The vacancy rate for downtown retail space remained significantly higher than for major shopping centres in Prince George, according to a report from city staff.
The rate downtown stood at 18 per cent in 2011 compared to 2.2 per cent for major shopping centres.
Both figures are decreases from recent years. In 2009, it was 22.7 per cent downtown and 3.8 per cent for the major shopping centres.
Add on the office space, and the vacancy rate downtown was 15.2 per cent, down from 18.2 per cent in 1990.
The survey excluded government buildings such as the Federal Oxford and Plaza 400.
At 202,901 square metres, the total floor area of downtown buildings remained higher than for major shopping centres at 196,269 square metres, staff noted in the report.
"The lower vacancy rate of major shopping centres is due to the presence of larger tenancies (over 5,000 square metres) that have no vacancy," wrote planners Christie Basalle and Jesse Dill.
"These spaces, which are not found downtown, account for 47.7 per cent of the total floor area available in major shopping centres."
The major shopping centre vacancy rate for small tenancy was six per cent and the vacancy rate for medium and large tenancies in the major shopping centres was zero.
Staff further noted the floor area available for small tenancies declined 8,413 square metres from the previous year.
"This trend is largely attributed to the consolidation of adjacent small tenancies into medium or large tenancies, particularly evident at Parkwood Mall and Pine Centre Mall," Basalle and Dill wrote.
Staff noticed a shift to more office use downtown, specifically at the street level, which grew by 5,512 square metres while the vacancy rate declined to 19.3 per cent from 24 per cent in 2009.
"This may reflect a growing interest amongst the professional sector to relocate within downtown," Basalle and Dill wrote.
The area available downtown grew by 7,271 square metres and for major shopping centres by 478 square metres from the year before.
