What Edmonton can do with empty Hudson’s Bay spaces

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When Edmonton waves goodbye to the Hudson’s Bay store, the mall where the store once stood may welcome new opportunities to gain the huge space left.

“No one wants a vacancy. From our perspective, everyone wants a complete shopping mall, from the owner’s perspective, but I do think it brings an interesting opportunity for everyone to reimagine real estate,” said Avison Young Prinmy Paul Raimundo, whose expertise is retail real estate.

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There are only a few stores in eastern Canada still open, and three locations in Edmonton are closing.

Raimundo highlights two things that should give Edmonton shoppers hope – One, other big shops have arrived. Second, it may be exciting next.

As history spans over 300 years, the historical implications of the bay closure have not been lost on Raimundo.

“It’s a very sad day for retail in general. Hudson Bay has been a big part of our retail community for a long time,” Raimundo said.

“We let Eaton go through that. We let Sears go through the same thing,” he said.

So, how to reinterpret the loss of a store as positive?

“I’ve been a half-glass person for the most part, and I do think that provides some really good opportunities for these landlords and or developers to have the opportunity to reimagine their center,” Raimundo said.

He said large tenants in retail commercial spaces have strict rules, regulations and design requirements that could limit landlords or developers when trying to use new things in the space.

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Raimundo said it is especially worth being excited about the scale of the transition. Edmonton’s Hudson’s Bay is located in the large spaces at the Southgate Center and Kingsway Mall, both with access to the exterior, meaning an opportunity to renovate the entrance to the building. A brand new shopping mall can be created, or a developer can come up with a brand new purpose.

Raimundo likens it to Lego.

“Retail is like Lego bricks. Sometimes they fit some way, and then sometimes you separate them and put them in different ways,” he said.

Rebuilding Legos in a shopping mall in Edmonton can be fun.

Unlike the Hudson Bay closure, when Sears Stores began closing in Canada a few years ago, Cadillac Fairview, which owns Toronto’s Eaton Center, began looking for ways to revitalize its retail space. From the outset, former Sears Space has undergone major reforms to become the bank’s new hub.

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“It’s almost like we have to build this from scratch,” said George Della Rocca, head of real estate at BMO Global.

“It’s all left except bones, the concrete around the building. Everything is gone. Deprived of the entire exterior, all the air conditioning system, electrical, all brand new. So, it’s basically a skeleton. We have to build it from the skeleton.

Della Rocca highlighted the collaboration between BMO and Cadillac Fairview, which is the key to the success of the renovation. By working with developers at the early stages of the project, it enables them to do homework, inspect how buildings will operate for workers on site and for the broader future business of the bank.

“This has completely changed the relationship between many of the business areas we are in now.”

Della Rocca said it proved to be productivity, and it was the workers in the new BMO space.

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The example is after entering the new BMO space in 2023, but Edmonton has its own history and repurposing an old retail space, but in fact our retail space is actually former Hudson Bay.

The University of Alberta transformed the former Hudson’s Bay Building into Enterprise Square. The building was purchased in 2005 and has undergone a massive renovation that is paid by the government of A and all levels, but has since become a good asset for the school, demonstrating the possibility of a second lifespan of these spaces.

While there is no shortage of options for Hudson’s old Bay Space once it is emptied, Raimundo warns that these things take time, “Nothing can move as quickly as you want.” Raimundo said that while these spaces may be empty soon, announcements about their future will not be possible at least in at least a year.

zdelaney@postmedia.com

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