Calgary’s historic Barron Building being converted to residential, retail space
Posted Mar 17, 2023 8:32 am.
Last Updated Mar 17, 2023 8:36 am.
Calgary’s historic Barron Building featured recently in HBO’s The Last of Us is getting a second lease on life as it is converted into a residential space.
Real estate company Strategic Group officially launched the repurposing of the building Wednesday in a groundbreaking ceremony to mark the occasion.
The CEO of the group, Riaz Mamdani, was joined by Calgary Mayor Jyoti Gondek and federal Liberal MP George Chahal.
“The rebirth of this beautiful and historic art deco building has been a passion project of ours since we acquired the building 15 years ago,” said Mamdani.
“Together with our partners at The City of Calgary, we are completing an incredible project that is good for our city’s heritage and good for the vibrancy of downtown Calgary while also reducing greenhouse gas emissions and construction waste.”
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The city is contributing $8.5 million dollars toward the project. In October 2021, $7.5 million was put forward to help build a parkade below the building, and another $1 million came from the Historic Resource Conservation Grant Program.
There are 100,000 square feet of residential space, and the building will house about 8,500 square feet of retail space.
“This redevelopment is complicated and challenging,” Mamdani said. “The experience, creativity, and ambition of our team make developments like this possible.”
Artistic rendering of a lounge inside the Barron Building on Stephen Avenue in downtown Calgary. (Courtesy of Strategic Group)
Calgary’s mayor says the investment from the city is part of its revamping of downtown and the “future of the city.”
“Calgary city council sees the incredible value of the rebirth of The Barron Building as homes for Calgarians and the addition of street-level retail that adds to the vitality of our downtown,” Gondek said.
“Our downtown revitalization strategy is working and remains critical to seeing assessed property values continue to rise.”
Strategic Group estimates that repurposing will prevent around 4,175 tons of greenhouse gases from seeping into the atmosphere. It also says its projects have saved around 17,000 tons of emissions in Alberta.
In addition, the Strategic Group says it expects to save 11,000 tons of demolition from going to the landfill.
The project is expected to finish in 2024.
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The 11-storey building was used mainly as office space and featured the Bank of Montreal, Mobil Oil (once known as the Mobil Oil Building), and the Uptown Theatre on the main floor. It was finished in 1951 and was one of Calgary’s first skyscrapers.
It also helped Calgary become “Alberta’s oil capital” following the 1947 Leduc oil strike, according to city records.
Mamdani and the group offered to purchase the building in 1996, but it was rejected. It wasn’t until 2009 that it acquired the property, and it has been left vacant since.
Its name came from its association with its developer, Jacob Barron, born in 1888 and was designed by local architect Jack Cawston.
Barron was a lawyer and a leader in the Jewish community. He also loved theatre, and the building saw the city’s first major theatre in three decades.
The building is also known for its fully glazed rooftop penthouse. A rooftop garden once surrounded it and was occupied by Barron at the time.
Art Moderne-style building with a prominent geometrical frontispiece and a façade of strip windows and brick spandrels. One of the earliest and best examples of a Moderne office building in Calgary. (Courtesy of The City of Calgary)
