The long-vacant 23-storey office tower at the corner of Jasper Avenue and 102 Street is being converted to a 274-unit apartment building

Hundreds of renters could call the former Enbridge Tower home by next year after plans for a new hotel in Downtown Edmonton were traded for apartments.

The long-vacant 23-storey office tower at the corner of Jasper Avenue and 102 Street is being converted to a 274-unit apartment building with studios and one-, two-, and three-bedroom suites with commercial space on the bottom floor. Construction is set to finish by March or April 2023.

Lighthouse Hospitality Management planned on converting the space into a hotel after its 2018 purchase — the tower has been vacant since Enbridge’s exit in 2016. But Lighthouse president Paul Aulakh said uncertainty in the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic, and declines in activity in the city’s core at the time, caused the company to reconsider.

“There was that dark period where nobody was sure what the heck was going to happen,” he said. “There was not a person to be found in Downtown. All the hotels were empty everywhere, even other locations where we were operating. So in that window, you say, ‘Holy cow, what happens? How long will this continue?’ Nobody knew the vaccine was going to be found at that point.”

Aulakh saw a need for rental housing in the city’s core and decided to change gears, seeing a need for this kind of space.

“We have a mix … so there is basically an option for everyone. Rents and affordability, the studios might be a perfect fit for someone who is looking for a … reasonable rent,” he said. “It’s going to be a very nice development. We’re basically doing the same stuff we were going to do in a hotel, so we’re not cutting any corners because it’s a rental.”

The building, named Peak Tower because of its peaked roof, will include a large gym, rooftop patio on the third floor, and other amenities. Aulakh hopes the location is attractive with access to the LRT and the walkability of the area.

Building the new Hyatt Regency and Hyatt Place hotels was expected to cost $70 million according to the province’s major projects website. Aulakh didn’t have an update on the new cost.

Converting office towers to residential buildings is uncommon in Edmonton but has become more popular recently in Calgary as that city attempts to deal with sky-high vacancy rates in the city’s core. In one case, a site was used to create affordable housing.

Chris Buyze, president of the Downtown Edmonton Community League, is glad more people will be living in the area soon.

“We want to see Downtown be sustainable in the long term,” he said. “Having more people living in that particular area of Downtown is a good thing. It will bring more people on the street and support businesses in the area.”

He’s noticed a push for residential growth by both city administration and council over the past two decades. If drawing more business to the area doesn’t work, he thinks perhaps others can look to this example.

“If that doesn’t happen, really we need to think about what we’re doing with these buildings in the future and I think the future of some of these buildings … is going to be conversion to residential.”

Jason Syvixay, spokesperson for Urban Development Institute (UDI) Edmonton Metro said the COVID-19 pandemic sparked a rethink around public spaces and city cores across the country.

This particular conversion, he said, is a good example of finding new ways to rebuild downtowns as cities across the country have struggled with high vacancies amid the pandemic.

“Maybe that’s just a philosophy that we should be embracing as a city, this idea that everything we build and everything we create should always be thought with some kind of adaptation in mind.”

Syvixay argued land use regulations need to be flexible and permissive enough to allow for changes over time.

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