An Alberta-based investment group and a local development company have teamed up to purchase Calgary’s former Grace Hospital site, say brokers who listed the property for sale.

The site is located on the northeast corner of 14th Street N.W. and 8th Avenue N.W. in the city’s West Hillhurst area, near Riley Park.

Brokers Harvey Russell of Calgary-based NAI Advent and Mark Goodman of Vancouver-based Goodman Commercial are co-ordinating the sale process on behalf of a Toronto-based REIT. Russell told Connect that the property has been placed under contract.

The prospective buyers will conduct due diligence over the next few months. The deal is expected to close in early 2025.

The purchase price was not disclosed. Russell previously told Connect that he expected the property to fetch a price in the $40-million range.

The pending deal was negotiated quickly after Russell and Goodman began marketing the development site in July.

“I didn’t expect anything this quick and fast and everything else,” said Russell in an interview. “But every once in a while, things work out.

“We’ll take it.”

Plans call for the property to be redeveloped as a seven-building multi-residential community.

“It’s going to be a mix of condos and rentals, and probably a mix of mid-rise and and 15-storey buildings,” said Russell. “I think that’s what their vision is.”

Local architecture firm Gibbs Gage has produced renderings that envision a seven-building neighbourhood with those types of assets.

Russell said the investment group is based in an Alberta location outside of Calgary.

“The local developer has a lot of history with the site, so he jumped right on it in early days and brought in this investor group,” Russell added.

“They’re aligning very well on it and see it as a excellent opportunity.”

The property is located across the Bow River from downtown and near the Southern Alberta Institute of Technology and popular Kensington area that features many restaurants, pubs and eclectic stores.

The site also lies relatively close to the University of Calgary and numerous other retail nodes.

“It is a special piece of land,” Russell previously told Connect. “There’s no other [available] land like this in the inner city. It’s all gone.”

The Calgary Regional Health Authority closed the Grace in 1996. Since then, the 1930s-era structure has served as a medical-office building.

Russell and Goodman expect the building to serve as a temporary revenue source for the buyer until it is demolished and replaced by the new community.

“I would say that, potentially, some development could start to happen within a year,” said Russell.

“There’s some site prep and different things that have to happen and a development permit, but that can happen fairly readily in Calgary,” he added, referring to the city’s reputation for approving projects faster than other jurisdictions.

He does not expect area residents to express strong opposition to the redevelopment project, because there are relatively few homes near the property and it is already zoned for multi-residential use.

“Neighbourhoods really get up in arms when people develop multi-family projects right beside them, but there is none of that here,” said Russell. “This wasn’t that contentious of zoning. There’s houses across the street on one side of this property. But, for the most part, it’s isolated.

“I think it’s the highest and best use. I think it’s the appropriate thing to build there,”

The envisioned redevelopment project aligns with the municipal government’s high-priority goal of developing more high-density housing in the inner city, he noted.

“I’m a believer in the right fit,” said Russell.

“And I think in a lot of ways, this is the right fit.”

Rendering: Courtesy of Goodman Commercial and NAI Advent