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.

City of Calgary downtown redevelopment funding made project possible

Olshevsky said that his team learnt a lot from the process of developing The Cornerstone, and that the team that completed that building has been kept together and is already working on the conversion of the Petro Fina building.

"While every project is different, it's still an office conversion. So we definitely had some lessons learned that will make those projects a little bit easier as we go through them. But it really comes down to continued support from the City of Calgary and our stakeholders," he said.

"In collaboration with the city, we've really shown what's possible with this innovative program that they've established. They saw a need, and they created a very practical and bold solution to address that problem."

The goal for the City of Calgary has been through a redevelopment process to remove 6 million sq. ft. of unused—and in the case of the SNC-Lavalin building, abandoned—office space.

That redevelopment goal, along with the development projects approved by the City of Calgary, some 13 with 4 more under consideration, have been put under intense international scrutiny.

"We're under the eye of municipalities all across North America now. We've seen media requests from various cities from Washington, to San Francisco, London, Vancouver, you name it. Everywhere across Canada in the US, they're all looking to Cornerstone for inspiration on what we're doing here, and how they can use it in their cities to address a similar problem," said Olshevsky.

Olshevsky said if the development incentive wasn't there, they probably wouldn't have redeployed resources here for the massive effort.

"That's what really helped us to actually make this vision come to a reality. One of the more important aspects is we really wanted to demonstrate is that an office conversion when complete, and when done right it does not resemble an office building. I believe, with the city, with our trades partners, with our stakeholders, that's what we achieved today," he said.

Currently the City of Calgary's approved conversion projects address a little over a third of that 6 million sq. ft. goal, at 2.3 million sq. ft. in the development pipeline. The Cornerstone representing 129,000 sq. ft. from that goal.

"A good way to phrase it is this is sort of really the start at the beginning," said Thom Mahler, Director of Downtown Strategy for the City of Calgary.

"This is the end of the very first project. But with it opening, it just provides so much momentum to the projects that are coming in the pipeline. Walking through the transformation at the street level is remarkable, and it's when you start to get that new energy and the new investment, that it really starts to change people's perception."

That mixed use component of The Cornerstone and other upcoming projects was an essential aspect to get people to rediscover the downtown, said Mahler.

"When we talk about what a vibrant downtown means, it means that there's something for as many people as possible. This business that we're in, an aesthetics and beauty business, there's lots of people who are going to come here who might never have come to this area before," he said.

"People then they come down, and then they see a coffee shop that they hadn't seen before, and people just start to rediscover. I equate it a little bit to the East Village. People didn't ever go to East Village until they started to have one or two experiences that were positive, and I think that's what you're gonna start to see here."

Smith said that Peoplefirst estimated that the co-working space would draw up over a thousand people per week to The Cornerstone and to the surrounding area.

"With 60 individual businesses, we're expecting over 1,500 people every week to be coming to just this block alone and that's not even including the residents. If you're coming to downtown for to get your hair done, there's a chance you're going to stop for coffee, stop for lunch, etc," he said.

"It's going to not just boost this building, but all of the other businesses around. It's going to make the space feel so much safer, so much more vibrant."

Magnifying the impact that redevelopment can have

Part of the reasons why Peoplefirst chose the projects that they did, said Smith, was the opportunity to magnify the impact the firm could have in relatively small area of the downtown core.

Place 800 being located a block's walk from the Cornerstone, and the Petro Fina project three blocks.

"If we started our projects across the city, you'd see little pockets of new residents here and there. But by bringing everyone back to the same area, there is the most potential for growth and revitalization," he said.

"We're creating the most impact, but it goes a little bit beyond that as well. In all three of our projects, all residents will have access to shared amenities within the buildings. So people living in Cornerstone will be able to access the amenity space and Place 800, in Petro Fina and vice versa. So it comes down to proximity. It's very helpful in that sense."

He said that there is another aspect of the choice of projects: older Class B and C buildings that are prime for redevelopment also happen to be located in the west end of downtown.

For Mahler, the desire by Peoplefirst to take on multiple projects also speaks to the potential for the downtown as a place for firms to do business.

"I think it shows the strength of the market in Calgary, and I know when we started this program back in 2021, we weren't really sure what the demand was for residential in the downtown core. What we've seen obviously with population growth within Canada, and immigration to Calgary, is that the demand is very high city-wide, but it's particularly high in the downtown. That's benefited all of these projects," he said.

"They're able to revisit their investment profiles for each of the buildings, and we're seeing continued investment and continued interest from local investors, but also from investors outside of the city as well who are partnering with these groups."

Residential 70 per cent filled, and commercial is growing

The Cornerstone residential units are already 70 per cent leased, Smith said.

The opening of the co-working space on June 25 created more opportunities for more individuals to use the building.

Aleksandra Blazejczak, Operations Manager for Astra Group, said that already a few tenants had begun moving into the co-working space.

"They're very excited to start their own journey, and be in charge of their schedule and their services. So, hopefully as we grow and more people hear about us, we'll get busier for everyone around here."

And unique to Unfiltered, was that there would be 24/7 secured access to the co-working space for tenants and their customers.

"What we're trying to build like a big community of different individuals, whether they're established or startups to help them grow, whether it's through referral program or just by being in our space," said Blazejczak.

"We run flexible month-to-month terms, so if something doesn't work out, or you need to expand or downsize with 30 days notice you can make all the kind of adjustments to your business. We also provide very affordable scheduling booking systems as well that will aid anyone in starting as well."

The building has also been able to retain some longer-term commercial clients from before the conversion project began: Quesada and Centre Pharmacy.

For more details on development projects from Peoplefirst, see people-1st.ca/current-projects, and for more details on all of the downtown office approvals, see www.calgary.ca/development/downtown-incentive.html.