Nearly 75 years ago, downtown Calgary was transformed with the introduction of its first skyscrapers. These homes of industry would come to dominate the city centre and become the symbols of Canada’s economic engine in the west.

Today, on the heels of a major economic downtown and a global pandemic, Calgary’s downtown is evolving to include thousands of new homes in the heart of the city as the population surges.

The city’s Downtown Strategy—a partnership between the municipal government and industry—is carefully removing millions of square feet of unused office space and replacing it with a vibrant 24-7 community where Calgarians can live, work, play, learn and shop.

Downtown is the solution

Too often, a struggling downtown is considered a problem to be fixed. Yet, our downtowns have the capacity to solve many of the greatest problems facing our cities and our country including housing, cultural vitality, and economic growth. By joining with industry to support office conversions and encourage new residential development, Calgary is quickly building more homes to help address the housing crisis as the City’s population continues to grow. The City’s Downtown Strategy includes a bold goal to remove six million square feet of vacant office space by 2031 and repurpose it for diverse, resilient uses that serve as a permanent magnet to downtown.

In its latest public update, The City of Calgary confirmed a pipeline of 11 office conversion projects which translates into removing 1.57 million square feet of underutilized office space and replacing it with more than 1,400 new homes and 200 new hotel suites by the end of 2026. That's a big step forward in making Calgary’s downtown more than just the 9-5 business hub it once was.

Incentives to evolve

A deliberate evolution requires a push to get started. Calgary’s city council allocated $217.5 million to co-invest with developers to convert vacant office space into homes for Calgarians, post-secondary academic spaces, hotels, and other projects that will revitalize downtown.

In addition to conversions, the program includes financial incentives to demolish end-of-life office buildings to enable new non-office use development. There is one demolition project approved to date that saw three vacant low-rise office buildings demolished last fall to make way for a 33-storey residential tower that will create 340 new homes.

The first co-invested conversion project was completed in late 2024; The Cornerstone by Calgary-based Peoplefirst Developments is now home to approximately 179 Calgarians. It was made possible through a $8,382,900 investment by The City of Calgary that was paid once the project was completed.

Effects on real estate

The effect of this unique set of incentives is fascinating to observe. According to the 2024 Q2 Calgary Downtown Office Market Report from Colliers: “The Downtown Development Incentive Program has acted as a catalyst for building sales, as investors realize the potential value of office buildings that can be repurposed or converted. From January 2023 to June 2024, Downtown Calgary has witnessed the sale of 19 office buildings, half of which are anticipated to undergo office-to-residential conversions.”

In Colliers’ Q3 report, they noted that the renewal of the incentive program “signals a promising outlook for the office market.” As conversions take underperforming office space off the market, corporate tenants are moving into higher quality AA and A Class buildings: “Currently, more than two-thirds of tenants relocating from buildings approved for conversion are opting for buildings of a higher class, recognizing their lower likelihood of being converted and taking the opportunity to upgrade their quality of office space.”

Investing in what matters 

Parallel to encouraging residential development downtown, The City of Calgary is making major investments to create nation-leading arts and culture, convention, sports and entertainment, and public meeting spaces. The BMO Centre is now complete with more than 500,000 square feet of rentable convention space making it the largest convention centre in western Canada. Construction is well underway on a revitalized Olympic Plaza that will continue a tradition as a central gathering space for all Calgarians. The new Scotia Place events centre is also under construction and scheduled to open in 2027. The current transformation of Arts Commons (soon to be renamed the Werklund Centre) is the largest arts-focused infrastructure project in Canadian history.

Each of these important investments make downtown both a desirable community and an attraction for Calgarians and visitors. They are a critical element of downtown’s evolution to become a place that is always alive with activity.

People bring resilience

The challenges of economic downturn and pandemic response showed us that the key ingredient for the success of downtown is people. When people live, work, play, learn and shop downtown, they bring a resilience to the heart of our city that was otherwise missing. Calgary’s downtown strategy is working because it ensures all the pieces are in place. Once they are there, people fuel a virtuous cycle of growth.

Downtown Calgary’s strategic evolution is more than just a next step for a community in the core—it is about creating a self-sustaining engine that is a magnet for the world. It is an exciting, transformational project that is harnessing the creativity and drive of many players who all share that vision. With the momentum we have today, the future of downtown Calgary—in the heart of this blue sky city—looks brighter than ever.

Learn more about downtown incentive programs and ongoing revitalization efforts as part of Calgary’s Downtown Strategy.