CALGARY — The Calgary Chamber of Commerce building in the downtown core is being marketed for sale without a list price, the Herald has learned.
The 33,874-square-foot heritage building, which was built in 1912, is located at 100 6th Ave. S.W.
“(The) Calgary Chamber of Commerce building represents a rare opportunity to acquire an iconic heritage office building, centrally located in Calgary’s downtown core,� says the listing by commercial real estate company CBRE. “The building is surrounded by some of Calgary’s most prominent tenants such as Encana, Cenovus and Suncor.
“The unique character building is situated along one of the major intersections in the core and is connected to Calgary’s Plus-15 walkway system, making it attractive to a wide array of tenants.�
The four-storey building is also situated across from The Bow, the city’s newest and largest downtown office development.
CBRE says interested parties are asked to submit expressions of interest to purchase the property on or before 2 p.m., Calgary time, on Friday July 20.
Adam Legge, president and chief executive of the Chamber, said the decision to sell the building was made to enable the organization to focus on its core business which is “helping make our members more successful.�
“Running a food and beverage operation and owning a building, responsibilities of owning a building, create distractions from that,� he said. “We’re getting rid of those things which take away from our attention to helping members be more successful.�
The food and beverage operation at the Chamber ended June 3.
Legge said the organization has a ballpark figure of what it would like to get for the building in order to move forward with its plans.
“There are a couple of options. One, is if a purchaser wanted to have us remain as a tenant, we would definitely consider staying here,� he said. “Alternatively, if they wanted to have the building free and clear without any tenants, we’ve got a couple of options, mostly in downtown core, for where we would locate, but we’re not firm on any one of them yet.
“The big thing for us is we will drastically reduce the amount of space that we have from four floors down to about 8,000 or 10,000 square feet and do more of our program activity out in the community as opposed to asking the people to come to the Chamber. We’re really changing the business model of how we do our events and our engagement. So we’ll be out in the communities. We’ll be out in the industrial areas. We’ll be out in all the other key business nodes around the city delivering our programming where there’s typically easier for some businesses to get to. It’s cheaper or free or more available parking.�
Legge said he expects the Chamber’s board will make a decision on the building in early August.
Susan Thompson, business development manager for real estate at Calgary Economic Development, said the Chamber building is a great opportunity for an owner-user or a small investor who could turn around and lease it.
“It’s got a great location and given the tight (downtown office) market it would be a great opportunity for some small tenants,� she said.