I do not think consolidating units will do much if anything at all unless you are talking about consolidating half the retail space for someone like Whole Foods, Metro etc. I do not think purchase price, rent or even size of unit is a major factor as there is quite a few units well under 400 sq-ft that have been sitting on the market for well over a year. Some have been relisted half a dozen times, I recall seeing some as small as 200 sqft. The problem is that unlike Marshals or RBC the public walking on Yonge do not necessarily go into the basement shops ( I personally would not). The quality of the stores are far from "world class" i.e cell phone shops, dry cleaning etc etc. For the sake of the people running the businesses in the building I pray once the building has more occupants the stagnation will lift but realistically I do not see it happening, when you look at the numbers as a Realtor its very alarming to say the least. I read about a landlord offering 6 months of free rent to attract tenants which is essentially unheard of in this part of Toronto. Most of the spaces that are for lease have been sitting for so long that they are on the market for both sale and lease.