$300K project pitched to fill empty stores downtown, in Old East Village
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London’s economic development agency and other business groups are pitching a $300,000 pilot project to help fill empty storefronts in the downtown and Old East Village with new and home-based companies.
It’s a play to tap into $10 million in a reserve fund council earmarked to help revitalize and rebuild London after the devastation of COVID-19. Last last year, politicians directed staff and the London Economic Development Corp. (LEDC) to develop a program to do that.
The goal is to find four to six businesses through a “pitch competition” — vying for startup funding and other grants for their growth and development. Scaling up those companies could take advantage of vacant spaces, create a few new jobs and help attract people to the core, according to the proposal.
“London, like many other cities, is challenged to fill our downtown and core area with the right mix of users — office, commercial, cultural and more,” LEDC boss Kapil Lakhotia said.
“There is no doubt there’s a lot of work to be done to address a lot of the social issues downtown. This pilot aims to generate business opportunities, address vacancy issues and bring new opportunities and energies to Old East Village, downtown and our core areas,” he added.
LEDC, the London Small Business Centre and business improvement area organizations downtown and in Old East Village would work together to run the pilot and harness existing programs and funding, including a new ambassador program doling out $10,000 grants in the same areas.
The program stems from larger concerns about vacancies in the core.
“This is a good first step,” Ward 5 Coun. Maureen Cassidy said of the proposal that goes to city council’s committee of the whole Tuesday.
She initially tabled a motion to look at a wider vacancy strategy in the core in 2021.
Cassidy said she wants city hall to play a more active role by snapping up downtown properties and priming them for business growth and investment, the same approach London takes with its industrial land.
“We proactively go out and buy land, service it, hold onto it and then sell it, with strict criteria,” she said.
“It’s been hugely successful and it’s helped us attract companies like Maple Leaf Foods. In an ideal world we would have something like that in our core areas. It keeps the areas vibrant, makes sure we have full occupancy or close to full occupancy and we attract the kind of businesses we want.”
Mayor Ed Holder announced last week in his state of the city address he’ll champion the creation of an official “entertainment district” in the core, so the pilot project also includes a potential second phase focused on creative businesses in a music, entertainment and cultural district.
“The partners would also look at ways of developing hybrid boardrooms and meeting spaces to entice office users and small companies out of home offices and basements and into our core areas to increase daytime office workers,” according to the proposal.
Between London’s designation as a UNESCO city of music, and newly bolstered efforts to attract film producers and companies — LEDC took over city hall’s film office last year — “there’s a lot of effort underway to bring experiential activities to our core area,” Lakhotia said.
And that could be part of rebooting the downtown as part of a post-COVID-19 recovery, he said.
“Culture, recreation, dining, art are uses that have to be experienced in person. No Zoom can ever replace those,” Lakhotia said.
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