The office, an area of work and collaboration, that is transforming to meet the needs of a better work-life balance is facing a jump in costs, according to a new Avison Young report.
“Typically about four years ago we looked at costs and they were around $100 per square foot up to about $110 for medical quality space, and now for just a basic buildout of office space we’re looking at around $200 per square foot,” said Ashley Soames, senior associate, Avison Young.
Maybe somewhat surprisingly, Soames explains even with the increase, the demand remains in Lethbridge.
She adds the city’s declining vacancy rate is a rarity when compared to other major centres across Canada, but in Lethbridge, “we have an issue with quality employee retention, we lose professionals to Calgary and Edmonton to get into those larger centres.”
Post, a workspace inside the historic post office downtown, is one that’s seen a major recent makeover, one that’s catered towards engineering, design and consultation spaces.
“For the private sector, for these knowledge workers, they want space that excites them that makes them want to go to work, makes them want to work well, so that’s what we did,” said Timothy Hachkowski, projects and sales manager with Sumus Property Group.
Hachkowski explains the intention in new builds has become to attract businesses to stay in Lethbridge by creating a more efficient space equipped with more amenities, like rooftop patios and gyms, and common spaces like bathrooms, boardrooms and lounges.
Erin Low, executive director for Lethbridge Construction Association, said factors like inflation, rising material costs, shortage of skilled trade workers and now another interest rate hike are affecting the cost.
But fortunately, “we’re seeing lots of interest in southern Alberta, which is awesome and so that’s only going to help for the need to have more facilities and more construction projects going,” Low said.
The office build-out trend isn’t expected to end anytime soon, with the report showing almost 37,000 square feet of new Lethbridge office space in the planning stages.