From shoppers to taxpayers: Citi Plaza touted to become interim City Hall

Owners of Citi Plaza are proposing their building for a temporary city hall while redevelopment of 300 Dufferin takes place. CTV London's Sean Irvine explains.

The owners of Citi Plaza want it to become an interim London City Hall.

The mall is pegged as the perfect space to house city employees while the current city hall is renovated and redeveloped.

In its early years, Citi Plaza, then Galleria Mall, was briefly a vibrant shopping centre.

But that was three decades ago.

Today, it is a mix of a few retail outlets, a health club and offices.

The rest of the space, which spans some 300,000 square feet, remains vacant.

The realtor representing the property concedes it will never be what it once was.

“We are transitioning from a retail facility to a large floor plate office campus. So that’s their plan. And they’ve already got some success in parts of the building,” said George Kerhoulas, of Cushman & Wakefield Commercial Realty.

Some of that success is office space occupied by the Middlesex-London Health Unit and the City of London.

Now, Citi Plaza wants City Hall to expand its footprint.

With the municipality in the earliest stages of planning the renovation and redevelopment of the current city hall, Citi Plaza proposes serving as an interim hub as construction takes place at 300 Dufferin.

Kerhoulas said an architect has drawn up renderings of what the space could look like.

“We figured it’s going to take a lot longer than they think. And you’re already in our building, so why don’t we move everybody over to our building for a decade while you’re doing everything you need to do on Dufferin & Wellington.”

The proposal has been in the hands of City Hall since late last year. But as it was unsolicited, there has been no feedback from 300 Dufferin.

On the streets outside Citi-Plaza, lifelong Londoner Materia Steele recalled more vibrant days.

“I spent a lot of time in the library and whatnot. It was always packed with people,” said Steele. “But since then, and since COVID, obviously, just everything has completely collapsed, and it’s been very disappointing to see.”

This is why she would welcome the temporary move to City Hall.

“Having it in a more accessible location would be significantly better, especially near the library, it is a decent idea,” said Steele.

“I would prefer to see some retail in there, I don’t think in-store shopping is necessarily dead yet,” said Richard Cliffen, before adding, “I do think it is an acceptable solution for the time being.”

As part of the enticement package, Kerhoulas said the package reminds the city of the ample parking, plans for a roof garden, and flexible design options offered at Citi Plaza.

“There are just a lot of things that we can do to make it attractive for, you know, ten years while the transition goes.”