GTA Suburban Market Snapshot: Burlington
As the most populous region in Canada, the GTA can be overwhelming when examined as a whole. The surrounding suburbs, comprised of four regional municipalities encompassing 24 communities, represent a wide range of unique opportunities in corporate real estate. Over the next few weeks, we will be examining the GTA suburban landscape with market snapshots of significant areas within the GTA.
Today, we will be examining the City of Burlington*, found in the Halton Region at the western end of Lake Ontario. Located between the north shore of Lake Ontario and the Niagara Escarpment, Burlington is near the geographic centre of Ontario’s Golden Horseshoe and benefits economically from the densely populated and industrialized region.
With a population of 187,497, Burlington has been named the best medium-sized Canadian city in which to live.
Strategic location
Burlington is conveniently located within a day’s drive to some of North America’s richest markets, with access to 164 million consumers. With easy access to Toronto’s downtown core, Burlington benefits from proximity to a number of transportation routes, including:
Extensive highway networks, including the QEW/403 and 407
Three GO Train commuter stations
The nearby Port of Hamilton
VIA Rail station
Four easily accessed international airports
Talent pool
Burlington’s strategic location allows business to engage with over 2 million skilled professionals within commuting distance, including 67% of Burlington’s own population having post-secondary education. The city’s employers are able to enhance their workforce with graduates from the Ron Joyce Centre’s DeGroote School of Business, as well as several nearby highly acclaimed educational institutions.
Key industries
Burlington’s unique economic clusters are home to a growing number of Fortune 500 companies and high profile businesses with global mandates. The key industries in Burlington include:
Life and earth sciences
Advanced manufacturing
Information and communications technology
Financial and business services
Corporate developments
Burlington’s diverse economic base is drawing interest from major players, with the city becoming an ideal head office and divisional headquarters location.
With more than 800 acres of vacant employment land, developers and design-builders are creating unique spaces to meet the needs of organizations look to capitalize on the low annualized cost of office development.
Burlington is not a market that experiences steady growth and interest from developers to take risks and build speculative. In fact, the office inventory in Burlington has only grown 4% since 2006 as it’s generally stagnant with very little velocity which is clear in key leasing transactions in the last year.
A sample of key transactions were as follows:
Jan Kelley at 1006 Skyview for approximately 20,000 square feet
Sodexo at 5420 North Service Road for 20,000 square feet
Terrapure Enviro at 1100 Burloak for 25,000 square feet
Great Lakes Business Park
This particular development is a flex office development and in our opinion leased by default to no new office flex on the west side of Oakville. It attracted big corporate groups like Canadian Tire and John Deere that were looking to relocate from traditional office space.
The development features:
Modern interiors with high ceilings & plenty of natural light provide an excellent workspace for employees and an impressive office for clients.
Ample free surface parking – 4 stalls per 1,000 square feet leased
Large, efficient floor plates
Reduced overhead costs leaving more capital for your business
Proximity to major highways, walkable amenities and minutes from walking trails, parks and Lake Ontario
Signage opportunities on the building
Options for future expansion
Bronte Creek Corporate Development
The Bronte Creek Corporate Development is currently gaining quite a bit of attention. It is owned by Fengate, which is a dominate Oakville/Burlington owner who plans to develop similar products and bring life to Burlington. We are interested in watching this development come to fruition as it will be a key determining factor as to whether Burlington has the velocity to support a new flex office environment.
*Statistics and information compiled from the Burlington Economic Development Corporation.