City courts Toronto businesses - Why not Hamilton?

NRU
May 31, 2017
By Sarah Niedoba

With its booming housing market and growing arts and culture scene, Hamilton is becoming more and more attractive to Toronto’s young professionals. Yet, while the city holds plenty of interest when it comes to home ownership, it struggles to attract investors and business owners away from Toronto.

This challenge has led Hamilton’s economic development office to a unique solution: hosting a two-day pop up event on Queen Street West to sell Torontonians on all that Hamilton has to offer.

“We wanted investors to know more about our city, but we knew it was a bit much to ask them to come visit,” Hamilton economic development director Glen Norton, told NRU. “We thought, let’s go where the people are.”

After considering renting an office downtown, Norton and his team decided that a popup would be the best way to generate some buzz.

“We didn’t want to do something boring, we wanted to make it an event,” says Norton.

Dubbed the Hamilton Consulate, the event will run for two days this week, and will feature panel discussions on Hamilton’s real estate and development, the steel industry and the city’s cultural scene. A “speed dating” session will pair Toronto business owners with relevant Hamilton contacts in their fields.

“This event is very much geared towards a business audience,” says Norton. “We want to change people’s perceptions of the city, so that if there is an opportunity for them to expand, move, or collaborate, they think of Hamilton.”

While Norton says the event may prompt a Toronto business owner to open a secondary location in Hamilton, not everyone agrees. Queen Street West BIA chairman Spencer Sutherland says that he expects interested owners are likely to make Hamilton their primary location.

“People are having a hard time getting off the ground in Toronto,” Sutherland told NRU. “I don’t think we’re talking about businesses opening a second branch in Hamilton-I think we’re going to see people move their business there, and then maybe attempt to maintain a presence in Toronto.”

Sutherland says that for Queen Street West businesses, moving to save costs has been a regular occurrence for years.

“We’ve always had businesses close and then reopen two blocks down,” he says. “Now, I think that the pressures on downtown Toronto are becoming so amplified that people are making much larger moves.”

Those pressures-and Hamilton’s lack of them-are what Norton is hoping to make clear at the event.

“We have a lowered the cost of office space by a good 50 per cent, and we have a lot of office space in our downtown, so right away that’s money saved,” Norton says.

Norton stresses that, aside from the cost of office space, businesses can also offer their workers a higher quality of living, through affordable home ownership.

“Your staff are going to feel that they’re better off, because they can own a home that they can afford on their salary,” he says.

Sutherland agrees. He says that a lack of talent could be what’s causing Toronto businesses to consider the move.

“As the creative industry gets priced out of Toronto, they might be able to find a place to live in Hamilton,” he says. “Those people are finding opportunities in Hamilton, instead of here.”

Both Norton and Sutherland view the event as an opportunity to build ties between the two cities.

“Toronto is our largest trading partner by far,” says Norton. “This event is about strengthening those ties.”

“I think we can all benefit if we continue to strengthen ties with other urban centres, like Hamilton,” Sutherland agrees.

The Hamilton Consulate will take place in the Burroughs Building at 639 Queen Street West on May 31 and June 1.