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Office Space Conversion

MichaelS said:
From the Q3 2019 MDA report (page 10) for Artis REIT, the owner of the building:

Redevelopment plans were underway to convert Sierra Place, located in Calgary, Alberta, from an office property to a multiresidential property. The building, which is conveniently located downtown on a light rail transit line and provides access to the Plus 15 walkway system, would have approximately 100 suites upon completion. Redevelopment work is on hold as the REIT is pursuing opportunities to sell this property
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Well, whether they sold the building or not, the conversion of Sierra Place to residential seems to be back on:
 

Office-building conversions offer ray of hope in downtown Calgary

Adaptive reuse is far from simple, but one developer hopes to have his new Westley Hotel open soon in the old Birchcliff Energy building
www.theglobeandmail.com

I did not know this but 4 floors of the Westview Heights building contained commercial office space. The owner has decided to convert that space to apartments which will make it entirely residential with retail on the ground floor. Note the comment about the rental market 'has softened'.
 
It would be great if some of the older, but larger buildings could be converted in residential, buildings like Bow Valley Square or Calgary Place for example. I would support a government initiative as a pilot project to convert one of the larger buildings. It might not be economically feasible, but if the project was subsidized at would at least give the concept some traction, and some learning can come out of the process.
 
adamyyc said:

Calgary’s East Village: Lessons and hope for our struggling Downtown core

I remember stepping over puddles of blood as I walked through East Village to City Hall nearly two decades ago. Blood, needles, and vomit…
druhfarrell.medium.com
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A lot of work, creativity and investment has gone into East Village and there are some great achievements there. Druh speaks it as if it were a finished product. Of course it is not. There are blocks in the center that are still empty or unfinished. It would be nice to get it completed in the medium term before the focus turns to the rest of downtown.
Interesting she says in the article that she is not running for council again this year. I had not heard that.
 
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JonnyCanuck said:
A lot of work, creativity and investment has gone into East Village and there are some great achievements there. Druh speaks it as if it were a finished product. Of course it is not. There are blocks in the center that are still empty or unfinished. It would be nice to get it completed in the medium term before the focus turns to the rest of downtown.
Interesting she says in the article that she is not running for council again this year. I had not heard that.
Click to expand...
Yeah, this is her last hurrah.

In some way EV is completed, in the sense that the framework for the neighborhood is done. The city accomplished a couple of things. They completed a solid developed riverfront along the length of east village, that is mostly adjacent to developed properties, and they have increased the resident base for the area.

I agree that the other lots still need to be developed before it feels complete. Even if a couple of the empty lots in the open central area get developed it will go a long way. I suspect they will eventually, it's just a matter of time, but yeah, not there quite yet.
 
JonnyCanuck said:
A lot of work, creativity and investment has gone into East Village and there are some great achievements there. Druh speaks it as if it were a finished product. Of course it is not. There are blocks in the center that are still empty or unfinished. It would be nice to get it completed in the medium term before the focus turns to the rest of downtown.
Interesting she says in the article that she is not running for council again this year. I had not heard that.
Click to expand...

Of course East Village isn't a finished product; Kensington isn't a finished product. Marda Loop isn't a finished product. Inglewood isn't a finished product. Hell, Londinium was established 1,974 years ago and London's still not a finished product. No city is or will ever be.

Where East Village is now is over the hump. There's all of the required infrastructure; there's a mix of residential uses of all types; there's a lot of public space and public amenities; there's at least the start of enough retail and services to be self-sustaining. It used to be a place you would never live because there's no restaurants, and would never open a restaurant in because there's no clientele. It's not 17th Ave, but there's a few options there now. I feel confident that it'll happen in time now, assuming that inner city highrises continue to be built. That wasn't the case 15 or 20 years ago, since the area had been languishing for decades already with no change at that point.

I don't know what "attention" could reasonably be spent there beyond what's already there; would a councillor saying "hey, you should develop this parcel" be the thing pushing a developer that had no plans otherwise? How much attention has council put into Bridgeland in the last 5 years? The remaining lots are developing beautifully.

The downtown does need that attention, if office redevelopment is going to be a thing. There are land use and other bylaw changes that might need to be made, for example.
 
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