I really wanted this to be a hotel. It's unfortunate that 17th ave still doesn't have a hotel, considering it's one of Calgary's most prominent street.This location would've been perfect for it.
The George is as close to a hotel as there is on 17th Ave. Fully furnished suites that can had on a short term rental. I have no idea how successful Truman has been with this concept but if you are coming to Calgary for a week, this is an option.
 
The George is as close to a hotel as there is on 17th Ave. Fully furnished suites that can had on a short term rental. I have no idea how successful Truman has been with this concept but if you are coming to Calgary for a week, this is an option.
That's a nice option, but for me as a tourist visiting a new city, I prefer a hotel and I'm sure plenty of tourists have the same preference. Hotels are convenient, a lot less stressful, and come with many of perks. Given the location, I'm sure it would've done tremendous business.
 
That's a nice option, but for me as a tourist visiting a new city, I prefer a hotel and I'm sure plenty of tourists have the same preference. Hotels are convenient, a lot less stressful, and come with many of perks. Given the location, I'm sure it would've done tremendous business.
I'm always baffled by the counterfactual assertion that there's this huge demand for hotel space on random high streets. There was a boutique hotel 500m from this site along 17th Ave; it did such tremendous business that after 7 years it was better to give it away as affordable housing than to keep running it as a hotel.

I've said it before -- non-downtown high streets rarely have enough demand for a hotel; they are great to live near, but if you're visiting a city for more than a weekend, you want to see and do things and being located on a random high street makes that harder. It's not just a Calgary thing; in Vancouver, both 4th and Broadway in Kitsilano -- no hotels. Commercial -- no hotels. In Portland, Hawthorne, Belmont, Alberta -- no hotels. In Seattle, Queen Anne and Capitol Hill -- no hotels.

There are counterexamples; in Edmonton, Whyte has hotels... and is next door to both a university and hospital. In Vancouver, central Broadway has hotels... next door to City Hall and the hospital. In Seattle, Pike and Pine has hotels... next door to a hospital and a university. Even in Calgary; 1st St W, East Village and Kensington have hotels... next to downtown.
 
Firstly, that affordable housing conversion visually seems like a building that was already aged and well past its prime to serve as a hotel. Although the pictures of the interior don’t seem too bad, personally, as a traveller, I’m looking for a hotel with up to date amenities and furnishing. Plus the fact I just found out there was a hotel in that location shows there were likely other issues, maybe from a business side of things? such as management, marketing, pricing, etc.
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Secondly, 17th ave is arguably Calgary’s 2nd most prominent mainstream. The streets you have listed in Vancouver are not even in the top 3 most prominent mainstreets let alone have any sizeable tourist attractions relative to streets like Granville, Robsons, Davie, etc. Kits beach itself is a 10-15 min walk away from Broadway.

From my personal experiences of travelling, having a hotel option within close proximity to one of the biggest main streets is hardly ever a miss. If it is, then one needs to look into the business side of things like hotel management, branding, competition, pricing, etc.

Obviously a hotel isn’t a “must” to have along 17th ave but if we’re continuously looking to grow the vibrancy of the street and reaping the benefits from a business potential, then some developer will likely consider proposing one.
 
The George is as close to a hotel as there is on 17th Ave. Fully furnished suites that can had on a short term rental. I have no idea how successful Truman has been with this concept but if you are coming to Calgary for a week, this is an option.
I think at one time it may have been acting as a rental for really really short term stays.... as in when I was there touring the building, I saw twice in less than an hour, pretty young ladies coming into the building with older not so attractive gentlemen. I assumed maybe some escorts had rented one of the suites or something, but of course just an assumption.
 
The DP drawings are now posted:

It is designed by DAAS Architecture and the project is now called Enzo. 6 stories, 27m tall to the top of the elevator roof:
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That is devastating.
 

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