New use pondered for vacant Beltline office building

The owner of a vacant five-storey office building in Calgary's Beltline area wants to convert it to a self-storage business.

The building at 1011 First Street S.W. would still have retail/commercial uses on its ground floor, but the upper floors could become a place where inner city residents could store their Christmas decorations, little used skis, or extra clothes.

Office vacancy rates in the Beltline currently run at nearly 25 per cent, according to the latest quarterly report from commercial real estate firm Avison Young. 

The Calgary Planning Commission has given its approval to a request for a zoning change for the site which would allow the conversion to go ahead.

Competitive option

The building's owner — Avenue Living Real Estate Opportunity — intends to apply for a development permit by the end of March.

A project engineer with Avenue, Annie Duan, told a public hearing held by the planning commission that there aren't many self-storage businesses in the core. 

"I believe we will be very competitive for this area, for downtown, and the Beltline area," said Duan. 

While there are a couple of companies offering the service in the west end of the Beltline, this building conversion would be a first for the eastern side of the neighbourhood.

In terms of conversion work, Duan said a loading dock will be developed and there will be access hallways constructed between the building's windows and the storage units.

City administration noted that storage businesses are not typically a downtown land use so this conversion would be somewhat unique for the core.

Community association supports

The Beltline Neighbourhoods Association said that while a self-storage facility might be deemed by some to be an inappropriate land use for an urban site, the association supports the change.

The association's director of planning, Tyson Bolduc, said given the population density of the Beltline, there is likely a demand for this service.

"Even though you might think of self storage as being something that you would find in a more suburban, maybe an industrial site, there's actually a demand here so why not put it where the demand is?" said Bolduc.

He said it's not realistic to expect every vacant building in central Calgary be converted to residential uses.

"I"m happy to see an applicant doing something that actually fulfills a need beyond just providing more residential, some of the types of uses you would typically expect to see on a site like that."

He said the group did seek assurances that the ground floor of the building would remain available for commercial or retail uses which generates more foot traffic and street vibrancy. 

The building's owner said a restaurant takes up much of the bottom floor and the rest of that level will be available for commercial lease.

Councillors disagree

Two city councillors who are on the planning commission have opposing views on the conversion.

Coun. Terry Wong said he's worried about the precedent that would be set by allowing this type of land use change.

"It's one that doesn't necessarily add to the economic growth and vibrancy here. So again, let's just be very careful about how we use these buildings without being negative to the owners and developers here who want to fulfill the challenges they've got," said Wong.

But his colleague, Coun. Raj Dhaliwal, sees no problem with the building owner's plan.

"The key right now is this place is sitting there empty, adding zero or very minimal dollars to our tax base while we are struggling and putting in millions of dollars into our downtown to revitalize it," said Dhaliwal. 

"It's a pilot and let's give it a chance."

Now that it has planning commission's approval, the building owner's request for a land use change will go to city council in February.