New office towers coming up on Calgary's skyline
Major players Cadillac Fairview, Oxford Properties and Ivanhoé Cambridge all have huge commercial real estate projects on the go in the Alberta oil capital
Phase 1 of Cadillac Fairview’s City Centre project will cover a full city block in Calgary at 2nd Street and 3rd Avenue SW. The mixed-use project includes a 36-storey AA office tower of 853,032 square feet with a retail podium and five levels of underground parking with 632 stalls. Occupancy is expected in early 2016.
Designed by Zeidler/BKDI Architects, the City Centre project will be located next to the Bow River parkway system and connected to the heart of the city’s business community. It's the tallest tower from the left in this architect rendering.
Southeast entrance. A five-star hotel and luxury condos will be developed later. The project will integrate four city blocks with three indoor ‘Plus 15s,’ or pedestrian bridges, which will connect Calgary City Centre to Livingston Place, Jamieson Place and Devon Tower (formerly Canterra Tower).
A two-storey lobby will run along 2nd Street SW. Designed to achieve LEED Platinum Certification, the office tower at Calgary City Centre will use 25-45 per cent less energy relative to the Model National Energy Code for Buildings (1997). The tower also meets LEED-approved standards for enhanced indoor air quality, providing for the greater comfort of tenants.
A corner office in the City Centre high rise. The typical floor plate size is 26,782 square feet, providing potential for eight corner offices per floor. ‘We will be the first true mixed-use project in Calgary,’ says Niall Collins, senior vice-president, development, for Cadillac Fairview, which is wholly owned by the Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan. Mr. Collins adds that he expects Calgary to undergo a transformation as more people live in its downtown core.
Oxford Properties is also working on a new Calgary project – the Eau Claire Tower at 600 3rd Ave. SW. At 25 storeys, with a total rentable area of about 613,000 square feet, the building will be Oxford’s third office tower to be constructed in this district in the past three years. The East and West towers of Centennial Place were completed in 2010 and are fully leased.
Designed by B+H Architects, Eau Claire Tower will exude a modern aesthetic and will target to achieve a minimum LEED Gold certification. The office building will also be connected to Centennial Place with a Plus-15 pedestrian bridge. Oxford Properties Group is a Toronto-based developer owned by pension giant OMERS.
Also new to the Calgary skyline is Ivanhoé Cambridge’s Eighth Avenue Place – a 49-storey tower with a two-storey retail podium that spans a full city block and features an atrium winter garden, and a below-grade parking garage for 1,143 cars. Construction began in December, 2007, and was completed in the summer of 2011. The building has just been given a LEED Platinum Core and Shell certification.