The City of Hamilton is finding it nearly impossible to rent municipally owned commercial spaces.
The property at 89 King Street East, in the heart of downtown, is one of many vacant spaces the City owns and has been trying to lease. Formerly housing a Coffee Culture franchise, the ground-level storefront has sat vacant for seven years.
Beyond current economic conditions, the City of Hamilton is known to be a difficult commercial landlord. In 2021, for example, Mayor Fred Eisenberger and his City Council voted to divert federal commercial rent relief funds away from small businesses and into funding the City’s bureaucracy.
The City’s small business support centre, the Hamilton Business Centre, is looking at using vacant municipal commercial spaces as incubators to support new entrepreneurs and businesses.
The Business Centre provides mentoring, coaching, and training services. Additionally, it assists with access to grants and other higher levels of government funding programs.
The centre’s co-ordinator, Kristin Huigenbos, told the City’s Open for Business Committee on Thursday, Oct. 30, they are looking to expand the Common House Cafe concept.
“We are looking to expand through some of our other programming in the year ahead.” Citing 89 King East, she said the full kitchen setup provides “enough space to offer other retail opportunities” for the City to support larger start-ups.
Similar to 89 King East, the City Hall ground-floor cafe space had sat vacant since COVID closures and the City was unable to find any commercial tenants.
In mid-2024, the Business Centre took over the City Hall space and began operating short-term food service launches as the Common House Cafe. In September, the short-term programme changed to have Apothecary Kitchen as the primary operator now working daily in the space.
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v. 1.0.0
Published: November 3, 2025
Last updated: November 3, 2025
Author: Joey Coleman
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