Shmuel Farhi answers 7 questions about his vision for London, Ont.
Here's how Farhi sees development, its challenges, and plans for his own properties
Shmuel Farhi is London, Ont.'s most prominent landlord, with his name displayed on buildings and billboards across the region. The landowner declined an interview with CBC London, however, he provided written statements to seven questions.
Answers have been edited for brevity. CBC London has also fact-checked some statements, which can be viewed at the bottom of this story.
1/ Why are some of your commercial buildings in the downtown core vacant? What is the vacancy rate for your downtown holdings?
Farhi Holdings has been a marquee investor and partner in downtown London. Our recent achievements include the attraction of twelve new tenants who employ about 2,200 Londoners in offices on or near Dundas Place, such as the Bell building, which has parking. We have increased our occupancy footprint by more than 300,000 square feet in the past two years alone. Some examples include:
- 441 Ridout (leased to Blyth Academy).
- 210 Dundas Street (leased to the London Free Press).
- 215 Dundas Street (leased to Grace Restaurant).
- 383 Richmond Street (former Royal Bank tower. Tenants undisclosed).
- 379 Dundas Street (known as London Towers. Leased to a variety of businesses).
Unfortunately, any buildings that have no reserved parking will have a small chance to be considered by future tenants.
A few short months ago, we were approached by two brokers to tour two potential tenants. One of them was seeking 45,000 sq. ft. and needed 450 parking spots, and another tenant needed 32,000 sq. ft. with 250 parking spots. Combined, they needed 680 reserved parking spots.
Unfortunately, all those heritage buildings on Dundas Street were built decades ago without any thought for parking.
Empty buildings are costly. It's particularly difficult because we have invested significant amounts of money in restoration and upkeep of these properties.
Since 2010, we have been talking to the city that if they really want to see a healthy downtown, then we need a moratorium on office developments in the suburbs until we have a low vacancy rate downtown.
Unfortunately, I am still talking to the city, and in the meantime, we lost ten years and thousands of employees in our core to the outskirts.
2/ What is your plan for the three buildings at the intersection of Richmond and Dundas?
Our brokers at Cushman & Wakefield, CBRE and the team at Farhi Holdings Corporation (FHC) are working diligently to put tenants into those buildings and any other vacant buildings that we have.
3/ What is your plan for the farmland you own?
To farm them and utilize the agricultural goods for our local restaurants. The land is leased for agricultural purposes. I can't speak to what farmers choose to grow or how they farm the land.
Land use is dictated by the city through its official plan. I am proud to see the land put to its highest and best use which is productive farmland. We admire the hard work and dedication that farmers bring to the region.
4/ Some suggest you're a land speculator, that you buy and hold properties. How do you respond?
I do sell property. Below you will find a few examples:
332-338 Richmond Street
This building was known as the Clifton Arms Hotel in 1878. We purchased this building in 1986 when it was in poor condition and completed major heritage restoration work, thereby repositioning the property to accommodate 28 residential units.
I am happy to advise you that with our assistance and a donation of over $1M, we turned this building to Youth Opportunities Unlimited and it is now known as the Cornerstone.
343-349 Richmond Street
This beautiful heritage building underwent major restoration work by creating loft apartments throughout the building. We have provided a substantial donation of $1.2M to the worthy organization of Atlohsa Family Healing Services, who now owns the building for several years.
534 Queens Ave
We sold this building to a Toronto company in 2014.
197-199 Dundas Street
This building underwent a major retrofit interior and exterior. We did this work because we had two government tenants who signed a lease and wanted to relocate to this building.
We sold this building to a company in 2014. Several years later, both the provincial and federal governments left the premises.
From what we know, they left for the same reasons the city identified as problems in the Core Area Action Plan.
5/ If you're facing challenges developing or finding tenants for some of your downtown properties — as you are on the record saying — would you be willing to work with the city to come up with solutions to make it possible? What could the city do differently to aid commercial downtown developers like yourself?
We have and will continue to be interested in engaging with the city to find solutions.
The city should do everything they can to encourage prospective tenants to lease downtown properties. Like us, we need the city to serve tenant needs.
6/ What do you like about London? Why do you continue to invest here?
London is a very special place for me. Although I am an entrepreneur with many business interests throughout Ontario, London remains near and dear to my heart. It's where I live, it's where my family lives, it's where I continue to raise my children and where I have chosen to locate my business office.
There are so many positives to downtown London, including beautiful parks, riverbanks, heritage buildings and sites, sporting and music venues, and award-winning bars and restaurants.
7/ Why not sell the heritage buildings in London that have stood empty for years (the former library at 305 Queens Ave., the Wright Lithographic building at 424 Wellington St.) and let someone else try to develop them?
We had several tenants interested in the library over the years. One of them, Citi Financial, needed several hundred parking spaces. The city was gracious enough to assist us with some parking at a cost across from London Hydro but that was too far away.
We had another interested party in 2007/08 but due to the collapse of the financial and banking sector in 2008, they put everything on hold.
In 2008/09, we provided a proposal for the Renal Dialysis Satellite Clinic at London Health Sciences Centre to house them at the old library (305 Queens) and 100 Dundas at the Bell Building. Unfortunately, they decided to locate at Westmount Shopping Centre.
Regarding 424 Wellington Street (Wright Lithographic Building), we sent the city a proposal to do affordable housing and they turned us down.
As well, we received a letter of interest from a financial institution and we started preparations to make this building available to them and unfortunately this deal didn't come to fruition.
Fact Check
Meetings with city officials
Mayor Ed Holder has met with Farhi once when he first took office. Councillor Arielle Kayabaga, downtown ward representative, also met once with FHC president Jim Bujouves. Gregg Barrett, the city planner who started in Jan. 2020, has not met with Farhi or any of his representatives since he took over as the top planner, but met with them in the past when working in the planning department. City officials say Farhi and his representatives have frequently objected to any moves to put more office buildings in the suburbs, arguing such moves prevent downtown from thriving.
Sale of 332-338 Richmond Street:
Farhi did donate $1M to Youth Opportunities Unlimited when he removed it from the $2.6M purchase price. YOU's executive director Steve Cordes says renovations were done in the 80s but says he didn't see evidence of heritage restoration. YOU ended up renovating all three floors to suit their needs.
Sale of 343-349 Richmond Street:
Farhi Holdings Corporation sold the Richmond Street building to Atlhosa and it's thanks to that sale that that organization has Indigenous supportive housing. "Farhi really bought into the idea of a housing hub model. He has been super supportive of our community," said Raymond Deleary, executive director of Atlohsa.
What the Core Area Action Plan said
The City of London identified homelessness, the need to feel safe and attracting more people to the core as some issues needing attention in the downtown. In March 2021, council passed the Core Area Community Improvement Plan. It laid out financing for better security, rehabilitation of buildings for affordable housing and a commitment to discouraging "the perpetual extension of temporary surface parking lots."
Wright Lithographic Building as affordable housing:
The city of London asked for affordable housing proposals in 2016. Farhi's proposal for 424 Wellington was not successful. Kevin Dickins, acting managing director of housing, said other buildings had more units and were shovel ready. Here are the projects that were approved. Dickins adds the city is excited Farhi Holdings Corporation is showing increased interest in developing affordable housing.
Hospital moving a clinic into the old library
Farhi Holdings Company provided CBC with the rejection letter from the London Health Science Centre, sent after the hospital issued a request for proposals. In 2008, the hospital was looking for a satellite location for the Renal Dialysis Unit. Two Farhi properties, 305 Queens Avenue and 100 Dundas Street, did not make the short list.