Lots of talk talk about the closing down of the Regus operation on Brant Street. No clear resolutions yet.

By Pepper Parr

BURLINGTON, ON  June 5, 2013.  There is at least some movement on the space rental situation at the Regus operation on Brant Street where tenants were advised the operation was going to be shut down at the end of August.

Grant Greenberg, a spokesperson for Regus advised that the tenants were given 90 days’ notice and that Regus was actively looking at two possible locations for a new operation in Burlington.  Greenberg said they were looking at two buildings where they hope to be able to rent a full floor.

Many suspect that information – and wonder where these buildings are with a whole floor of space available for rental.  There is some space that will come on-line in a couple of years – but no one we talked to could name a building with that much space suitable to the kind of operation Regus runs.

James Burchill, the éminence grise that hosts the Business in Burlington Meet Up at The Ivy on South Service Road once a month will be setting aside some time on Wednesday evening to allow Jackie Isada, the Mayor’s Chief of Staff and Ian Cameron who is with the Economic Development office in Burlington to update the community on what has taken place so far.

Regus advises that they will have a representative on hand.  Barry Weinghell will apparently be able to speak for Regus.  The Meet Up at The Ivy starts at 5 pm runs till 7pm. 

Greenberg said Burlington is a strong market for Regus and they would like to remain in the community.  He did admit that there might have been some miscommunication from the Regus operations manager.  For a short period of time no one was able to get through to a woman named Charlotte who was understood to be responsible for the day-to-day operation of the Regus office on Brant Street.

Marie Copeland (Hryczynski), a mortgage broker,  has been part of the discussion around what tenants can do,  said in a communication that she was informed from one of the more established tenants at Regus, an accountant, that there may have been some financial mismanagement and as a result the landlord is not renewing the lease. “I don’t know but there may be other issues surfacing from this”.

The property, owned by Upper Canada, has experienced some difficulties recently when the movie theatre decided to go out of business.  The building also recently underwent a major re-construction of the front entrance area.

The Regional Police have a small office in the building.  There has been a solid, well established base of tenants in the building which many people find very convenient with a city parking lot at the rear of the building that is well-lit and maintained.