Will 1,200 students move the needle on Calgary's downtown vibrancy problem?
Nexen Building conversion a good start, but expert says it will take radical changes
The University of Calgary's move to relocate its School of Architecture, Planning and Landscape into a 180,000 square-foot space in the former Nexen Building — an office tower that sat virtually vacant for about six years — has been lauded by many as a big step for this city's downtown revitalization.
But this city has made many efforts over the years to encourage building owners to fill their empty office spaces with housing, and bring life to the streets that seem to empty out once it's quitting time. And to pump cash into efforts to make Calgarians feel safer in the core.
But how does this latest announcement move the needle? Will it really bring Calgary steps closer to achieving the downtown of its dreams?
"Just in the same way that a medical school is located in a hospital, a design school needs to be downtown, not just located downtown, but integrated into the workings of downtown," said John Brown, the school's dean. "What I see when I look around is opportunity."
The Nexen Building was designed to be the corporate head office for Nova Corp. by architect Fred Valentine, who was recognized for the design with the 1983 Governor General's Medal in Architecture.
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The office building sits right on Century Gardens, a park built in 1975 that the City of Calgary updated in 2021. It is one of the westernmost points of the city's Plus-15 network, and is right next to an LRT stop.
The Nexen is also surrounded by office conversions, one of which, the Petro Fina Building (connected to the Nexen by Plus-15) has already begun partnering with the University of Calgary to encourage students to snap up leases.
These ingredients make up what many see as a major opportunity.
"I like to say that Calgary does a great job of doing a Bank or Bloor Street. If we're talking about Toronto, Calgary doesn't have a King and a Queen Street," said Brown "We don't have that kind of cultural, youthful alternative, the kind of vibrant community that draws people downtown or draws people to an area, makes everything safer."
Brown recognizes the city's downtown, including the land where the Nexen Building sits, has seen its fair share of challenges.
In general, downtown has faced an increase in social issues, leading to poor perceptions of safety with the public. The city and province have focused many efforts on crime and social disorder, like drug use in public areas.
At the same time, ground-floor businesses struggle to stay open. It's not uncommon to see faded for-lease signs in the area.
Brown says adding 1,200 students to the mix will help dissipate some of these challenges.
But some think it would take more work for the West End of Calgary's downtown to blossom into this kind of cultural hub.
Beverly Sandalack, a professor at the School of Architecture, Planning and Landscape, says the Nexen Building has more potential than other conversions.
"There's a lot of things there that are waiting for quick redevelopment, but I think it has to happen fairly quickly in order for the place to become, you know, the kind of vibrant neighbourhood," Sandalack said. "It can't take decades. It just can't."
A struggling downtown isn't new for Calgary. Take a trip through newspaper archives and you'll be confronted by headlines like "Urban Rot Threatens City Core," a 1966 piece from the Calgary Herald's then city hall reporter John Howse. It could've been written today.
"Economic life slowly ebbs from the city's old centre shell. Its chronic sickness manifests itself, just as the ugly blotches of a skin disease, in empty stores, blighted decrepit buildings, ugly parking lots, choking traffic and in the poverty and social breakdown of its residents."
OK, maybe a bit dramatic, but Calgary's modern headlines follow similar themes.
And for good reason.
Calgary has the highest downtown office vacancy rate in Canada. And unlike other cities, Calgary's office vacancy problem started before COVID-19, beginning during the 2014-15 oil and gas downturn and peaking in 2021.
That year, the City of Calgary began implementing its downtown strategy — a 10-year plan that's now four years in. A progress report released April 22 showed what the city called promising early returns on public investments that now tally up to more than $250 million in funding.
Some of the city-identified highlights include:
- 300 new housing units converted from offices.
- $1.8-billion increase in downtown property values since 2022.
- 12% decrease in social disorder calls since last April.
Tracy Hadden Loh studies commercial real estate as a fellow at the Brookings Institution in the United States. She's focused on the issue of struggling downtown centres, and what can be done to revive them.
Downtowns and productivity
Hadden Loh describes downtowns as being in a perpetual balancing act. They need to respond to changes in the job market, population, change in habits and work technology. All of that can happen faster than the built environment can keep pace. Hence, the pendulum swings between a downtown that's expensive and elite, or a downtown that's dangerous and failing.
Having a healthy core is good for the entire city, she adds. A lot of that productivity, she notes, comes down to the economic idea of agglomeration: which just means a mass collection of things concentrated in one area.
"In order for downtowns to be relevant, you know, they need to offer something for everyone," she said. "What I found in my research is that across the top 45 U.S. metro areas, the more jobs that are concentrated downtown, the more productive the entire region is."
Walsh Mannas, a real estate broker with Avison Young, says he's stopped guessing when Calgary will get back to a low-teens vacancy rate.
"It's been relatively flat for quite a while. So still very much above average vacancy, hovering between 25 and 28 per cent for a number of years now," Mannas said.
What Mannas is watching is the overall economic story of Alberta, and Calgary. Both, he said, are positive, which gives him hope the city's vacancy rate will continue to trend in the right direction.
A post-secondary school isn't new for Calgary's core. The city already has a strong student population in the downtown with Bow Valley College, the University of Lethbridge, Mount Royal University and others through the years — including the University of Calgary's current downtown building that houses its Continuing Education programs and the School of Public Policy.
But adding more of a post-secondary presence downtown, Hadden Loh said, could have a trickle-down benefit for the city's economy.
And, she adds, students are good customers for those office-to-residential conversions.
According to Calgary's recent State of Downtown report, there are 11 active office-residential conversions, with seven scheduled to be completed in 2025.
"A lot of these apartments are a little weird and students are looking for cheap, flexible housing. They have a higher tolerance for if the floor plan is a little weird, and so they are a logical tenant base and market for office-to-residential conversions," said Hadden Loh.
But Sandalack believes plopping more students, or more residents in the Downtown West won't be transformative without other plans and investments.
"The west end of downtown has so much potential because there's quite a big residential population living there, but there's nothing happening at ground level," Sandalack said. "It's only a few blocks to the Bow River and the river pathway system, but you'd never know it. Because the connections just aren't very good."
Downtown West is the densest neighbourhood by area in Calgary, home to more than 2,800 people. But according to the city's own web page, it trails other communities in development activity, public investment and property values.
There are some choices in Calgary's construction that Sandalack feels would take drastic measures to recover from if these easier interventions don't work.
Office buildings with single entries into big daunting lobbies, spaces that don't have built-in ground-floor storefronts. There's also the Plus-15 network — a pedway system that's often blamed for the demise of street-level businesses. Finally, the one-way streets that act like a tide rush for commuters but also ensure the life of downtown bleeds out when the workday is done.
"I am of the belief that it needs a really radical rethink," Sandalack said. "The kind of urban form that we created in the '60s and '70s and '80s — it's massively obsolete."
While there are hints of community amenities, and third spaces like a cafe, or smaller residential shops, she feels those types of spaces need to be more common to get residents to use their backyard for social engagements, or everyday errands.
Thom Mahler, the city's director of downtown strategy, says this is something they are working to address.
On the agenda: the city plans to rebuild Stephen Avenue east to west, and create a more vibrant "main street" through the length of the pedestrian mall. Then, there's the plans to turn Eighth Street S.W. into a "main street" for the neighbourhood.
"It'll include a lot more trees, cycling infrastructure, wider sidewalks for patios and other types of hospitality uses. So we are all kind of coming together now as we repopulate the buildings," Mahler said.
As for Plus-15s, and one-way streets: Those aren't the main focus of the city's transformation agenda. Mahler said the pedways are still seen as important amenities for office towers and hotels.
"The one-way streets, that's something that's been on the radar. It comes up in all cities that have one-way streets," Mahler said. "I do think a lot of it is that the more people living downtown … that starts to change people's perception of, well, what's needed here. When you just work downtown, you know, you're kind of focused on what's my experience getting from home to the office. That's all I'm looking for."
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