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The granite-clad Bank of Montreal Building at 102 Avenue and 101 Street may be destined for the same fate as the historic Tegler Building it replaced. After the bank vacated the property on October 6 for greener pastures at the new Enbridge Centre, Regency Developments has filed a demolition permit for the six-storey structure.
When it arrived on the downtown scene in 1984, the building represented Edmonton's push for modernity, which came at the cost of a 1912-built Edwardian structure that had been the tallest in the city. It wasn't all bad news for heritage preservationists however — the demise of the Tegler Building precipitated stronger measures that attempted to prevent similar architectural misdeeds.
The father-son duo of Rakesh and Raj Dhunna, who run Regency Developments, purchased the prominent site in April. According to the Edmonton Journal, initial plans for the site would have seen new tenants for the glass-walled building until the core's excess of office space was consumed. But the lack of underground parking and the enormity of the complex makes the building a particularly tough sell that is only compounded in a time of high office vacancy rates.
Citing forthcoming LRT construction, Regency launched their demolition permit sooner than expected, with hopes to have the building knocked down before spring. Regency has already received approvals from the City to significantly upzone the site, and the developer is mulling a mixed-use skyscraper up to 45 storeys tall.
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