A new $1.2 billion investment into Calgary’s visitor economy is setting records, with a pending 69 and 62 storey tower block from Truman Homes and Louson.

The pair of towers will be home to upscale luxury hotels—a JW Marriot and W Calgary—which will add an additional 248 and 157 guest rooms each to Calgary’s 4,500 hotel room gap.

Both towers will also contain 360 new branded residential units,

When complete in 2029 and 2030, the two towers will surpass Calgary’s current largest tower, Brookfield Place East, at 56-storeys.

“To get to be great, you’ve got to be bold. We can’t just come in here and do what’s been done before. We’ve got to raise the expectations, raise the bar,” said Tony Trutina, Chief Operating Officer of Truman.

“I think that the idea here is to create great places that people want to come visit, both not only locals, but tourists, obviously. The goal is to deliver the best.”

The hotels will also contain numerous amenities, including a 7,500 sq. ft. spa, nearly 50,000 sq. ft. of meeting and event space, over 14,000 sq. ft. of bar and restaurant space, and a public top floor viewing area.

The construction of the towers will create more than 9,000 construction jobs, 2,000 permanent positions, and add approximately $230 million to Calgary’s GDP annually.

The July 2 announcement followed the Calgary Stampede’s first on-park hotel announcement made in June, with a Marriott Autograph Collection also being developed by Truman.

The entire development of the hotels on both sides of Macleod Trail totalled nearly $1.5 billion in private capital investment into Calgary.

Trutina said that Truman had already done pre-applications with the City of Calgary, and had been working with Marriott for a year-and-a-half on the project.

“We wouldn’t be putting it out there if we weren’t confident in the ability to get it done,” he said.

As for getting the development approved by Calgary city council, he said that there was always a possibility of some changes in terms of storeys, but that placing the tower in the Beltline next to Stampede Park and the BMO Centre is the ideal spot.

“I think we’re set in the right zone for the city that allows the density to do it. I think what’s really exciting is that it’s the first hotel residential tower that’s ever been done in the city,” Trutina said.

Mayor Jyoti Gondek said that if councillors understand the value of the buildings to the city, then there was no question it would be approved.

“Obviously we will be going through the same measures that we do with every other land development and development permit project. But this is visionary. This is the kind of thing that councillors should look at and say, ‘look what we accomplished with the private sector,’” the mayor said.

Changing the skyline of Calgary

Mayor Gondek said that the project was entirely being funded by private investments, and that the city’s revitalization levy had already worked to make the area attractive to development.

“These are the kind of projects that come up from the ground when you make strong investments in the kinds of amenities that draw private sector,” she said.

The creation of the hotels was essential to the long-term goals of the Calgary Stampede, said CEO Joel Cowley.

“When you think of Stampede Park, really, over the past century, it’s been largely event driven,” he said.

“What we really would like to see is people coming to Stampede Park and the surrounding Culture and Entertainment District, really on a daily basis, because it’s just a great place to be. This is a big step in that direction.”

He said that the hotels would increase the ability for conventions and international events to come to Calgary, and along with it the tourist dollars that follow.

“Those 700 rooms will greatly impact the ability of Calgary to attract conventions, which is really what the BMO Centre is for. It’s to drive economic impact by attracting people from outside of Calgary,” Cowley said.

“This Culture and Entertainment District is going to be something special within North America. It’s going to be a destination, not just for conventions, but I think when the vision is truly fulfilled people will come here for leisure. It’s going to be similar to Nashville—I really think it will—and we have mountains.”