Manulife Announces New Downtown Calgary Skyscraper

August 5, 2013
By Cody Battershill

Manulife Announces New Skyscraper in Downtown Calgary

[caption id="attachment_21232" align="alignright" width="200"] Courtesy of Manulife Financial[/caption]

Manulife Real Estate announced last week their plans to build a new 27 storey skyscraper in the heart of downtown Calgary.

Located at 707 5th Street SW, the 564,400 square foot tower’s design will have glass covering the whole exterior of the elliptical shaped skyscraper and will provide tenants with great views of Calgary. It’s estimated the building will be completed in early 2017.

Brion Energy will be the new skyscrapers leading tenant. The company employs 270 people and currently owns a few planned oil sands projects in Northern Alberta.

In order to make room for the new skyscraper, Manulife Real Estate will have to tear down one of their existing office towers along with Quincy’s restaurant, bar and lounge and a parking lot.

Manulife currently has 8 different Calgary real estate properties under their belt. The newest tower will boost their local portfolio to around 1.3 million square feet.

More Downtown Office Buildings

Manulife’s recent announcement is only one of many new downtown Calgary skyscrapers that have been recently completed or are in the planning stages.

Bow Tower

The Bow Tower, completed in 2012, is one of the most recognizable new skyscrapers. Towering at 58 floors high, it is the tallest building in Canada outside of Toronto, Ontario and has been named as one of the top 10 architectural projects of the world in 2012 by Azure Magazine.

Eighth Avenue Place

Next up, Eighth Avenue Place, consists of two skyscrapers with the second of them nearing completion in mid to late 2013. Look at the tops of both towers and you’ll see unique architecture inspired by the Rocky Mountains.

Tower 1 was completed in 2011 and holds 1.1 million square feet. Together the towers will combine to hold approximately 1.8 million square feet of much needed downtown Calgary office space!

TELUS Sky

TELUS Sky is another new and exciting skyscraper proposed for the downtown area. The tower will be a different kind of development with office, retail and residential spaces across 58 storeys and is estimated for completion in 2017.

Herald Square

Let’s not forget about Brookfield’s new two tower development in the heart of the business core. Called Herald Square, it will be comprised of 2.4 million square feet in total, will outreach the Bow Tower in height and is estimated to be completed in 2018.

Also in the works are Cadillac Fairview’s 36 storey Calgary City Centre, to be completed in 2015, as well as Oxford Properties Eau Claire Tower, estimated for completion in 2016.