Hot desks, beer halls, foosball and more: How 5 old downtown towers transformed to entice smaller startups

This column is an opinion from Richard White, who has written extensively on Calgary's urban development. For more information about CBC's Opinion section, please see the FAQ.

While most of the downtown Calgary chatter these days is about converting old, empty office buildings to residential and other uses, five of Calgary's first skyscrapers have been converted quietly from suiting large headquarters to try to lure small, startup tenants. 

Unlike the old days, the new building owners aren't looking for one major tenant that will take 300,000 or more square feet of space. They're seeking dozens of startups and small businesses wanting 15,000+/- square feet.

The goal of each of the conversions was to make the buildings more attractive to young entrepreneurs by adding amenities that transform stuffy corporate headquarters into contemporary, fun places to work and play.

Individual lunch rooms have become communal lounges, more like upscale private cafés than cafeterias.

Boardroom tables have been replaced with pool and foosball tables.

And parkades have as many bikes as pickup trucks. 

The reason for these conversions? A downtown office vacancy rate in Calgary that's the highest of any major city in North America, lingering at around 30 per cent. Calgary's core has been struggling since the 2014 downturn in global oil prices followed by years of corporate downsizing and mergers in the battered oil and gas sector, then a COVID-19 pandemic that meant many more people working from home. Currently, about 12 million square feet of office space stands empty in downtown Calgary. 

That's helped spur the conversions at:

• Palliser One (built in 1970).
• Scotia Tower, now called Stephen Avenue Place (built in 1976). 
• The former AGT, then Telus Building, now called First Tower (built in 1980).
• Pan Canadian Tower, now known as The Edison (built in 1981).
• And Sun Life Plaza Towers — a complex that actually includes three towers, West, North, East, built in 1981, 1982 and 1984, respectively, and now rebranded as "The Ampersand." (FYI, ampersand is the name of the "AND" sign character on the keyboard i.e. "&").

Yes, the towers have been stripped of their corporate names. 

In an ideal world, only one of these towers would have been converted from a corporate vibe, so it could have been full of small, creative enterprises resulting in synergies that would have animated the building.

Unfortunately, with the five all competing for the same tenants, they felt more like ghost towers when I recently visited. Hopefully, that'll change over the next year as the impact of COVID declines and Calgary's reputation as a tech hub improves.

But here are some of my thoughts on a representative three: the Edison, which was the first; Stephen Avenue Place, which is the most ambitious; and the Palliser, which is a reminder that we've been doing urban renewal projects downtown since the 1970s (and the majority didn't work).

The Edison

Northeast corner of 9th Avenue S.W. and 1st Street S.W.

The first corporate to creative conversion was of the old Pan Canadian Tower by Aspen Properties. This 437,000-square foot, 28-storey tower's main floor facade was reskinned with the intent to make it more welcoming and modern. It still seems dark and understated. Even the renovated lobby seems too reserved. While it is hotel-like, it needs to be more like a funky urban art hotel than a Banff resort hotel.

However, the wave-like sculpture/bench with a mirror on the corner plaza reflects the neighbouring buildings, including the Calgary Tower, and is definitely funky. It would have been great if this piece could have somehow been continued into the lobby or up the side of the building. Something that shouts out: "Look at me; this is my fun place!" 

Inside changes include:

• The main floor lobby, which now has a large, open seating area with a large bookcase and will soon have a beer hall. 
• Co-working spaces, where, for example, people can rent desks — known as "hot desks" to those in the know — or meeting rooms in a shared space. This can be used by people who are visiting town, people just starting an enterprise or people who aren't ready to expand their office space but need additional space from time to time.
• A recreation room with foosball, billiards and pool tables, an eating area and a beer keg on tap at certain hours.
• A 7,000-square-foot fitness centre with a golf simulator.
• A basketball court and golf putting green on the rooftop.
• An outdoor dog park with walking, sitting and shampooing services for canines.
• Bicycles for tenants to roam around the downtown streets.

By the way, this is pretty much the template for each of the corporate to contemporary office conversions I visited  —  especially the state of the art gym and lots of secure bike parking. 

The Edison's original tenants were CP Rail, Marathon Real Estate and Pan Canadian Petroleum. Today the major tenants are Neo Financial (with around 50,000 square feet) and Reach, Mob Squad, Loram 99 and Haventree Bank, all at about 15,000 square feet.

Stephen Avenue Place

Northwest corner of Stephen Avenue and 2nd Street S.W.

The 42-storey, 475,000-square-feet Scotia Tower anchored Stephen Avenue's financial district for almost 40 years, before Scotia Bank moved to the new Brookfield Place on 6th Avenue N.W. The tower was purchased by Slate Canadian Real Estate Opportunity Fund in 2018, rebranded Stephen Avenue Place, and underwent the most ambitious conversion to date at an estimated cost of $30 million.

Slate quickly partnered with Oliver & Bonacini Hospitality (creators of The Guild at The Bay on Stephen Avenue) and Concorde Entertainment Group (Model Milk, Pigeonhole, Bridgette Bar and National Beer Hall) to convert the banking tower into a contemporary work, dine, drink and shop complex, taking advantage of the location between The Bay department store and The Core shopping complex on the historic Stephen Avenue Walk pedestrian mall. 

Today, Stephen Avenue Place is home to key tenants like Golder & Associates, as well as Concorde's Major Tom Bar, an über chic restaurant on the 40th floor, and National Beer Hall on the 3rd level. Still under construction is the transformation of the old bank pavilion space at the corner of 2nd Avenue and Stephen Avenue, which is being converted into a huge 380-seat restaurant with a West Coast-style menu and with another 160 seats on an outdoor patio. 

On the Plus-15 level will be a 60-seat restaurant that features the best of the Concorde's 20+ restaurants and bars in Calgary. 

The success of Scotia Tower's transformation is critical to the future of Stephen Avenue Walk, as a vibrant urban playground not only during the weekdays, but in the evenings and weekends.

To me, the facade and lobby changes still look very conservative and corporate. 

Today, the major tenants are WeWork (~57,000 SF), Golder & Associates (~60,000 SF) and Harvest Operations (~71,000 SF and whose lease expires in mid-2022).

Palliser One

Southwest corner of 9th Avenue and 1st Street S.E., 395,000 SF

The Palliser One office tower was part of a failed 1970s mixed-use urban renewal megaproject that included the Calgary Tower, Palliser Square (retail), a train station, the Glenbow, a hotel, the convention centre, and a huge 1,300-stall parkade above the CPR tracks along 9th Avenue S.W. at Centre Street. It is a reminder that every downtown Calgary urban renewal project to date (and there have been several of them) have failed to create sustainable downtown vitality.

The Palliser One, which is 27 stories high and has 395,000 square feet, recently had its entire facade replaced with modern metallic grey and white panels that create a contemporary mosaic look. At the ground level on the east side is a pocket park that includes a sports court and is next to the new Palliser gym in the lobby.  The tower is located across from The Glenbow, kiddy corner from Arts Commons and a short block from Stephen Avenue Walk and Olympic Plaza. It's also home to Lunchbox and Vertigo theatres  —  making it an ideal location for those interested in the arts.

The current major tenants are Schlumberger Canada (141,000 SF), Olympic Trust (46,000 SF) and TD Meloche Monnex (20,000 SF). 

Will the conversions work?

Will these conversions work to attract and keep young talent from elsewhere in Calgary, Alberta, Canada and the world?

Collectively, more than three million square feet of tired office space have been transformed in these five towers, with a total cost exceeding $100 million of private sector investment.

I'd argue we need to become much more adventurous in the design and activities offered. These tower conversions don't yet fully capture the colour and playfulness that I often saw at creative workspaces, say, in London, England.

For example, I'd love to see the lobby of one of these buildings turned into a huge climbing wall facility that could be used by the public in the evening and weekends. Imagine walking down Stephen Avenue at night and seeing dozens of people climbing up the sides of the walls of an office lobby, as others watch while quaffing a cocktail and music plays.

As well, Calgary isn't the only North American city struggling with record downtown office vacancy rates. Seattle's sits at 17 per cent and growing. San Francisco's is at a record 20 per cent. Houston's is 23 per cent, Denver's, 20 per cent, and Dallas's, 19 per cent.

Calgary is going to be in tough trying to attract entrepreneurs and startups. 

But these conversions are a start at converting the city's core from a corporate headquarters ghetto to a fun, funky, urban playground where the boundaries between work and play are blurred.

Will it work? Only time will tell.

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