‘Downtowns can evolve’: Calgary announces more downtown office space conversions
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CALGARY – Calgary’s mayor says the conversion of vacant downtown office buildings has reached its mid-term goal.
City council introduced a downtown incentive plan nearly five years ago when the office vacancy rate had peaked near 34 per cent due to a downturn in the oil and gas sector and the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Mayor Jeromy Farkas, at an event announcing nine new projects Thursday, said the original goal was to turn six million square feet (just over 557,000 square metres) of downtown vacant space into homes, hotels, classrooms and community spaces.
He said with 21 projects approved, that number has already hit half that total and more could be on the way.
“That reduction has helped stabilize downtown vacancy rates, despite mergers, hybrid work and shifting office needs. We expect vacancy to dip below 29 per cent,” Farkas said.
“We are not finished.”
Farkas said there are now six complete incentivized office conversions that have brought 226 new hotel rooms and 490 new homes into the heart of the city.
He said other cities are looking closely at what Calgary has done.
“We are proving every single day through projects like this that downtowns can evolve, from traditional office districts to resilient, mixed-use neighbourhoods.”
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 20, 2025.