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Wed, October 26, 2005
Residents worry for site's future
By PABLO FERNANDEZ, Calgary Sun
Concerned Calgary residents yesterday called on EnCana Corp. to respect historic buildings that currently sit at the site of the company's future mega-office complex development.
A grassroots group assembled after EnCana purchased the York Hotel -- at the corner of Centre St. and 7 Ave. S.W. -- fears the project may swallow up adjacent historic buildings, including the No. 1 Legion and the Regis Plaza Hotel.
The size of the EnCana development, a two-million sq.-ft. downtown office complex more than 60 storeys high, may result in the demolition of the two adjacent buildings, said advocate Alison Robertson.
"Not only is the York Hotel in danger of being demolished, the whole block may go," she said.
EnCana spokeswoman Alnas Kassan would neither confirm nor deny the corporation has its sights set on purchasing the Regis and the Legion but did say the company doesn't need to buy the buildings for the development to go ahead with its plans.
Article at: http://calsun.canoe.ca/News/Alberta/200 ... 4-sun.html
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Friday, Nov 25, 2005
EnCana eyes massive, two-block Calgary development
Bob Beaty
For mytelus.com
CALGARY - Colossal oil profits may fuel a massive urban renewal project on three full blocks in the heart of Calgary.
If all the pieces fall into place, it could easily be the biggest redevelopment project ever undertaken in Western Canada, if not all of Canada, observers say.
At the heart of this is EnCana Corp., which is currently trying to buy up all, or almost all, of two full city blocks smack in the downtown of this booming city.
While the lead architect hasn't been chosen yet, and negotiations are still going on to secure all the land, early plans call for two towers boasting roughly two million square feet of office space. The project would house all of EnCana's 3,200 employees.
A trigger for revitalization
If the giant oil and natural gas company secures all the territory, it may trigger redevelopment of another city block that the city itself will undertake in order to house some of the tenants EnCana displaces - chief among them the city's police force.
Tidbits of EnCana's stealth-like steps to acquire most of the two-block area broke several weeks ago when the company and Calgary Mayor David Bronconnier confirmed that the oil company had purchased some land in the two blocks. That leaked out of City Hall because EnCana inked a deal with the city to take over the historic York Hotel, which the city bought several years ago to act as affordable housing for hundreds of impoverished people.
Left unstated were the hush-hush negotiations EnCana was involved in with other property owners in that block and another adjacent block.
The two blocks EnCana seeks are bordered on the south by 7th Avenue S.E., on the north by 5th Ave. S.E., on the west by Centre Street and on the east by 1st St. S.E.
Not-so-smooth sailing?
Two City Hall sources said one of the reasons Bronconnier kept a lid on full details of the project when news of the York Hotel broke was because of the potential political time bombs that could go off before all the land deals are done. There are a number of tenants that could raise a ruckus, including war veterans who gather at the Number 1 Legion hall just east of the York Hotel.
There are also the destitute individuals and families who gather at the CUPS Community Health Centre, and police who use the Andrew Davidson building as their headquarters. Both buildings also sit east of the York Hotel.
Then there are the cultural issues that spring up over what will happen to heritage buildings in the blocks, including an old fire hall that Budget Car & Truck Rental occupies and the North-West Travellers building that was just restored by heritage developer Neil Richardson. Plans reportedly include preserving both structures.
Assuming EnCana ties up all the remaining properties it needs, the City has been drafting plans to revamp another city block - possibly to house both the police and CUPS. That block sits just north of old City Hall and two blocks east of the area EnCana has its agents working on, the two city sources said.
It is bounded by 6th Ave. on the north, 7th Ave. south, 3rd Street S.E. to the east and Macleod Trail to the west.
It contains the Central Library, the former police headquarters, a parkade and the provincial court building. Two city hall sources said a new police headquarters may be built on the block, and that it could also contain CUPS and the nearby Bow Valley College.
But some very senior city bureaucrats and the mayor have been toying with moving police to the Victoria Park area, just north of the Calgary Exhibition & Stampede grounds.
City movers and shakers were also looking at a block in East Village, just east of City Hall, to erect a new police headquarters.
Two veteran Aldermen, Dale Hodges and Joe Ceci, declined comment on where all the players may eventually wind up, given that negotiations are in a very early and sensitive stage. But they both confirmed that they too heard the development would take up the vast majority of the two blocks, if not all of it.
"It's a mad plot," Ald. Hodges said jokingly. "There are budgets ricocheting all over the place."
Tax dollars for the city
From a fiscal point of view, both Aldermen said the redevelopment of the two blocks will bring in a lot more city taxes, given that EnCana's use will be all corporate, whereas police and some other current property residents are tax exempt.
It also represents a major stride in tearing down the psychological barrier that Centre Street has always posed to commercial office developers, Ceci said. The vast majority of privately-funded office towers have risen west of Centre Street.
"This should break the curse (of the Centre Street barrier,)" Ceci added.
Both Ceci and Hodges and the two city hall sources said EnCana will almost assuredly save the facades or all of the buildings that have historic importance, so that won't likely be a major issue when it finally unveils final plans.
Veteran real estate broker Tom Dixon said as far as he knows this will be the only commercially-financed development that covers two city blocks in western Canada, or perhaps all of Canada.
"This is certainly unprecedented in Calgary because there is nothing that bridges two fully city blocks," Dixon said.
Calgary's tallest building?
Most Calgarians are familiar with the twin Bankers Hall towers that stand 52 storeys high. But they were built on just one city block.
Some of the early plans Dixon said he has heard about included one EnCana tower more than 60 storeys high – which would make it the tallest office building in Western Canada.
That would eclipse the biggest Petro-Canada tower that, at 56 storeys, still holds highest honours in Calgary.
The other EnCana tower may be between 40 to 50 storeys and the two towers might be connected over 6th Ave., at the fourth or fifth storey level, according to real estate speculation.
"You'd be hard-pressed to find something that has the kind of density EnCana is thinking of on two distinct city block locations anywhere," Dixon said.
EnCana spokeswoman Almas Kassam said no start-up date has been set, but that the target is to have the project completed within five years.
Kassam refused to confirm negotiations are underway to tie up all of the two-block area, saying there is a company policy prohibiting comment on anything that may or may not be pending.
However, she confirmed that the company has just closed bids from a number of prominent architectural firms and that an announcement on who will be "the signature architect" for the development is expected in the next three to five weeks.
Given that the overall design architect has not been chosen, Kassam said it is industry speculation that calls for construction of two office towers. "We may do two or three towers. We may only do one," Kassam said.
Historic structures to be preserved
Neil Richardson, owner of Heritage Property Corporation, is one of the property owners in the two-block area. His company owns the North-West Travellers building that was just recently restored and two other buildings that were formerly occupied by the Salvation Army.
Richardson confirmed he is in negotiations with EnCana's agent about the sale of his properties that sit in the block bounded by 5th Ave to the south, 6th Ave on the north, 1st Street on the east and Centre Street to the west.
He also confirmed it is his desire to have the Travellers building, which is designated a provincial heritage building, preserved in the redevelopment.
Mohammed Ali owns the Budget Car & Rental outlet in the old fire hall that sits at the corner of 6th Ave. and 1st St. S.E., just north of Richardson's Travellers building. The fire hall is owned by the City of Calgary and is on long-term lease to Ali's holding company.
Ali said his discussions revolved around him getting space in the new development, with the fire hall preserved. Another option is to leave things the way they are, with the new EnCana development butting up to the fire hall property.
Despite repeated requests for an interview, CUPS executive director Carlene Donnelly could not be reached for comment.
However, Bryan Fallwell, owner of the Billingsgate Fish Market that sits several blocks east of CUPS, said his real estate agent was approached to see if a deal could be made to buy his fish market to serve as CUPS' new home. But Fallwell said he didn't think the talks panned out.
Fallwell's real estate agent, Tim Sommer, refused comment saying the timing of the story, "wouldn't help the deal."
Where will the police go?
The City also owns the Andrew Davidson building that sits at the corner of 6th Ave. and 1st St. S.E. and it currently acts as the Calgary Police headquarters office.
A telephone interview request made to Deputy Police Chief Jim Hornby resulted in police spokesman Don Stewart replying. Stewart wanted to know what questions would be asked of Hornby.
"I don't know how much information is available at this point because it is just so early in the process," Stewart said, before adding that he would see what he could do about the interview request to Hornby.
Neither Stewart nor Hornby called back.
Ald. Hodges confirmed that talks are under way to move police out of the building to make way for EnCana. He said it's still up in the air where police would be relocated.
"The police building is not coming down very fast because we don't have another place for them right now," Hodges added.
A police source said all downtown sites city staff are exploring run counter to an old internal police study that called for the headquarters to be moved out of the downtown. That study concluded that downtown sites were risky because the main CP Rail line runs through the heart of the downtown and a hazardous materials spill from a train wreck could force closure of the police headquarters.
"We calculated that we would need to be at least as far away as the Jubilee Auditorium if we were to be safe from a major explosion at the CP tracks - and to be upwind," the source said.
When speculation about the Number One Legion being sold to accommodate EnCana came up, Bronconnier vowed it would never be sold. The City owns the building, and the Royal Canadian Legion has a lease on it until 2012.
City Hall sources and Hodges confirmed that the EnCana development could either butt up to the Legion or grow over top of it. Talks are well in the works to have EnCana's project development office rent some unused space in the Legion to act as construction headquarters when the massive project gets underway, Legion spokesperson confirmed.Statistics: Posted by Bob van Wegen — Fri Nov 25, 2005 10:34 am
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