With a simple tweet, the ICE District has made official what perceptive Edmontonians had all but confirmed: the JW Marriott is now the tallest building in the city. The ICE District Twitter account published the news on November 3rd, citing the building's height at 150.535 metres. With the Stantec Tower set to eclipse it by nearly 60 metres, the hotel and residential tower will enjoy a significantly briefer period of time on top than the former title-holder Manulife Place.

The JW Marriott is now the tallest building in Edmonton, image by Forum contributor Daveography

The milestone makes the JW Marriott the first building in Edmonton to break the 150-metre mark. It has now surpassed the spires of the 2011-built Epcor Tower, which at 149.4 metres, is architecturally taller than the 146.4-metre Manulife Place. The JW Marriott still needs to rise about 40 more metres until it settles at its final height. But vertical construction of the Stantec Tower isn't far behind and will soon overtake the JW Marriott.

JW Marriott (left) rises alongside Stantec Tower (right), image by Forum contributor Daveography

The ICE District's first luxury hotel will occupy the lower floors of the building and contain 356 guest rooms and one of the city's largest ballrooms at more than 10,000 square feet. The Legends Private Residences will command floors 23 through 54 with 261 units, ranging from 500-square-foot, one-bedroom suites to a 4,500-square-foot penthouse. 

The skin of the tower is made of curtain wall glazing, image by Forum contributor Daveography

The JW Marriott is expected to open in the first quarter of 2019, with residents receiving their keys in May of that year. With another major milestone reached, the ICE District is on its way to becoming the largest mixed-use sports and entertainment area in Canada. ICE District Properties, the developer of the project, is a joint venture between Katz Group and ONE Properties. A variety of architectural firms, including Hariri Pontarini Architects, Shugarman Architecture + Design and DIALOG, have informed the design of the hotel and the complex as a whole.

ICE District silhouettes, image by Forum contributor Daveography

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