The Retail Apocalypse: What Does It Mean At Lansdowne?

05/18/2023

The future of conventional retailing is, at best, dicey. Maybe the city should consider this if and when it charts Lansdowne 2.0.

As shopping centres decline, the Ottawa Sports and Entertainment Group and the city should consider that the day of traditional retail is waning. The story below shows that.

Online shopping is the future. Not bricks and mortar.

The City of Ottawa is living in the past. The new super library on LeBreton Flats is all about architecture but not the changing reality of where information emanates. This just in. That’s the internet. Just like the future of retail is on the internet.

What’s In Lansdowne 2.0 For Taxpayers? QUOTABLE

Meanwhile, OSEG talks about the unprofitability of Lansdowne. Does the company include in that the revenue from residential? And does the city get a piece of that action? No but it does get property taxes … the same property taxes that every other development in the city generates.

And as an aside, the argument that the current Lansdowne is better than the previous Lansdowne is ridiculous. A latrine would be better than that old giant parking lot (though at least 67’s fans could find parking prior to the redevelopment).

We had an opportunity to have something great at Lansdowne and instead we got a shopping centre in a dying industry and big development profits from residential. Now for $330 million of tax money, the city wants to compound the municipal failure with Lansdowne 2.0.

Instead of going forward with the same ideas as Lansdowne 1.0 with 2.0 which don’t work, maybe city hall should be thinking of fixing 1.0 instead. That $330 million is just practising failure again. Expecting a different result city hall?

Once again Mayor Mark Sutcliffe, what’s in Lansdowne for taxpayers? We know what’s in it for the development industry. How about us?

Lansdowne is not about football or retail or greenspace. It’s about profits from real estate … big real estate:

Big chains and others have closed stores in major cities recently, raising alarm about the future of retail in some of the most prominent downtowns and business districts.

Why Is The Fix In At Lansdowne?

Several forces are pushing chains out of some city centers: a glut of stores, people working from home, online shopping, exorbitant rents, crime and public safety concerns, and difficulty hiring workers.

To reinvent downtown retail, drastic changes may be required.

To read the whole CNN story on the issue, click here.

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