At one Calgary tower, it’s out with the photocopiers and filing cabinets, and in with mattresses, bath robes, and tiny shampoos.
What happened: Calgary’s first office-turned-hotel opened its doors, a 226-room development that benefitted from almost $10 million from a city program aimed at putting vacant office space to better uses.
- The program offers developers $60 per square foot of space in empty office buildings that they convert to be used as residential or commercial space.
Why it matters: Canada’s office vacancy rate is over 17%, while cities struggle with a shortage of residential and commercial space — using some of that empty office space to meet other unmet demands seems like a no-brainer, especially when doing so can be 30 to 40% cheaper than new construction.
Yes, but: Just because an office is vacant doesn’t mean it’s a good candidate for conversion into an apartment block or hotel. For projects to make financial sense, the old office building must have the right physical characteristics (like ceilings that aren’t too high and a narrow floorplate that allows every unit to have windows). According to one assessment of 300 office buildings across 15 North American cities, only around 25% of buildings meet that criteria.