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The ICE District continues to rise in downtown Edmonton, transforming several city blocks of former parking lots (and a single-story office supply store) into a massive mixed-use complex of office, hotel, residential, commercial, and public plaza space.
Media were provided a tour of the current construction projects, providing an update on their progress, and a rare inside look into the construction process of two towers which are set to become Edmonton's tallest buildings.
The tour opened on the unoccupied 27th floor of Edmonton Tower, the first completed office building in ICE District. Opening remarks were made by Tim Shipton, Vice President Oilers Entertainment Group, and Glen Scott, Senior Vice President of Katz Group Real Estate, who led the tour.
"ICE District has made significant progress in only a few short years and we are very excited to showcase the highly anticipated construction underway," said Scott.
The first stop on the tour took the reporters up the construction skip to the 26th floor of The Legends Private Residences, the residential portion of the 55-story, 191-metre tower which includes a JW Marriott hotel below. According to Scott, the residences are over 94 percent sold.
The group was also taken up to the 29th floor of the Hariri Pontarini-designed tower, with the opportunity to stand on a temporary platform looking over the public plaza. Scott noted that a name for the plaza has been selected, however is not being made public at this time.
The next stop on the tour was the 10,000-square-foot ballroom on the second floor, set to become the largest in Edmonton, which includes a balcony overlooking the plaza.
The hotel will offer a total of 25,000 square feet of meeting and conference space, as well as a direct connection to Ford Hall in Rogers Place for events requiring even more space.
Stantec Tower was our next stop, specifically in the incredibly spacious office lobby. The 66-story, 251-metre tower, set to be the tallest in Western Canada when completed, is currently about halfway to its final height.
Riding the skip to the 21st floor, the group was shown an example of the large office floor places available to the future tenants of the tower.
The residential portion of the tower will begin construction after a massive load-transfer structure made of steel and concrete has completed. The structure, itself two floors in height, enables the residential portion to be constructed on top of the office tower.
The final stop of the tour was part of the retail complex below the tower, on the second floor. This floor is slated to become a 28,000-square-foot all-day "Food Hall" with 700 seats and 14 unique food vendors. Katz Group Properties is working with the AGLC to allow liquor sales in the hall.
A pedway connection is planned to connect the food hall to the next phase of ICE District across 103 Street where the Greyhound bus station was previously located. The connection will take shoppers almost directly to the grocery store planned for that building, as well as provide connections to a Rexall drugstore and a five-auditorium Cineplex VIP theatre.
Rising above the retail complex of the former Greyhound block will be a 42-story, 568-unit residential tower, currently only known as Tower B. The tower and retail complex are both nearly at-grade. The entire ICE District complex has been constructed on a 2,100-stall underground parkade, which is set to open to the public in late 2018.
Opening of the current projects is also phased, with the first retail portions set to open in late 2018, and tower offices, hotel, and residences opening throughout 2019.
What do you think of the ICE District project so far? You can get involved in the discussion by leaving a comment below or by visiting the Forum, where you can also find many more photos from the tour.
| Related Companies: | Hariri Pontarini Architects |
