Three vacant Calgary office buildings will be torn down as part of the city’s Downtown Office Demolition Incentive Program.

Plans call for 340 purpose-built rental suites, including a minimum of 50 affordable housing units to ums=hundreds of purpose-built rental-housing units to be included in a new 33-storey mixed-used tower. The redevelopment site is located on on the south side of Fourth Avenue. S.W. between Fifth Street S.W. and Sixth Street S.W.

Edmonton-based Cantiro Group is developing the project and will receive about $176,000 for costs tied to the demolition, Mayor Jyoti Gondek told reporters at a news conference this week.

“This project is an excellent example of how we can transform challenges into opportunities and work together with the private sector to create a more vibrant city,” Mayor Jyoti Gondek told reporters Tuesday.

The City of Calgary program provides developers with grants of $15 per square foot up to 50% of a project’s demolition cost. n some cases, developers may receive an extra $5 psf if the demolition requires the removal of asbestos or other hazardous materials, but the total grant may not exceed the 50% cap.

Gondek told reporters that the buildings were deemed unsuitable for housing conversion, CBC reported. The buildings were also assessed for heritage significance before demolition was approved.

Cantiro is scheduled to begin constructing the tower in early 2025.

Rendering: City of Calgary