Listen to this article
Estimated 4 minutes
The audio version of this article is generated by text-to-speech, a technology based on artificial intelligence.
The City of Calgary has released the details of nine new projects through its downtown office conversion program, creating close to 1,000 homes and bringing the total number of projects to 21.
The conversions were first announced earlier this year as part of 10 newly approved projects, including plans to revamp the former Barclay Centre on Sixth Avenue, but their locations had not been released.
Eight of the nine projects will be turned into residential spaces throughout the Downtown Core, West End and Beltline. The remaining one will be a hostel.
One of the new projects already underway is at the site of the former TransAlta headquarters on 12th Avenue. The existing tower will be converted into 153 residential units, with plans to build another tower across from it, for a total of 488 homes.
All the projects stem from the city’s Downtown Calgary Development Incentive Program, which provides funding to property owners to convert vacant office spaces into residential and hospitality units.
“We are proving every single day, through projects like this and others, that downtowns can evolve from traditional office districts into resilient mixed-use neighbourhoods where people can live, work, learn and, most importantly, connect,” said Mayor Jeromy Farkas at a press conference Thursday.
Six conversions have already been completed through the program.
Crestpoint Real Estate Investments is the developer behind the TransAlta conversion. The company’s director of development, Ian Pinchin, said converting existing spaces can be risky — it’s often easier to build new — but the incentive program has streamlined the process.
“For us, knowing our costs and the incentive expectations up front has allowed us to reduce uncertainty and give us the confidence to develop two towers simultaneously, which is something we would not have been comfortable doing without the city’s incentive,” said Pinchin.
He said the company hopes to finish repurposing the tower by the summer of 2027.
Timelines for the other eight projects have yet to be announced.
Addressing high vacancy rates
Through the incentive program, the city has set a goal of repurposing six million square feet of vacant office space by 2031.
The 21 projects will remove just under three million square feet from the market and create almost 3,000 homes, said Alecia Peters, manager of downtown business strategy and analytics with the city.
Still, Calgary has one of the highest office vacancy rates in the country, after a 2014 oil market crash pushed people and businesses out of downtown. As of the third quarter of 2025, 30 per cent of the city’s office space was empty, according to commercial real estate firm CBRE Canada.
But the city is optimistic it can drive that number down, Peters said.
“We anticipate that by 2031 the office vacancy rate will be approximately 20 per cent,” she said.
Continued investment in office conversions is a key part of improving access to housing and making downtown more livable, said Ward 8 Coun. Nathaniel Schmidt.
“This has positive effects for some of the big issues that we’re facing here, including public safety and business closures, and also the support for transit and for people to have options to move around the city,” Schmidt said.
Astra Group and Peoplefirst Developments have received $62 million in federal funding for their latest office-residential conversion project, which is already under construction. The City of Calgary contributed $15 million through its Downtown Calgary Development Incentive Program. A total of $40 million has been allocated to downtown office conversions in the proposed 2026 municipal budget.
Mark Garner, the executive director of the Calgary Downtown Association, agrees that continuing the program is essential to attracting people and businesses.
He said Calgary must follow the lead of other cities like Kitchener and Waterloo in Ontario. Both have made investments in downtown revitalization and reducing vacant office space.
“We have to continue to make the investments in the momentum that we’ve created,” Garner said in an interview with CBC News. “To stop this now would be a travesty.”
Farkas said the city has already invested more than $200 million in the conversion program since it was approved four years ago. He added that investment has also led to returns of more than $800 million from the private sector.
Given the success of the program so far, Farkas said, city council will consider investing an additional $40 million during budget deliberations next week.
“The program remains oversubscribed with strong interest from developers and more opportunities ahead.”
