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Downtown Edmonton's newest expansion celebrated a major milestone this week with the grand opening of Stantec Tower, the new global headquarters of its namesake consulting firm. Though construction continues on the residential levels above, the 29-story office portion is largely complete and ready for occupancy.
As part of celebrating the event, ICE District officials invited media to tour the current construction projects and to receive an update on their progress.
After gathering under the vaulted ceilings of the office lobby, the tour started at the JW Marriott, to see the progress on the hotel amenity levels, where interior work is well underway. The four-star, 346-room hotel will be the third of the JW Marriott brand to open in Canada, and is already accepting both hotel and conference bookings, including for the 10,000-square-foot Wayne Gretzky Ballroom which will be the largest in Edmonton.
The hotel, which will also include an Oliver & Bonacini restaurant, is expected to open in the spring.
The tour continued outside, to get a glimpse at the new public plaza. Encircled by Stantec Tower, the JW Marriott, and Rogers Place, construction is well underway on the 50,000-square-foot plaza — expected to be programmed year-round with activities, concerts, even movies and other outdoor shows utilizing the giant screen on the tip of Rogers Place — and is anticipated to open in the summer of 2019.
Returning to Stantec Tower, the tour went inside the spacious second-floor food hall, which will begin being outfitted soon. The food hall will be the first licensed food hall in Alberta, and is expected to have 13-14 different vendors when complete.
When asked about the state of the former Greyhound site — slated for a new rental residential tower and retail podium, but having been delayed for several months — Katz Group Senior VP Glen Scott said that a redesign was necessary after two major tenants, a grocery chain and a large VIP theatre, dropped out. A new grocery chain has been signed on and will be announced soon, and the final design of the podium and tower are nearly complete.
The final part of the tour was to the top of the office portion of the building, and to the 20,000-square-foot amenity space and two show suites for the residential portion of the tower, dubbed SKY Residences. Occupancy of the 483 residential suites is expected to begin in the fall of 2019.
"We built literally billions of dollars of infrastructure during the height of one of the worst economic downturns Albertans have ever faced. It’s not always smooth sailing but overall it’s been going exceptionally well," Scott said when asked how well the project is going overall.
SkyriseEdmonton will continue to report on the progress of ICE District and its component projects. Check out the project pages below for more photos of the tour, and visit their associated forum threads to share your thoughts on these major projects. You can also leave your comments below.
| Related Companies: | Hariri Pontarini Architects |
