[Surrealplaces]

List of Office to Residential or other use projects, both in progress and completed.

	Name	Status	# Units/Rooms	Opened/Opening	Notes	Developer
1	Westley Hotel	Completed	104	2022	Hotel
2	Cube	Completed	65	2020		Strategic
3	Sierra Place	Completed	108	2022		Homespace
4	Cornerstone	Completed	112	2024	Including below-market and accessible	Peoplefirst
5	The Hat Eau Claire	Completed	87	2025		Cidex
6	HAT @ NINTH	Completed	108	2025	Teck Place	Cidex
7	The Loft	Completed	56	2025		Institutional Mortgage Capital
8	Dominion Centre	Completed	122	2025	Including below-market	Alston Properties
9	Place 800	In Progress	204	2026	Including below-market	Peoplefirst
10	Taylor Building	In Progress	83	2026		Cressey
11	The Barron	In Progress	94	No posted date		Strategic
12	Petro Fina	Completed	103	2025	Including below-market	Astra Group/People First
13	Eau Claire Place II	In Progress	195	2025		Pacific Reach
14	Palliser One	In Progress	418	2027	Including below-market	Aspen Properties
15	Hannover Building	In Progress	264	No posted date		Cairo Developments
16	Joffre Place	In Progress	119	2026		Alston Properties
17	Element Hotel	Completed	226	2025	Hotel	PBA Land Development
18	110 - 12 Ave (Former Transalta)	In Progress	153
19	University of Calgary ( former Nexen bldg)	In Progress	n/a	2027	Campus for 1,200 students.	U of C
20	606 4th Street	In Progress	166			Dream Office REIT
21	The HAT @ 5 Ave	Planning	32			Cidex
22	510 5th	Planning	128			Bluevale Capital
23	441 Fifth	Planning	63			Bluevale Capital
24	Atrium Residences	Planning	180			Astra Group/People First
25	Epique House	Planning	35			Alston Properties
26	Wicked Hostel	In Progress	28		Hotel	Bryan Mar & Axiz Associates
27	640 5th	Planning	262			Kanas
28	Aurora Residence	Planning	92
29	Chevron Building	Planning	332
30	Missao Building	Completed	24		15th and 16th floor converted to 24 units	Strategic
			358	Total Hotel
			3605	Total Residential

 

[Zoom]

Calgary has so much office space for a city this size that I can see someday there will be a large inventory of extra space. In my mind it's very possible to some of the older office buildings, converted to office space for maybe recreational or some other type of use .

 

[BKha]

Time to convert some of those older office buildings into residential.

 

[Always_Biking]

I don't think we are under-demolished?? The mentality in this city is sometimes mind boggling. Don't tear down an older building, instead re-use it!

More of the same....

http://www.calgaryherald.com/landlo...s+dotting+calgary+skyline/12058561/story.html

 

[Zoom]

There are a few older buildings that arent terribly nice, but yes I know what you mean, why not just keep them? Especially when you have empty parking lots here and there, does need to be developed first.

 

[Surrealplaces]

Exactly, alternate uses like Dance Studio, Day Care or preschool, art studio, gym, maybe a small college, maybe a youth hostel? I know there use to be some small colleges downtown, but I suspect most have moved out of the core. Residential space would be very cool.

Many buildings downtown are offering almost free subleasing if tenants take over maintenance payments......I know of one particular building where the tenant can have 4,500 sq ft of space for $2k/month. Fairly old building, but still a very reasonable deal for a business out there. Effectively leasing for about $6.00/sq ft.

 

[RyLucky]

^With a deal like that, it's tempting not to start a "company" (tax-write off), and move in a few beds and furniture. Claim a parent of relatives' address as your official place of residence. What the heck, maybe even turn it into a profitable company eventually.

 

[Surrealplaces]

I was thinking the same thing.....it's cheaper than an apartment. I don't know what the regulations are or how that would work, but it could be pretty cool. IIRC there are about a dozen offices and a boardroom.

 

[Momin]

SRC Article: Will Calgary Begin Converting Office Space to Residential?

 

[Always_Biking]

SRC Article: Will Calgary Begin Converting Office Space to Residential?

Nice article. I wonder what some of those older buildings will be worth a couple of years if the vacancy rate stays high.

 

[Surrealplaces]

That's the million dollar question (no pun intended) Right now the class C vacancy is surprisingly low, but should change as the leases come up. How much of that Class C space is actually occupied is anyone's guess. I bet the older buildings will see some major vacancy in the next couple of years....even if the economy picks up I'm not sure those buildings will get tenants.

 

[Always_Biking]

I wonder if it's all a pipedream. In the article it shows the Pittsburgh building being sold for $18.00 per sq ft, which is far cheaper than those Calgary buildings sold for.

 

[Surrealplaces]

Pittsburgh's situation is a bit different in that the buildings were older and more in need of repair than the older calgary buildings. Oddly enough their vacancy rate overall is much lower than Calgary's but they are seeing the same situation as Boston and Chicago where new buildings are getting built, and taking the tenant from older buildings and becuse there are no oil booms happening there, landlords feel the buildings may never get new tenants.

Calgary's never had that problem before as landlords have been used to constant demand.....it might be different going forward. Right now all buildings are owned by REITs and pension funds, and all sales have been from one fund owner to another fund owner becuse they have believed the market for that old space is viable. I'm not sure that will be the case in the future.

 

[maestro]

It's not just occupancy. Conversion are typical when older buildings revenues are less than capital costs. There have been residential and commercial buildings with good occupancy that have converted from rental to residential condominiums because of a cap on how much they could charge for low quality space.

Calgary buildings are in great shape partly because rents were high enough to continually upgrade older buildings and partly because the inventory isn't that old. I believe office buildings owners will hold out for some time. The high rise residential market is in better shape but, it isn't red hot either.

 

[Surrealplaces]

I don't disagree about the owners holding out for a while yet. I guess the question is how long. In the past Calgary's office space market has rebounded fairly quickly and has gotten to really low vacancy rates allowing the older buildings to get the good revenues. I feel like this downturn will be different, that owners might have to sit for a while and that the rates will drop significantly. Even if the economy picks up, will it just spur on more development of new buildings? You're right about the older buildings being in good shape compared to other buildings that have been converted, and that may keep some life as an office building going a bit longer.