Beltline Block | 118m | 36s | ONE Properties | Gibbs Gage

[DougB]

I am confused about this project. At one point, the plan was to demolish the TA building while preserving the foundation so that a tower could be built on it. Now it appears that both the TA and architecture firm buildings are coming down for 2 towers, but potentially 4 total at some point in the future. Where are the first 2 towers going?

 

[CalgaryTiger]

I am confused about this project. At one point, the plan was to demolish the TA building while preserving the foundation so that a tower could be built on it. Now it appears that both the TA and architecture firm buildings are coming down for 2 towers, but potentially 4 total at some point in the future. Where are the first 2 towers going?

I think all the above is true. The underground parking and foundation are being preserved. At this point there are a couple of parallel proposals. This one on the west side of the lot and a conversion of the original Transalta tower. They're all connected underground.

 

[DougB]

So are the first two towers being built on the existing foundation? At least one of the renderings looked to have a tower where the architecture office currently stands. That placement would suggest a new foundation for it. One would think the developer would reuse the existing foundation before constructing a new one.

 

[Spring2008]

So are the first two towers being built on the existing foundation? At least one of the renderings looked to have a tower where the architecture office currently stands. That placement would suggest a new foundation for it. One would think the developer would reuse the existing foundation before constructing a new one.

I’m thinking they’re going to build a new foundation/parkade below the architect office for the first tower.

I don’t know much about this project but if they’re spending millions on demolition of the big office building, they must also be planning to start construction soon on the other 1-2 towers there plus the office to residential conversion, all using the existing parkade.

They could have just demo’d the architect office if they were just proceeding with one tower. Doesn’t make sense from a cash flow perspective to spend millions on a big office demo and then let those tower sites stay idle for years.

 

[CalgaryTiger]

I’m thinking they’re going to build a new foundation/parkade below the architect office for the first tower.

I don’t know much about this project but if they’re spending millions on demolition of the big office building, they must also be planning to start construction soon on the other 1-2 towers there plus the office to residential conversion, all using the existing parkade.

They could have just demo’d the architect office if they were just proceeding with one tower. Doesn’t make sense from a cash flow perspective to spend millions on a big office demo and then let those tower sites stay idle for years.

I don't see them building a separate parkade for the tower in the NW corner. It would be pretty simple to dig out the dirt under the architecture office and cut a hole in the existing parkade to create access. There are two levels of parking that cover nearly the whole block with two entrances, plenty of parking and access for what they want to do.

They could very easily demo the existing office building and build the new residential buildings in phases. See what they did for the Bow parkade south of 6th Avenue. The conversion will be done first, then the building in the NW corner, and so on and so forth. The phased development will mean you start to get income from the conversion and NW corner tower to borrow and fund the rest.