Two federal office buildings are sitting vacant in Ottawa while facing an uncertain future, the Ottawa Business Journal reported.

Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation owns the buildings, known as A and B, which span about about 223,000 square feet altogether and are located on the federal agency’s Montreal Road campus.

The three-storey buildings became vacant after CMHC moved 1,050 employees into Building C, which comprises 205,000 sf alone, as part of a consolidation. Building C spaces are not dedicated office units; instead, they are booked and shared by employees, including executives, CMHC spokeswoman Brie Martin told OBJ.

“This flexible approach allows us to use the available space more efficiently,” she wrote in an email.

She said CMHC is still trying to match the buildings’ uses with its mandate and objectives. Meanwhile, as OBJ also reported, BGIS is listing space in Building A and Building B to prospective tenants.

Susan Best, a Halifax-based broker, is co-ordinating the listings for BGIS.

The two vacancies come while the federal government plans to convert more of its office buildings into apartments as Canada grapples with a chronic housing shortage.

Photo: BGIS