Artis Real Estate Investment Pref Shs Series E T.AX.PR.E

RE:RE:Office Conversions -- YES PLEASE!

[babybunny]

DZtrader, I think you underestimate how crippling a 17% office vacancy rate is.  Right now we have a bunch of knucklehead landlords competing feverishly for tenants, barely able to cover their costs on new leases.

Imagine for a moment that a single landlord owned every single office building in Winnipeg.  I  guarantee such a monopoly landlord would not be slashing rents in a desperate attempt to fill every building; rather he would evaluate his portfolio against a number of factors to determine which buildings to raze, convert, or mothball.  

In order to reduce capacity meaningfully in a fragmented market, a collaborative effort is needed.  This is difficult, but not impossible.  Without cooperation, free-rider landlords will just hang tight and hope others convert; unfortunately, that could take a decade or two and may in fact never happen.

I really hope Mr. Manji undestands this dynamic and acts on it accordingly.