When Peoplefirst began the development process to transform the long-disused SNC-Lavalin building in Calgary’s Downtown West End, the scene was described as something from The Last of Us.

With the official opening of The Cornerstone, Calgary’s first downtown office-to-residential conversion to be completed under the city’s development incentive program, the mood was a little more Hollywood ending.

Like any good finale to a Hollywood film, sequels are already in the making as Peoplefirst undertakes the redevelopment of the historic Petro Fina Building and Place 800.

“Well, it’s quite special to be able to walk through the Cornerstone project… and actually seeing operational and functional. It’s a surreal feeling because when you work for something for the last few years, and to be able to see that it actually happened, it’s still sinking in,” said Maxim Olshevsky, CEO of Peoplefirst and Astra Group.

“In many ways, it’s hard to believe how far we’ve come and how much it’s actually contributing to the city, and to this little corner of downtown. I’m just very grateful for everybody that was involved, especially the City of Calgary.”

The Cornerstone was designed as a mixed use building with residential and commercial units, along with a co-working space designed to cater to up to 60 startups in the esthetics industry, such as hairdressers, makeup artists, tattoo artists, and massage therapists.

It was also designed to have uniform in design but high-end finished apartments, which Olshevsky has previously described as being obtainable luxury.

Approximately 40 per cent of the units have also been listed at 20 per cent below market value, something that Logan Smith, Chief Marketing Officer for Peoplefirst said would continue with the Petro Fina and Place 800 projects.

We’re also increasing the amount of accessible units that we’ll have in Petro Fina. So, we’ll have 15 adaptable units in Petro Fina, which is a step up from The Cornerstone.”

According to estimates provided by Peoplefirst Developments CFO Heather Weir, the construction of The Cornerstone created 400 direct jobs, and will create, over the life of the building, an estimated 1,000 indirect jobs.