Downtown London recovering better than other Canadian cities, according to study
Downtown London, Ont. is bouncing back from the pandemic better than all other medium and large sized cities in Canada.
That’s according to a new study by the University of Toronto School of Cities.
According to the study, activity in downtown London has reached 79 per cent of pre-pandemic levels — that’s the highest for Canadian cities in the study.
“London popped up and I’m like, ‘What’s going on in London,” said lead author Karen Chapple.
She explained, “And my gosh, there’s so many buildings in the pipeline, there’s a bunch under construction right now. There’s still an influx from Toronto just because that housing crisis in Toronto just gets worse and worse. So I would be optimistic, I think London will see, it might even get back up to 100 per cent because it’s going to feed on residential, and then they drum up more retail services.”
The study looked at cell phone data, determining not just how many people were in the downtown at a given time, but whether they were staying for significant periods of time, and frequenting various points of interest, like restaurants or shows.
Barb Maly, the executive director of Downtown London, finds the study encouraging, and said it’s all too easy to take downtown’s offerings for granted.
“When you’re in the midst of it, trying to support our members through the various challenges that they’re facing day in and day out I think you forget, you know there are some gold nuggets, a number of gold nuggets that our downtown has, and we have to remember that,” she said.
But not all is on the upswing, from a growing homeless crisis, to downtown office vacancies.
“I don’t think it’s back to pre-pandemic levels,” said one downtown worker CTV News London spoke with. “No, I don’t know if it will ever be. A lot of people don’t want to come back.”
Her friend agreed and said, “I think now we work hybrid, so we are not here as often, and I think that’s the case for most of the office.”
While downtown London ranks number one for Canadian cities, it ranks number 13 of the 62 cities in North America in the study.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Quebec nurse had to clean up after husband's death in Montreal hospital
On a night she should have been mourning, a nurse from Quebec's Laurentians region says she was forced to clean up her husband after he died at a hospital in Montreal.
'Anything to win': Trudeau says as Poilievre defends meeting protesters
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is accusing Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre of welcoming 'the support of conspiracy theorists and extremists,' after the Conservative leader was photographed meeting with protesters, which his office has defended.
'My stomach dropped': Winnipeg man speaks out after being criminally harassed following single online date
A Winnipeg man said a single date gone wrong led to years of criminal harassment, false arrests, stress and depression.
What is changing about Canada's capital gains tax and how does it impact me?
The federal government's proposed change to capital gains taxation is expected to increase taxes on investments and mainly affect wealthy Canadians and businesses. Here's what you need to know about the move.
Bank of Canada officials split on when to start cutting interest rates
Members of the Bank of Canada's governing council were split on how long the central bank should wait before it starts cutting interest rates when they met earlier this month.
Pilot reported fire onboard plane carrying fuel, attempted to return to Fairbanks just before crash
One of the two pilots aboard an airplane carrying fuel reported there was a fire on the airplane shortly before it crashed and burned outside Fairbanks, killing both people on board, a federal aviation official said Wednesday.
Police tangle with students in Texas and California as wave of campus protest against Gaza war grows
Police tangled with student demonstrators in Texas and California while new encampments sprouted Wednesday at Harvard and other colleges as school leaders sought ways to defuse a growing wave of pro-Palestinian protests.
'One of the single most terrifying things ever': Ontario couple among passengers on sinking tour boat in Dominican Republic
A Toronto couple are speaking out about their 'extremely dangerous' experience on board a sinking tour boat in the Dominican Republic last week.
7 surveillance videos linked to extortions of South Asian home builders in Edmonton released
The Edmonton Police Service has released a number of surveillance videos related to a series of extortion cases in the city now dubbed 'Project Gaslight.'