The Globe and Mail reports in its Friday edition that Toronto's top-tier Class A properties have long filled up with tenants. The Globe's Rachelle Younglai writes that buildings with less appeal in inconvenient downtown locations, Class C, have generally had the highest vacancy rates. The latest research shows, however, that older Class A office buildings now have as much empty space as Class C buildings as demand for downtown offices has declined and a raft of new Class A skyscrapers have opened. Today, it is only the most recent Class A buildings that have the lowest availability rate, a measure of empty space and space available for rent. "You can be an iconic tower, but what the tenants are all saying is they want the newer stuff," said Carl Gomez, chief economist with CoStar Group, a commercial real estate firm. "The older you get, the higher the vacancy." Toronto's newest Class A buildings, or those built after 2014, had an availability rate of 3 per cent in the third quarter of 2023. Those built between 1980 and 1999 had an availability rate of 18 per cent. Some of the older buildings include high-profile skyscrapers such as the red granite Scotia Plaza and the black TD Towers designed by Mies van der Rohe.