After sitting vacant for roughly six years, the former Nexen Building in downtown Calgary will welcome 1,200 students in January 2026 from the University of Calgary’s School of Architecture, Planning and Landscape, in a long-term lease that will energize the building and the neighbourhood. 

Colliers Canada led the process to secure a 20-year lease for U of C at the revitalized and renamed 801 Seventh office tower. The agreement covers approximately 180,000 square feet, spanning eight floors in the tower and the entirety of the building’s Annex.

This transaction concluded following thorough negotiations between U of C and the building’s new owner, Ursataur Capital Management. Justin Mayerchak, Peter Mayerchak and Todd Sutcliffe, Executive Vice Presidents with Colliers, represented the university, while Aly Lalani, Executive Vice President and Jane Taylor, Senior Associate, supported the landlord. 

Mayerchak and Lalani say this boosts the City’s Greater Downtown Plan aimed at lowering office vacancy and improving downtown vibrancy. It’s proving to be a process that’s working, as older office space is eliminated and turned into alternative spaces, and homes.

‘Building is a perfect match for what the school needed’ 

“The Downtown West End is an area that needs work, it needs help, it needs new business, it needs life and investment,” Mayerchak says. “This was a perfect match because you had this building that has all the physical attributes that make sense for what the school needed.” 

The building was vacated in 2019 when energy company Nexen, now CNOOC Petroleum North America, relocated to another downtown location.

After purchasing the building in 2022, the new owners invested roughly $15 million in the building’s two main levels, including the lobby. The tower offers 622,170 square feet of contiguous office space, immediate access to the LRT line and the Plus-15 Network, 24-hour security, and food services. 

There is a 19,000-square-foot fitness facility, with locker rooms, three studios, and cardio and strength training areas. 

“Students will also have access to design studios, classrooms, research spaces, a robotic fabrication workshop, an exhibition gallery and a community-facing design justice lab,” Lalani says. “Plus, the lease includes the 30,000-square-foot Annex, which will work well for some of their light manufacturing and modeling needs.”  

Unlocking growth for U of C and for the immediate area 

Mayerchak says the transaction represents growth for the university, and will also boost activity and business in the area around the building. “Those students are going to need services, food, retail and student housing,” he adds. “This is going to have a significant impact.” 

He says the team is proud of the hard work and logistical thoughtfulness that led to the completion of this long-term lease. “The reality is, the university has unique requirements, physical requirements, frankly, and finding a building that could meet their needs including loading, HVAC and connectivity to the community wasn't easy.” 

The transaction required plenty of communication and cooperation with U of C, the landlord and the City of Calgary to create a win-win-win situation quickly, Lalani says, noting the whole process took only 16-18 months, a relatively short timeline.

The City of Calgary’s Downtown Post-Secondary Institution Incentive Program supported the process with $9 million in funding. The funds will be spent renovating the space to accommodate U of C, including converting offices to class space, and updating the base building systems like the HVAC and washrooms to support a higher number of occupants. 

Mayerchak says it probably couldn’t have gotten done without that funding.

U of C President and Vice-Chancellor Ed McCauley told Calgary Herald in April that this expansion will allow the university to add 800 student spaces at the main campus.

Lease will likely spur other tenants

Overall, Calgary's downtown office market is facing a vacancy rate of around 28 per cent, Lalani says. “It's definitely better than it was three or four years ago, and a lot of that progress is attributed to the city's Office Conversion Programs, which has pulled about 1.7 million square feet out of the older office inventory.”  

He says Calgary's economy has been in a good spot for the last two-to-three years and companies are increasingly eager to find and lease space primed for creativity and dynamic environments for their people. 

This U of C lease will likely encourage other creative businesses to seek space in the building, he says. “In addition to traditional energy-related and professional service firms, we're going to see creative companies like architecture and tech firms that want to be part of a dynamic environment that has plenty of amenities and is well-connected to the Plus-15 network.”

Lalani and Mayerchak say they’re optimistic we'll see more underused office space converted into creative space for post-secondary institutions and housing. “Although, that will require more government funding from all levels of leadership,” Lalani says.