[CalgaryTiger]

I was thinking, things seem to be going well for continued multi-family construction momentum in Calgary. Continuing on that thought, I came across an article that loosely ties into the continued construction of rental buildings.

Calgary is mentioned a couple times in the article below but really this article had me thinking about Calgary's continued building in the face of slowdowns in other centres. Calgary's condo market has never been that hot and prices have always been pretty reasonable; people don't seem to want to buy condos as investments on a large scale where a boom in construction is imminent. I think that's because the rental demand is being fairly well supplied.

Rental buildings on the other hand seem to be doing well. There are all the conversions and continued new construction. If condos continue to be a modest investment in Calgary for developers and buyers, I can see rental buildings continue to be proposed and converted from office buildings.

In this scenario, everyone should benefit: Renters benefit from supply being relatively equal to demand, so prices stay where they are or go down and developers benefit from the decently steady stream of renters, especially as Calgary continues to attract newcomers from other provinces and countries. Meanwhile condo buyers should still see some new construction that should supply the smaller demand that is there without developers over-building the market and sinking condo prices. Investment condo buyers should be able to be modestly successful but not do well enough to start a condo construction boom fed by investors.

I really see Calgary being in a bit of a Goldilocks zone for multi-family construction, steady development of all types should continue.

Is ‘lifelong renting’ becoming the new normal? Data suggests we're heading that way

Here's what the typical Canadian renter looks like today and why lifelong renters could become a bigger phenomenon. Find out more.

financialpost.com

 

[trtcttc]

I was thinking, things seem to be going well for continued multi-family construction momentum in Calgary. Continuing on that thought, I came across an article that loosely ties into the continued construction of rental buildings.

Calgary is mentioned a couple times in the article below but really this article had me thinking about Calgary's continued building in the face of slowdowns in other centres. Calgary's condo market has never been that hot and prices have always been pretty reasonable; people don't seem to want to buy condos as investments on a large scale where a boom in construction is imminent. I think that's because the rental demand is being fairly well supplied.

Rental buildings on the other hand seem to be doing well. There are all the conversions and continued new construction. If condos continue to be a modest investment in Calgary for developers and buyers, I can see rental buildings continue to be proposed and converted from office buildings.

In this scenario, everyone should benefit: Renters benefit from supply being relatively equal to demand, so prices stay where they are or go down and developers benefit from the decently steady stream of renters, especially as Calgary continues to attract newcomers from other provinces and countries. Meanwhile condo buyers should still see some new construction that should supply the smaller demand that is there without developers over-building the market and sinking condo prices. Investment condo buyers should be able to be modestly successful but not do well enough to start a condo construction boom fed by investors.

I really see Calgary being in a bit of a Goldilocks zone for multi-family construction, steady development of all types should continue.

Is ‘lifelong renting’ becoming the new normal? Data suggests we're heading that way

Here's what the typical Canadian renter looks like today and why lifelong renters could become a bigger phenomenon. Find out more.

financialpost.com

When I grew up in Vancouver, people would tell you condos are bad investment and only thing worth buying is land. Condos obviously became super popular primarily because a SFH became so expensive. Condos will never be popular as long as a single family home is only 2-3x the cost and relatively affordable. We saw it briefly in Calgary when condos shot up in value in 2013/2014 because the economy was doing well and real estate went up so people turned to condos for what they can afford.

Calgary is in a good state in that we are building at a good pace, even with historic population growth. That prevents land from becoming too expensive, which essentially prevents housing from ever being affordable. Even with stagnating growth (population and housing prices) in Vancouver and Toronto, developers simply stop building and in a few years we're in a supply constraint again. So prices never meaningfully fall. That's why even a few years of bad housing policy is very hard to reverse.

 

[thecivilengineer]

Nine new office conversions build on a momentous year of downtown transformation

The momentum downtown is stronger than ever following a transformative year in our shared efforts to revitalize downtown Calgary, capped by the exciting announcement of the details of nine new office conversion projects.2025 saw several major milestones achieved downtown – from the arts and...

newsroom.calgary.ca

 

[IanBray]

Nine new office conversions build on a momentous year of downtown transformation

The momentum downtown is stronger than ever following a transformative year in our shared efforts to revitalize downtown Calgary, capped by the exciting announcement of the details of nine new office conversion projects.2025 saw several major milestones achieved downtown – from the arts and...

newsroom.calgary.ca

I would love to see office to residential conversions along 17th Ave. So many empty and struggling office buildings that would be great conversion candidates for condos or boutique hotels.

Some candidates below.

 

[badc0ffee]

Are those empty/struggling? I know large spaces downtown aren't being leased, but these are neither downtown nor large.

 

[CalgaryTiger]

Maybe this will save people from looking every address on this list up...

622 5 Ave S.W.
Small but should be a quick and easy project.

510 5 Street S.W.
Right beside the Dorian and not small. We'll see if they keep the brick.

441 5 Ave S.W.
A building I've been by many times and it left no impression on me at all.

839 5 Ave S.W. and 840 6 Ave S.W.
This one could end up looking pretty interesting.

110 12 Ave S.W.
We've known about Transalta's old HQ for a while.

640 12 Ave S.W.
Small but if done well could be a fun one.

708 11 Ave S.W.
We knew about this one, it shared the alley with Noble.

640 5 Ave S.W.
This is the one that person's husband worked in. The largest of this set, I imagine they'll try to keep a similar look.

149 5 Ave S.E.
Intriguing little building. The City needs to do something with the old Fire Hall and CBE needs to do something with their old HQ.

Here's the list.

Name	Address	Square feet converted	New Homes	Developer
The HAT @ 5 Ave	622 5 Ave S.W.	42,000	32	Cidex Group of Companies
510 5th	510 5 Street S.W.	112,000	128	Bluevale Capital Group
441 Fifth	441 5 Ave S.W.	78,000	63	Bluevale Capital Group
Atrium I & II	839 5 Ave S.W. 840 6 Ave S.W.	209,000	180	Astra Group & Peoplefirst Developments
Transalta	110 12 Ave S.W.	133,000	153	Crestpoint Real Estate Investments
Epique House	640 12 Ave S.W.	35,000	35	Alston Properties
Joffre Place	708 11 Ave S.W.	100,000	119	Alston Properties
640 Fifth	640 5 Ave S.W.	220,000	262	Kanas Corporation
Wicked Hostel/Le Rocc	149 5 Ave S.E.	18,000		Bryan Mar & Axis Projects
	Total:	947,000	972

 

[trtcttc]

Do they say how many public dollars are going to incentivize these projects? Not saying the program is not worth it but just curious if they gave a figure.

 

[badc0ffee]

Maybe this will save people from looking every address on this list up...

This is great. Thank you!

 

[Urb]

We are running out of buildings that are suitable for conversions, which is a great thing! Great policy work by the City.

 

[Surrealplaces]

Maybe this will save people from looking every address on this list up...

622 5 Ave S.W.
Small but should be a quick and easy project.


510 5 Street S.W.
Right beside the Dorian and not small. We'll see if they keep the brick.


441 5 Ave S.W.
A building I've been by many times and it left no impression on me at all.


839 5 Ave S.W. and 840 6 Ave S.W.
This one could end up looking pretty interesting.


110 12 Ave S.W.
We've known about Transalta's old HQ for a while.

640 12 Ave S.W.
Small but if done well could be a fun one.


708 11 Ave S.W.
We knew about this one, it shared the alley with Noble.

640 5 Ave S.W.
This is the one that person's husband worked in. The largest of this set, I imagine they'll try to keep a similar look.


149 5 Ave S.E.
Intriguing little building. The City needs to do something with the old Fire Hall and CBE needs to do something with their old HQ.


Here's the list.

Name	Address	Square feet converted	New Homes	Developer
The HAT @ 5 Ave	622 5 Ave S.W.	42,000	32	Cidex Group of Companies
510 5th	510 5 Street S.W.	112,000	128	Bluevale Capital Group
441 Fifth	441 5 Ave S.W.	78,000	63	Bluevale Capital Group
Atrium I & II	839 5 Ave S.W. 840 6 Ave S.W.	209,000	180	Astra Group & Peoplefirst Developments
Transalta	110 12 Ave S.W.	133,000	153	Crestpoint Real Estate Investments
Epique House	640 12 Ave S.W.	35,000	35	Alston Properties
Joffre Place	708 11 Ave S.W.	100,000	119	Alston Properties
640 Fifth	640 5 Ave S.W.	220,000	262	Kanas Corporation
Wicked Hostel/Le Rocc	149 5 Ave S.E.	18,000		Bryan Mar & Axis Projects
	Total:	947,000	972

This is great CT, I'll update the table in the office conversions thread.

 

[Calgcouver]

DP has been submitted by Manu Chugh Architect for a new building on 17th SW, where the Dennys is currently. Developer is Strategic. Overall I quite like it but my one big gripe is they should have done a 2 storey podium IMO.

View attachment 696773View attachment 696774

I like the design, just really don't like the materials and colours chosen.

To provide constructive criticism, I think it could be really good and still hang on to that mid-century vibe it is giving off. I'm guessing it is a whole lot of Hardie Panel and aluminum trims as drawn.

For the front elevation on 17 Avenue, i think it would look good if they changed:
- Grey and white sections - change to the Ash Matte brick by Interstate Brick. Use the thin brick version to save money.

- For the yellow, orange, brown (CRU's) and the larger white sections - change to a mix of MC 1-1/2" Wall Panel and corrugated metal siding installed vertically from someone like Metalworks Canada. I like the Hemlock Green but any of these three colour choices would be cool:

- Use either Commercial Brown or Beige Windows and sliders from typical suppliers.
- To add the visual interest to the front, use lots of Hardie Plank and Hardie Panel on the sides and rear of the building to save a money and colour-match the panels reasonably closely to the main colours used on the front elevations.

Think it could look a bit like this quick reskin i threw together:

closer up:

Tried to make it kind of like a tiny version of Capella Court building in King's Cross (London).

Just my two cents as I think the design could be elevated on the 17 Ave frontage and balance the budget out saving some money on the sides and rear cladding. Maybe I don't have good taste but I think something like this would look better.

 

[CallmeCatbread]

I was thinking, things seem to be going well for continued multi-family construction momentum in Calgary. Continuing on that thought, I came across an article that loosely ties into the continued construction of rental buildings.

Calgary is mentioned a couple times in the article below but really this article had me thinking about Calgary's continued building in the face of slowdowns in other centres. Calgary's condo market has never been that hot and prices have always been pretty reasonable; people don't seem to want to buy condos as investments on a large scale where a boom in construction is imminent. I think that's because the rental demand is being fairly well supplied.

Rental buildings on the other hand seem to be doing well. There are all the conversions and continued new construction. If condos continue to be a modest investment in Calgary for developers and buyers, I can see rental buildings continue to be proposed and converted from office buildings.

In this scenario, everyone should benefit: Renters benefit from supply being relatively equal to demand, so prices stay where they are or go down and developers benefit from the decently steady stream of renters, especially as Calgary continues to attract newcomers from other provinces and countries. Meanwhile condo buyers should still see some new construction that should supply the smaller demand that is there without developers over-building the market and sinking condo prices. Investment condo buyers should be able to be modestly successful but not do well enough to start a condo construction boom fed by investors.

I really see Calgary being in a bit of a Goldilocks zone for multi-family construction, steady development of all types should continue.

Is ‘lifelong renting’ becoming the new normal? Data suggests we're heading that way

Here's what the typical Canadian renter looks like today and why lifelong renters could become a bigger phenomenon. Find out more.

financialpost.com

Good thing we're getting rid of rezoning

 

[Urb]

I like the design, just really don't like the materials and colours chosen.

To provide constructive criticism, I think it could be really good and still hang on to that mid-century vibe it is giving off. I'm guessing it is a whole lot of Hardie Panel and aluminum trims as drawn.

For the front elevation on 17 Avenue, i think it would look good if they changed:
- Grey and white sections - change to the Ash Matte brick by Interstate Brick. Use the thin brick version to save money.
View attachment 697157
- For the yellow, orange, brown (CRU's) and the larger white sections - change to a mix of MC 1-1/2" Wall Panel and corrugated metal siding installed vertically from someone like Metalworks Canada. I like the Hemlock Green but any of these three colour choices would be cool:
View attachment 697155
- Use either Commercial Brown or Beige Windows and sliders from typical suppliers.
- To add the visual interest to the front, use lots of Hardie Plank and Hardie Panel on the sides and rear of the building to save a money and colour-match the panels reasonably closely to the main colours used on the front elevations.

Think it could look a bit like this quick reskin i threw together:

View attachment 697151
closer up:
View attachment 697161

Tried to make it kind of like a tiny version of Capella Court building in King's Cross (London).

Just my two cents as I think the design could be elevated on the 17 Ave frontage and balance the budget out saving some money on the sides and rear cladding. Maybe I don't have good taste but I think something like this would look better.

You will like that fact that Allies and Morrison is working on a project here in Calgary. It will be announced soon.

 

[Albertasaurus]

Thanks for doing all the legwork in finding these projects Calgarytiger, and great news about those conversions. The west end of downtown is going to be insanely dense once they are all done, which is an amazing transformation considering how dead the area was a few years back. I hope there will be some significant architectural improvements to those Atrium buildings.

 

[Albertasaurus]

I like the design, just really don't like the materials and colours chosen.

To provide constructive criticism, I think it could be really good and still hang on to that mid-century vibe it is giving off. I'm guessing it is a whole lot of Hardie Panel and aluminum trims as drawn.

For the front elevation on 17 Avenue, i think it would look good if they changed:
- Grey and white sections - change to the Ash Matte brick by Interstate Brick. Use the thin brick version to save money.
View attachment 697157
- For the yellow, orange, brown (CRU's) and the larger white sections - change to a mix of MC 1-1/2" Wall Panel and corrugated metal siding installed vertically from someone like Metalworks Canada. I like the Hemlock Green but any of these three colour choices would be cool:
View attachment 697155
- Use either Commercial Brown or Beige Windows and sliders from typical suppliers.
- To add the visual interest to the front, use lots of Hardie Plank and Hardie Panel on the sides and rear of the building to save a money and colour-match the panels reasonably closely to the main colours used on the front elevations.

Think it could look a bit like this quick reskin i threw together:

View attachment 697151
closer up:
View attachment 697161

Tried to make it kind of like a tiny version of Capella Court building in King's Cross (London).

Just my two cents as I think the design could be elevated on the 17 Ave frontage and balance the budget out saving some money on the sides and rear cladding. Maybe I don't have good taste but I think something like this would look better.

That does look a lot better. I o like a bit fo colour on a project rather than the usual white/black/grey, and I don't mind the yellow and orange but can see how it could be a bit polarizing.