what they need.

His clients fall into one of three categories: those seeking lease renewals, those looking for a new space or those subleasing. And in a recession market, early renewals are a great way to help clients improve their own bottom line.

“You don’t want to waste the opportunity that exists in a recession,” he says. “Now is a time to create significant value for your company by getting a much lower lease rate.”

Savard and his team at Bedrock have been successful in helping clients negotiate early lease renewals with landlords. By blending their current, likely higher, lease rates with ones more indicative of today’s market, clients enjoy an immediate reducction on in their real estate costs while landlords keep tenants in their buildings for an extended term. While rates will likely rise in the near future, the low rates are a great opportunity for Bedrock Realty’s clients today.

Over the past 14 years, John Savard has helped hundreds of tenants negotiate their perfect commercial space, establishing him as one of the top performing commercial brokers in the field. And as Calgary climbs out of this recession and grows stronger, thanks to his guidance and expertise, Savard’s clients will be stronger too.

Are you looking for that perfect office space? Check out our free Office Locator Tool to help guide you through the process quickly and easily! 

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Bedrock Featured in CREB

John Savard was recently quoted in CREB Now as an expert in the Office Space for lease Calgary market. Below is a portion of the article. Read the Full Article.

Commercial real estate felt the pinch of a slumping economy in 2016 and Calgary’s suburban office market was no exception.

From headleases – between a landlord and a tenant – to subleases – where a tenant puts some of their excess space on the market – commercial real estate outside the core had its challenges.

“A significant amount of very, very large blocks of vacancies are available on the sublease market and the head lease market, for that matter, and we have not seen a great number of tenants going in to take those spaces,’’ said John Savard, principal, office leasing specialist with Bedrock Realty Advisors Inc.
Suburban office vacancy rose 0.3 percent during the fourth quarter of 2016 to 22.6 percent, according to a recent Barclay Street Real Estate report.

John news-page-001
John Savard of Bedrock Properties Ltd., discusses Calgary’s commercial real estate market with CREB Now. Click photo to view full article.

 

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Bedrock Featured in the Calgary Herald

Bedrock-realty-calgary-herald
Bedrock Realty was featured in the July 15 edition of the Calgary Herald’s Business section and the Financial Post. Click to download the PDF.

The Bedrock Realty Advisors team is thrilled to be featured in today’s edition of the Calgary Herald’s Business section and the Financial Post!

The Herald’s David Parker wrote the article, and we just want to give him a big thank you for taking the time to learn about us and feature us in the paper. We are very excited to be a part of Calgary’s office space with storage in real estate industry and we look forward to continuing to help our clients get the office space they need at the price they deserve!

Read the full article or Download the PDF.