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7 | W aterloo C hronicle | T hursday,M arch 10,2022 w aterloochronicle.ca same owner, one name, 7 great locations! formerly Auburn & Mountain Hearing Centres • 1144 Wilson St. W. Unit D203, Ancaster.......... 289-203-3195 • 350 Conestoga Blvd. Unit B3, Cambridge....... 888-737-9976 • 370Winston Road, Grimsby ............................ 289-206-5364 • 550 Fennell Ave. E. Unit 16B, Hamilton ........... 289-768-6167 • 723 Rymal Rd.W. Unit 500, Hamilton............. 289-768-8971 • 168 Barton St. Unit 3, Stoney Creek................ 289-203-3256 • 570 University Ave. E. Unit 905,Waterloo....... 888-907-1436open evenings and saturdays by appt Certified Lyric provider • www.serenityhearing.ca What is BPPV? Benign paroxysmal positional vertigo (BPPV) is one of the most common causes of vertigo - the sudden sensation that you're spinning or that the inside of your head is spinning. Dizziness episodes occur when the patient moves their head or gets out of bed in a particular manner. How Can an Audiologist Help in the Assessment and/or Treatment of the Dizzy Patient? For most dizzy patients, their otologist or physician will use medical history combined with diagnostic tests to rule out non-ear related types of dizziness. Once other medical or emergency type causes have been excluded, an audiologist can help. Audiologists can perform special tests to help determine the cause of dizziness and the treatment needed. WE OFFER BALANCE ASSESSMENTS AT OUR GRIMSBY & CAMBRIDGE LOCATIONS DO YOU SUFFER FROMDO YOU SUFFER FROM vertigo? You know them: caring, involved seniors who have spent their year going out of their way to make a difference in our community. Please take a few moments of your time to nominate that special 65+ resident for Waterloo's 2022 Senior of the Year! Nominations open now! Learn more at www.waterloo.ca/agefriendly SENIORSENIOR OF THEOF THE YEARYEAR Wednesday. Due to COVID-19, the restaurant's opening was delayed until in the sum- mer of 2020. Patel has nev- er actually seen his busi- ness running at full tilt. He wasn't able to access some of the financial aid provid- ed to more established businesses and said he desperately needs people back in office buildings nearby or he'll be forced to close. "The rent is too high. This is a business plaza, and the people aren't here to get the food," he said. "This is still a very hard time right now." While many bodies aren't yet back in build- ings, Waterloo senior eco- nomic development officer Kristin Sainsbury said a fourth-quarter office va- cancy report for 2021 by Cushman & Wakefield shows that overall office vacancy in Waterloo sat at 10.6 per cent, which she noted is down from 13.3 per cent in the fourth quarter of 2018 and the lowest of- fice vacancy rate of all cit- ies in the region that to- gether averaged 17.8 per cent at the end of last year. While the office vacan- cy rate in suburban areas of the city dropped from 15.3 per cent in 2018 to 10.9 per cent at the end of 2021, it rose from 6.9 per cent to 9.5 per cent in the core area of uptown. Rami Said at the Revive Game Bar on King Street had contemplated expand- ing his business model but has since decided to stay focused on the nighttime student crowd, citing the loss of companies such as Shopify and others. "We find the uptown daytime doesn't really ex- ist except for the week- ends, and it's hard to main- tain without having that office space," said Said. There is reason for opti- mism from a retail per- spective, however, with the Uptown Waterloo BIA re- cently reporting that 33 new businesses opened in 2021, while 11 closed. Shopify chose to adopt a 100 per cent remote work- ing approach, but the ma- jority of companies seem to be adopting a hybrid model, Sainsbury said. "Businesses need to get back at it, and we need to see the office space fill up, and that will be the deter- minant if there's more ca- sualties, and we hope there's not." The impact has been less pronounced in Water- loo compared to the region overall, where the "avail- ability rate" in downtown areas hit an all-time high of just under 27 per cent at the end of 2021, according to Colliers International. Karl Innanen, manag- ing director of the Water- loo Region office of Col- liers, said there are still many companies looking to expand, and he ac- knowledged the recent push away from older of- fice buildings that are more predominant in core areas such as Kitchener, where the office vacancy rate now sits at 31.8 per cent. Innanen said tenants taking on more space these days tend to be looking at "suburban, lower-level, not-office-tower-type- buildings" with free, sur- face-level parking where there are fewer elevators and fewer tight spaces. Whether hybrid or flex- space models will work for some companies is questionable, as employ- ers will still need to pay for the spaces they're in, in- cluding the parking spots in downtown garages that aren't being used, said In- nanen, who expects to see more of a "detensification" within office buildings moving forward, with more square footage being allotted to employees in spacious, modern work en- vironments. STORY BEHIND THE STORY: With the uncer- tainty that's arisen due to COVID, the Chronicle checked in on the office market. BUSINESS Continued from page 3 OVERALL OFFICE VACANCY RATE SITING LOWER THAN PRE-PANDEMIC LEVELS, CITY SAYS "The rent is too high. This is a business plaza, and the people aren't here to get the food. This is still a very hard time right now." - Jitu Patel