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Alberta & Prairies  + Canada + Cross Border News  + Office  | 
The City of Calgary is investing $50 million in the conversions of three downtown office properties into two rental-housing towers and a hotel.

City of Calgary Provides $50M for Downtown Office Conversions

The City of Calgary is investing $50 million in the conversions of three downtown office properties into two rental-housing towers and a hotel.

The three redevelopments will remove approximately 675,000 square feet of office space from the market, the city announced. While the city invests $50 million, the private sector is furnishing $194 million, Mayor Jyoti Gondek said during a news conference.

Alston Properties and Slate Asset Management’s Dominion Centre at 666 Eighth Street S.W. will be refitted to comprise 132 new apartment suites with at least 25% classified as affordable housing. The Dominion Centre will receive $1.2 million from the city, becoming the first recipient of the new Downtown Retrofit Challenge funding program, which is designed to offset the costs of emission-reduction and climate-resilience measures.

The city is also helping to finance the second phase of Aspen Properties’ Palliser One conversion at 125 Ninth Avenue S.W. Taking both phases into account, a total of 395 one- and two-bedroom units will be developed.

Meanwhile, PBA Group will redevelop 168,000 sf of office space at 833 Fourth Avenue S.W. into a 226-suite Westin hotel. PBA originally planned to convert the site into rental housing.

The Palliser One and PBA projects, both previously announced, are receiving funds through the city’s downtown office-to-residential program. Known as DIP, the program was paused in October because its $153-million budget has been exhausted.

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Inside The Story

Sheryl McMullenCity of Calgary

About Monte Stewart

Monte Stewart serves as Content Director - Canada for Connect Commercial Real Estate. Based in Vancouver, British Columbia, Monte provides daily news coverage of major Canadian commercial real estate markets, including Vancouver, Toronto, Montreal and Calgary. He has written about the real estate sector for various media outlets and Avison Young since the early 2000s. In addition, he has covered sports, general news and business for several leading wire services and publications, including The Canadian Press, The Associated Press, The Calgary Herald, The Globe and Mail, Research Money, The Daily Oil Bulletin, Natural Gas World and The Toronto Star. Monte is active in his community as a youth basketball coach and raises funds for such charitable causes as Movember.

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