Calgary’s first hotel opening of 2025 also happens to be a major milestone, with the first completed office-to-hotel building conversion in the city’s history.
Element by Westin, which now occupies the 833 – 4 Avenue SW location in the heart of the downtown west end, was once home to Mount Royal College.
Now, the education will be in Calgary’s western hospitality, along with the economic benefits that come with an additional 226 modern hotel suites that will also accommodate long-stay guests.
Element opened for guests on June 19, and will be 100 per cent booked for the week of June 23, said Ian Jones, Area Manager for Concord Hospitality.
“That’s why we’re really pushing for today to get it open, because we will be benefiting from Rotary International going straight into Stampede,” he said.
“Those two things are a benefit, besides business and financials, but also to really test the team, to test everything, to see how it all works. Because actually next Tuesday, the hotel is running full.”
He said the atmosphere for Element was less about the full-service luxury that guests receive at Michelin-key-award-winning hotel The Dorian—also operated by Concord Hospitality and developed by the BPA Group of Companies—and more about being warm and approachable.
“The way the lobby is set up, and specifically the team that we have on board here, I think we have a great opportunity to be that local hub that you walk in just looking for a coffee. It’s not a formal, stuffy hotel, you know, ‘checking in, how can I help you?'” Jones said.
A major focus has been put on serving clientele who are eco-conscious, while also providing in-room amenities like fully equipped kitchens in-suite to support long-staying guests, alongside the weekend getaway tourists.
Element by Westin a boon for more than just the tourism industry
Jones said that a goal for Element is to become net zero as a part of an overall strategy by Marriott International, which operates Westin hotels as part of its premium offerings.
“We’ll probably start off with going for a four-leaf building, and then push to a five-leaf building. To really get to net zero in a building like this, you probably would be looking to buy credits and do some type of further commitment and contribution to the community,” he said.
Already, the office-to-hotel conversion has saved thousands of tons of construction material from entering landfills, by turning the 170,000 sq. ft. of space into hotel suites, a rooftop restaurant and bar, and a street-level patio and coffee shop and bar.
Artwork and tiles from the previous iteration of the building were also saved and have been incorporated into the design for the hotel.
Mayor Jyoti Gondek said that Element was proof that a plan that began in 2014 for downtown conversions was a success for more than just residential.
“We needed to act pretty quickly, but unfortunately, it took us a lot of time because we had so many cynics who said you can’t do anything but office downtown. To those cynics, I say you were wrong. We proved out that you can do things differently. I want to thank all the private sector partners who saw something in these buildings that were sitting empty or almost empty,” Mayor Gondek said.
“Folks like the PBA Group looking at this building and saying, ‘we think we can do something with the inside instead of tearing this down.’ This is absolutely proof of concept, and I can tell you that the good folks on the downtown team have believed in these projects, they have evaluated them, they have funded the top ones, and we have now seen us taking 2.68 million square feet off the market.”
Mayor Gondek said the addition of the hotel to the downtown has improved the strength of Calgary’s tax base.
The hotel conversion was supported by $9.9 million from the City of Calgary’s Downtown Calgary Development Incentive, which offered up to $60 per sq. ft. for conversion of office space to hotel use.
Mayor Gondek gave a special thank you to Patricia Phillips, CEO of the PBA Group of Companies, for bringing women-owned and led real estate development to the downtown revitalization.
Sol Zia, Executive Director for the Calgary Hotel Association, said that one of the other unique things about the opening of Element was in the customers it has already attracted.
“As our city and region continues to grow, we remain a world-class destination, attracting visitors, conventions, film and TV production. I know there’s a number of productions who toured this already through the dust and are ready to put their production executives in this hotel,” he said.
