Is it a buyer’s market? Is it a seller’s market? Is it a market for anyone at all? COVID-19 has undoubtedly thrown confusion into the world of real estate in St. John’s. Economically, most reasonable observers would acknowledge that the province is in a very tough spot. On March 20th, with cases of the coronavirus still low in Newfoundland, Premier Dwight Ball suggested to Prime Minister Trudeau that Newfoundland and Labrador had “run out of time”. The reality of that letter has not disappeared, but the ensuing COVID-19 support from Ottawa certainly may have delayed our misfortune for a time.

While St. John’s is dwarfed by the largest urban centres on our planet, it stands unchallenged as the most populous point in our province. As residents of our city have learned this year, when it comes to emergencies, size and prominence in the provincial context really doesn’t matter. Twice in only four months, activity in our city has come to a screeching halt; first, when we were buried under an unprecedented snowfall and then again this past month as COVID-19 swept across the globe.

To point out that things are changing rapidly is an understatement. It’s the end of March, and the world really is entering into unprecedented territory. At the start of the month I was preparing for a trip to the Caribbean and finalizing a couple of large lease deals. As we reach the end of the month, I find myself working from home and self-isolating, with planned deals deferred and zero travel expected in my immediate future.

In July of 2017, I started Urban East. It was a decision I made after about 6 months of preparation, business planning, and seeking advice from people I trusted. Looking back, it was perhaps the best professional decision I had made up until that point in my professional career.  

Two major tech companies have found themselves in the centre of urban controversies during the early part of 2019. Amazon and Alphabet (Google’s parent company), two of the world’s four largest companies, have waded their way into the world of urban issues. Intentionally or not, these two entities have created a unique opportunity to think about what role private enterprises should be playing in city building. What should the relationship between government and large private sector organization look like, and what expectations should we as citizens have about how these organizations interact with our homes?