Edmontonians concerned with vibrancy as more downtown office spaces empty out to start 2025

Some landlords in downtown Edmonton are struggling to find new tenants to fill vacant office spaces.

According to a new report, that challenge is growing, with more spaces opening up over the first three months of 2025.

People CityNews spoke with who live in the area say they’re becoming more concerned with the area’s vibrancy.

“It’s vibrant. Like last year when the Oilers were in the playoffs. Like, the downtown core was packed and busy, but besides that,” said one Edmontonian CityNews spoke to.

While some residents have noticed improvements to downtown safety.

“The thought of criminal events has gone down. They’ve had a lot more events down here in the open since COVID. It’s been fantastic.”

Others say it’s not enough.

“They should not only focus on one main area, they should look in every kind of nearby street and everything.”

The report from CBRE Limited says that from the end of 2024 until now, the downtown office vacancy rate dropped slightly to 21.4 per cent, but that’s, in part, because two buildings are off the market, one being converted to apartments.

The city’s suburban vacancy rate is up to 16.3 per cent, breaking a year and a half long streak of increases in used office space.

“This was expected,” according to Mark Anderson, the vice president of CBRE Limited.

Anderson says 2025 will be a challenging year for the office market because tenants coming up on the end of their agreements are looking to downsize.

While the decline in the vacancy rate downtown is expected to impact vibrancy, Anderson hopes that in the long term, more housing downtown will change the feel.

“That brings a whole different kind of vibrancy, and kind of at all hours of the day when you have people actually living in the downtown core,” Anderson explained.

Those living in downtown say they hope they’ll see more businesses and neighbours to help change the core’s reputation.

“I look forward to coming here and see other people walking and moving around,” said an Edmontonian.

Another saying, “I just love the downtown core. The movement’s coming back. Yup, the movement’s coming back.”