Office revamp should breathe life into Jasper
$70M upgrade will turn old Professional Building into top-rated, and desirable, green office space
Ron Chalmers, The Edmonton Journal
Published: Saturday, February 24, 2007
EDMONTON - A Calgary company will spend $70 million turning an Edmonton eyesore into an avant-garde office building.
Procura Real Estate Services bought the empty Professional Building at 10830 Jasper Avenue, then hired Edmonton architect Rick Arndt for a radical renewal.
The homely brown walls and clumsy white lattice of the 11-storey structure will give way to reflective blue glass.
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"We may change that to green," to emphasize the new energy efficiency, says Procura CEO George Schluessel.
"We will try to get a gold LEED certification," he says.
"That's fabulous," Vivian Manasc, president of the Royal Architectural Institute of Canada, said Friday, when told of Procura's ambition.
Renewal of the Professional Building "is hugely important," she said. "We have to bring more people into the downtown, commercially and residentially. This will add a lot to the city."
Locally, only the South Edmonton Police Station has received gold LEED certification from the Green Building Council.
The Procura building will expand to the north, east and south -- more than doubling its size to 240,000 square feet.
At the rounded east end, and at the main south entrance, the curtain wall will be dramatically canted outward.
"It's a very classy look," said Jim Taylor, executive director of the Downtown Business Association.
"That has been a distressed-looking block but this design is absolutely spectacular -- like a new building," he said.
"It's great timing for the revitalization of Jasper Avenue," said DBA chairman Richard Wong. "Procura has a proven track record."
No tenants have been signed, Schluessel said. "Our preferred targets would be government."
He thinks the efficient use of energy and water, and indoor environmental quality, would suit a public-sector tenant. So would the short walking distance to the legislature.
At ground level, "we will reanimate the street with pedestrian-friendly commercial amenities to create excitement, movement and ambience," Arndt said.
Such an investment, without the security of a signed lease, shows "a confidence in Edmonton that has not been seen in years," except in the similar renovation of the former Devonian Building, Taylor said.
The Professional Building may be renamed when a major tenant is signed, Schluessel said.
Work has started on the parking garage. Completion of the total project is expected in 24 months.
The building previously was owned by Worthington Developments which listed it for sale, in 2005, at $6 million.
rchalmers@thejournal.canwest.com