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A mammoth slab tower that stretches the entire block along 10 Street SW from 10 Avenue SW to 11 Avenue SW, Vantage Pointe was among the earliest condominiums to sprout during the ongoing building boom in the Beltline. Though its sheer size continues to command a presence up close, its standing in the neighbourhood skyline is warning with the incoming number of highrises proposed and under construction, which are increasingly obscuring the multi-coloured facade of the elongated tower.
Standing just north of Stella, Nova and Luna, the Pointe of View-developed complex at 1053 10th Street SW contains 354 units across 26 storeys. Some storefronts, including a liquor store and fitness-related businesses, operate out of the ground floor, which is owned by the Calgary Co-op. The Co-op also operates a popular supermarket on the same block, separated from the tower by a large surface parking lot.
An image from the site ten years ago shows the 10th Street elevation taking shape, its curved commercial podium forming beside the main residential entrance. The vast majority of the building shell is naked, though a small piece of cladding projecting out from the northeast corner of the building, about two floors above the podium, presented the first real sign of Vantage Pointe's exterior aesthetic.
Fast forward to 2017 and the building's finished exterior, a grab bag of cladding materials, reveals itself in full. Several columns of protruding balconies orient residents' views towards the downtown skyline. Discovery Pointe and Vista West — formerly known as West Pointe Plaza — are still major players in the Downtown West End, as seen in the background.
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