The City of Calgary is significantly accelerating its ambitious plan to breathe new life into its downtown core, announcing a major expansion of its successful office conversion program.
New Projects Announced
At a news conference held in the Beltline on Thursday, November 20, 2025, Mayor Jeromy Farkas unveiled nine new office-to-residential conversion projects. This latest wave of development is set to redevelop a substantial 947,000 square feet of former office space into 972 new housing units for the city's core. The projects also include plans for a new hostel along 5th Avenue S.E., adding to the diversity of housing options.
Mayor Farkas emphasized that these projects build on the positive momentum of the Downtown Calgary Development Incentive program. He recalled the city's ambitious goal, set nearly five years ago, to repurpose six million square feet of empty office space. “Today, I’m excited to share that we are nearly halfway there,” Farkas stated.
The Incentive Program Driving Change
The engine behind this urban transformation is the city's financial incentive program, which provides downtown property owners with a subsidy of $75 per square foot, up to a maximum of $15 million, to convert unused office towers into residential or mixed-use developments.
This strategy was a key component of a 10-year downtown revitalization plan approved by a previous city council in 2021. The plan was a direct response to the collapse in downtown commercial property values following the 2014 oil price crash, which left numerous office towers vacant.
Measurable Success and Economic Impact
The financial investment has yielded significant returns. According to city officials, the program has already resulted in the completion of six office conversions. These completed projects have brought 490 new homes and 226 hotel rooms into Calgary's core business district, as noted by Alecia Peters, manager of the city’s downtown business strategy.
To date, the city has spent more than $200 million on the incentive program. This public investment has leveraged an impressive nearly four-to-one return, attracting approximately $800 million in private sector capital and generating an overall economic impact of $1.4 billion.
In total, the incentives have now enabled 21 office retrofits. Upon their completion, these projects will have transformed 2.68 million square feet of underutilized office space and created 2,655 new housing units downtown. The city's goal is to more than double this achievement by 2031, a move that Peters notes would help reduce Calgary's daunting downtown office vacancy rate from its current level of around 30 per cent down to 20 per cent.
