Calgary-based real estate investment and development firm Enright Capital has acquired the 26-storey office building that sits at 635 8th Avenue SW in downtown Calgary.
The office building is about half a block west from Eighth Avenue Place and is directly east of Western Canadian Place, a 41-storey and 31-storey office complex with a skybridge that connects to 635 8th Avenue SW.
The acquisition was announced last week by Enright Capital Co-Founder and Principal Patrick McFetridge on LinkedIn, but the sale price was not disclosed. A source familiar with the transaction tells STOREYS the sale price was $16,855,000.
The 26-storey office building was originally constructed in 1983 and is a Class B office building with 271,000 sq. ft of space. In his announcement, McFetridge said that "Upgrades to this building will includes a new gym, conference centre, and tenant lounge."
McFetridge co-founded Enright Capital along with David Forbes, both of whom previously co-founded CBRE Alberta before later selling the operation to CBRE Canada in 2007. According to Enright's website, they also own the 13-storey office building at 1122 4th Street SW in Calgary, along with a handful of business parks and retail properties all in Alberta.
635 8th Avenue SW was sold by Cadillac Fairview — which is wholly owned by the Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan — and the company told RENX in February that it intended to sell the property, along with the 29-storey Encor Place office tower at 645 7th Avenue SW, which is located just one block north of 635 8th Avenue. Encor Place was sold in May for $21.5 million to Calgary-based unitiiPM.
According to its corporate website, Cadillac Fairview's office portfolio in Calgary now consists of four properties: the 36-storey Class AAA Calgary City Centre at 215 2 St SW, the 33-storey Class AA 400 4 Ave SW, the four-storey Market Mall Executive Professional Centre at 4935 40 Ave NW, and the six-storey Class B Chinook Professional Tower at 6455 Macleod Trail SW.
Cadillac Fairview's office portfolio in Calgary. / Cadillac Fairview
The sale of 635 8th Avenue SW is just the latest in a flurry of office transactions that have occurred in Calgary. Since January 2023, at least 19 other office buildings in the downtown core have changed hands, sparked by the potential of office-to-residential conversions, as previously reported by STOREYS.
Many of those transactions occurred during the period of time when the City of Calgary paused its office conversions incentive program. The program, officially called the Downtown Development Incentive Program, was relaunched in September.
It does not appear that Enright Capital intends to convert 635 8th Avenue SW, since the company's announcement said it would be upgrading the building, but the relaunch of the City's incentive program could continue to move the needle on office transactions in Calgary.
