Project to turn London office building into housing to see $3.29M in municipal grants

The city says it will be kicking in nearly $3.3 million to a project to convert an underutilized downtown office building into much-needed residential units.

It's a follow-up to an initial announcement made in April by Sifton Properties, Homes Unlimited, the Anglican Diocese of Huron, and St. Paul's Cathedral to turn 195 Dufferin Ave. into 94 units.

The groups have formed a not-for-profit partnership to turn the building into 80 one-bedroom units and 14 two-bedroom units, of which 40 per cent would be designated as affordable.

It's the second parcelling out of funds through the city's three-year office-to-residential conversion program, approved by council in February.

Amid a housing crisis, record commercial downtown vacancy rate, and a pledge by city hall to build 47,000 new units by 2031, the program hopes to incentivize property owners to convert their properties with municipal grants.

Under the program, applicants can receive up to $35,000 for each unit, according to the city. City council increased the incentives in July, and removed a previous cap of $2 million per property to spur interest.

The city previously announced $414,947 for the conversion of the upper floors of the former Rexall building at Dundas and Richmond streets into 15 rental units. The amount was later bumped up to $525,000 with the increased incentives.

The city has set aside $10 million for the program from a larger $74 million pool of federal funding as part of the Housing Accelerator Program.

In a written statement, Mayor Josh Morgan said he was pleased to see another successful applicant.

"As part of the City of London's affordable housing initiative under the Roadmap to 3,000 Affordable Units Action Plan, we are working to award Homes Unlimited funding to contribute 10 affordable units to this project," he said.

"Through the Roadmap to 3,000 funding, the City's investment in affordable housing will be secured for 25 years through a municipal contribution agreement, which will be presented to Council for approval in the coming months."

Demolition work has already began inside the building, with construction work expected to start within the next couple of weeks, said Richard Sifton, president of Sifton Properties, which owns the building.

The hope is to have the project complete by late 2025. The building will be donated to the non-profit Homes Unlimited, who will manage the building.

Sifton wasn't able to provide an overall project cost, but said the municipal grants would have a "fairly serious" impact in the "10 to 15 per cent range."

"The money is a small part of the actual cost, but anytime that you can get contributions from other sources, it really aids the project," he said. The Dufferin Avenue project is the only one in the firm's sights so far, he said.

"The most important aspect of a conversion like this is the fact that you are making it faster because you have your core already built."

One challenge is that commercial building layouts aren't generally conducive to residential use, he said. 

"It doesn't have any plumbing in each unit, so you're rerunning all the plumbing, all the fire safety, all the heating and air conditioning. It's just a totally new system that you're having to manipulate."

The Anglican Diocese of Huron, which owns the land, was delighted about the funding announcement, said Dean Kevin George.

"We're excited because we know the kind of need that there is in this city for housing right now, and there's a glut of business space available," he said.

"We see this as an opportunity to do our part to create more affordable housing for people in London."

CBC News reached out to the city for comment, but did not hear back by publication.