Officials hope free-rent offer will help fill vacancies at downtown Sudbury mall

A mall and office tower in Sudbury is offering incentives to fill retail and office space.

Officials said improvements have been made throughout Elm Place worth millions of dollars.

To increase foot traffic and rejuvenate Elm Place, the mall is offering six months free rent on a minimum five-year lease for office and retail space.

Mall officials said another incentive is three to six months of free rent for pop-up stores -- subject to concept approval by mall management -- with the goal of securing a lease on the space.

"The office vacancy rate is about 20 per cent in retail … so we do have some vacancies," said Samer Ghazi, VP of Asset Management with Vista Hospitality.

“But we are working very hard with Royal Lepage, who has been bringing in prospect tenants and touring the property and I think things are very promising.”

Elm Place is located downtown and is 550,000 square feet.

Paul Kusnierczyk, real estate broker with Royal Lepage, said the COVID-19 pandemic changed the landscape for commercial properties.

"So a lot of the retail and office unit,s people are not using them as much anymore so we do have some vacancy here but we are actively working to try and fill those and it's really good quality space,” Kusnierczyk said.

“There is lots of parking it's central to the city."

Mall officials said the 550,000-square-foot space meets accessibility standards and that major improvements were recently made to the parking structure.

"We have spent $12 million-$14 million (improving) the parking structure. We have upgraded all the common areas to LED. We have renovated stores vacant spaces," said Ghazi.

Mall management said a new security team was put in place last fall.

'It's a totally redeveloped redevelopment offering office space, retail space for small companies for large companies and everything in between," said Kusnierczyk.