General Urban Kitchener Updates and Rumours

[tomh009]

That actually is a good point. It’s not usually a matter of just tossing a partition in there. That being said, if the alternative is leaving it vacant for years, it feels strange that a relatively minor renovation would not be in order.

I'd bet it comes down to the owner's willingness to deal with the hassle of renting it out vs. the ease of just leaving it vacant and letting the property appreciate.

The property values go up (or not) regardless of whether there is a tenant. Property taxes are almost the same in either case. And even without a tenant, you have some operational costs.

But if you have a tenant, you get rental income. Every landlord would prefer a bigger tenant (or smaller number of big tenants), so it's a question of balance, of trying to figure out how long you might have to wait for a dream tenant vs renting out half or quarter of the space, and subdividing it (which precludes getting that big tenant later).