Design
CREATING SPACE Compelling spaces will help lure workers back to downtown Victoria offices BY GLEN KORSTROM
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ictoria, like most cities, had plenty of empty office space during the pandemic. Most employers followed provincial health officer Bonnie Henry’s advice to tell employees to work from home whenever it was possible. Going forward, the city will face the same question besetting employers worldwide: how do we get staff to once again want to come into the office? Leasing older office space in a distant office park likely will not do the trick, whereas leasing space in a new building that has modern amenities could help with recruitment, say industry insiders. “You have to be able to create space that’s adequately compelling to get people off their kitchen table, and endure some of the unpleasant things about office life, like a commute,” says Robert Jawl, co-managing director at Jawl Properties, which is Victoria’s largest private sector office developer and leaser. “Now, more than ever, we need to create great compelling spaces that resonate with those who use them.” A shift has been going on for decades in downtown Victoria, with the private sector incrementally leasing proportionally more space. Governments and Crown corporations still dominate the office-leasing landscape but a cluster of smaller private-sector technology companies has grown to be increasingly active in the market. The sector is a stimulus for other businesses in the downtown area. “T he more of f ice space t here is i n
Jawl Properties completed its Atrium building in 2010 | SILENTSAMA ARCHITECTURAL PHOTOGRAPHY
Victoria, the better,” says Bosa Development principal and Empress Hotel owner Nat Bosa. “The city is really coming into its own.” New structures have been helping to add vibrancy and transform the city. Telus Corp. plans to break ground on its Telus Ocean marquee tower in downtown Victoria later this year, with the project likely to complete by 2025. Other projects are on the drawing board in downtown Victoria. Jawl is in the early stages of planning to construct an office building with some retail space at 1221 Blanchard Street, where the Capitol 6 movie theatre complex currently sits. His plan is to build 170,000 square feet of Class AA office space, as well as retail space in a mid-rise that will
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