The City of London is pleased to announce the first office-to-residential conversion project to receive funding through the City’s new Office-to-Residential CIP Incentive Program.
The project submitted by MAAS Group, a real estate development firm, plans to convert former office space at 166 Dundas Street into rental apartment units. The project will include 15 residential units (14 two-bedroom and one one-bedroom units) while maintaining the first two floors for commercial use in London’s downtown core. The project has been approved to receive $414,947 in incentive funding.
Approved by City Council in February 2024, the new Office-to-Residential CIP Incentive Program provides a grant to eligible office-to-residential conversion projects equal to the amount of applicable development charges based on the number of bedrooms per unit and the total number of residential units created, up to $2 million per property.
The program aims to incentivize office-to-residential conversion projects and foster an environment that will help increase the supply of residential units within the city’s Downtown, while also helping the City tackle the housing crisis and meet its obligations to the Housing Accelerator Fund. As part of London receiving up to $74 million under the Housing Accelerator Fund, the City has made a commitment to implement measures to make it easier to build more rental units, including changes to local zoning regulations, building new affordable and market-rate homes, investing in infrastructure and looking for ways to incentivize converting unused commercial spaces in the downtown core into residential units.
“I’m incredibly pleased to see the first successful CIP incentive application coming through. I was hopeful that there would be a swift and impactful response after announcing the Office-to-Residential conversion program at my State of the City address earlier this year,” says Mayor Josh Morgan. “Today, I’m thrilled to see the interest of these partners in coming together to help us meet our shared goal of building affordable homes for Londoners while breathing new life into vacant office spaces. What makes this announcement even more exciting is the ambitious timeline set to bring these units to fruition. Our community is desperate for more housing of all types, and the speed at which this proposal is moving reflects that- its incredibly admirable and appreciated.”
“We are proud to be able to participate in the City of London’s Office-to-Residential program and bring much needed residential units to the heart of London,” says Samir Jan, President and Chief Executive of MAAS Group. “We believe in the City’s vision for the Core Area and the transformation of Dundas Place, and we are honoured to participate in the revitalization of this heritage building and bring new life to this underutilized property.”
The City of London is encouraged by the early interest in office-to-residential conversion from MAAS Group and other community-led partners working together to explore conversion projects and the additional residential units these projects will bring to the downtown core.
Given the expense and complexity of converting empty office space into residential units the City is inviting property owners or those interested in office-to-residential conversion to connect with City staff or visit the City’s website for more information about the Office-to-Residential CIP Incentive Program: https://london.ca/CIPincentives