067 - Still Available ⌛
Despite a 21.2% commercial vacancy rate, there is positive change on the horizon for downtown London as the city invests in spaces like Dundas Place and The Ribbon. Picking up where we left off with : here’s a list featuring four of downtown London’s most interesting vacant properties waiting for your creative ideas to animate!
🕴️ Bud Gowan Antiques
You know what building we’re talking about—the one with a 3 story tall mural that says “Bud Gowan Antiques.” The building was closed in 2012 but has housed multiple dreams since then. One owner considered transforming it into a mixed residential and commercial property, complete with a swanky ground floor cafe. The next owner publicized plans to develop a boutique hotel. However, nothing has been said about “Featherbone Place” since 2017. Get it while it’s hot!
📚 Elsie Perrin Williams Memorial Library
Not that we don’t love the current London Public Library, Central Branch—because we really love it—but have you seen the Art Deco facade on the old library?! The Memorial Library was not only home to books and other traditional “library” things, it also hosted an art gallery, children’s library, and reading garden. Coming in at approximately 80000 sq. ft., this limestone beauty is a prime building on a prime patch of land. What would you do with that much space, plus 22ft ceilings, stone parapets, and a mask of Socrates?
🕛 Market Tower
It’s not totally vacant but since the City moved most of its offices out a few years ago, Market Tower has been eerily quiet. For a while, there was a proposal to host the Middlesex London Helath Unit and their wrap-around services in the tower. The MLHU has decided to stick with Citiplaza, leaving the icon clock tower alone again.
🧱 Wright Lithographing
Once home to London Life (back when it was called London Life), then home to Wright Lithographing, this example of Beaux-arts Classicism has sat lifeless for over a decade now. With it’s welcoming red-brick exterior, we’re sure residents of Wellington Street would welcome something new in here before another decade passes.
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