New developments, office conversions to bring 1,100 housing units to Calgary's downtown

Three new residential developments were unveiled by the City of Calgary Monday, along with the announcement of two now-completed office-to-residence conversions, that will bring more than 1,100 new homes in total to the city's downtown west end.

The two newly converted office buildings are in Calgary's Eau Claire neighbourhood.

In one case, The Hat at Eau Claire Place, a seven-storey building with 87 rental homes developed by Cidex at 525 3rd Avenue S.W., which was formerly Eau Claire Place I, is now open to residents.

The 17-storey Eau Claire Place II is being converted into a 195-unit building by Pacific Reach, and is scheduled to open this summer.

Both projects are the results of the city's Downtown Calgary Development Incentive Program, which provides funding to property owners for use in converting empty office spaces into residential units. The Hat at Eau Claire Place is the second former office building to be converted to a residential tower through the program.

Mayor Jyoti Gondek says the program is working to attract private sector investment and reduce the city's downtown vacancy rate. The office-to-residence conversions in Calgary's downtown come from a revitalization plan that was approved by the previous city council in 2021

"If we hadn't started this four years ago, we would be far behind where we need to be right now," Gondek said on Monday.

The projects are supported by more than $20 million invested by the city, which is leveraging more than $350 million from the private sector, the city says.

The work to revitalize the area is a long-term effort that followed the 2014 oil price crash that led to more people and company headquarters leaving buildings vacant in Calgary's downtown, Gondek said. 

The city also announced three new residential developments on Monday planned for the downtown west end around 4th Avenue and 5th Street S.W. They include a 234-unit building developed by Cidex at 425 5th Street S.W. scheduled to open in 2028, a 30-storey mixed-use tower with 315 units developed by Cantiro at 410 6th Street S.W. scheduled to be completed in late 2027, and a 268-unit mixed-use residential tower at 526 4th Avenue S.W. set to open in 2028.

The city says the projects will add more than $350 million in private investment, while finding new use for vacant and underutilized buildings.

Five more office-to-residential conversions are scheduled to be completed this year.

The Hat at Eau Claire follows The Cornerstone at 909 5th Avenue S.W., which was a 10-storey office tower converted into a 112-unit residential building that was also partially funded by the city's downtown development incentive program.

Developer Cidex is behind both The Hat at Eau Claire Place and one of the newly announced residential buildings. The company's vice-president of development Sarah Itani praised the city's efforts to revitalize its downtown, noting the growing vacancies that Calgary's downtown faced is a similar problem that cities around the world have struggled with.

"The crisis that was unique to us with oil and gas being so prevalent started it for us here, but really downtowns across the world have suffered," Itani said on Monday. "If you don't have people who are living, working, playing, shopping, doing all the vital things in your cores, your city just falls to pieces."