Colliers is adding a conference centre and other amenities to ATB Place in an effort to lure more people downtown and provide a better experience for tenants.
"Large complexes need to invest in the overall occupant experience to encourage things like return to office, to make it compelling to come out of your studio apartment in downtown Edmonton and come and interact with the people that you work with at a more casual level," said Brad Merchant, senior vice-president of asset management for Colliers, which manages the complex at the corner of Jasper Avenue and 100 Street.
The ATB Place Reimagined project will replace the building's current conference centre with a larger one that can accommodate 200 people or more. Food and beverage options and a new fitness facility with added bike lock-ups will also be added, Merchant told Taproot, and the main entrance will see a refresh. The improvements are intended to enhance the complex's accessibility and sustainability, the project page says.
The point is not merely to draw more people downtown during office hours, Merchant added.
"We also have a vision to make our complex as compelling from 5pm to 9pm as it is from 9am to 5pm," he said. "We really anchor what would be the south side of the downtown and core, immediately adjacent to the Fairmont Hotel Macdonald and within a block of the Edmonton Convention Centre, among all the other neighbours … As we see more and more team members coming back to work in the office, let's give them an opportunity to hang around for a meet-and-greet with friends and colleagues after work, as well."
ATB Place consists of the tower by that name at 10025 Jasper Avenue NW and TELUS House at 10020 Jasper Avenue NW. They were completed in 1969 and 1971, respectively, and Merchant said they were ahead of their time in offering amenities such as a food court, a fitness facility, and ground-floor retail.
"This complex really pioneered what we are seeing in current thinking around office complexes and amenitization so long before it was in vogue," he said. "Now, it's become almost table stakes."
The renovation project is scheduled to be completed in 2027. The overarching name for the two towers will then be 100 Jasper, though ATB and TELUS's branding will remain. (ATB renewed its lease through 2034 last year.)
"We felt that with some of the changes to the tenancy mix here at the building, we want to claim 100 Jasper as our home," Merchant said. "It's a bit of a sub-brand, if you will. It's 'ATB Place at 100 Jasper,' but that's a mouthful. The general public is just always going to call it ATB Place. That's the fact of the matter."
Signs teasing the ATB Place Reimagined project on Jasper Avenue. The "5-9" graphic on the right alludes to plans to add new food and beverage options to ATB Place that will aim to keep workers in the core after quitting time. (Stephanie Swensrude)
Indeed, TELUS has sub-leased a great deal of its space in the building that bears its name. But Merchant is confident people are beginning to work in the office more regularly again, after the COVID-19 pandemic resulted in a wave of working from home. The Government of Alberta is requiring many of its employees to return to the office this year, and Merchant said some 1,500 of them have offices at ATB Place. That's good news for vibrancy and safety, he added.
"If we've got roughly 1,500 Alberta government team members in our building, and they're taking the public transit system and they're accessing Churchill Station from our concourse, those eyes on the street inherently lead to improved safety and security," he said.
On the other hand, the City of Edmonton does not plan to change its hybrid-work arrangement for the 1,280 staff who work between two and four days a week at Edmonton Tower.
Employers who do want staff in downtown offices might be steered by amenities when signing a lease, Merchant said. "Part of the rationale behind this … reinvestment is to provide a more compelling reason for people to choose ATB Place as their home," he said. Merchant added that the complex has not dipped much below a 95% occupancy rate in recent years and has signed about 800,000 square feet worth of renewals and new leases in the past two years. Right now, there's about 80,000 square feet that's ready to go to market, he said.
ATB Place is not the only Colliers-affiliated property undergoing change. ATCO is moving its Canadian Utilities Limited from ATCO Centre at 10035 105 Street NW to the former home of Canadian Western Bank at 10303 Jasper Avenue NW. Colliers brokers represented incoming landlord Redstone Group in the deal. The building will be rechristened ATCO Place upon the move-in, which is scheduled for 2028.
The CBRE agent for the deal said the move could improve downtown vibrancy because the building is a bit more central and is connected to pedways. "More people will be in the pedways and accessing the majority of the downtown retail areas in the financial core," Jeremy Deeks, a senior vice-president for CBRE, told Taproot.
(Both ATB Place and ATCO Centre were managed by Triovest before it was acquired by Colliers for an undisclosed sum in April.)
Outside of Colliers's scope, National Bank of Canada began moving into the former Manulife Place at 10180 101 Street NW last year, after acquiring Canadian Western Bank. That building, now known as National Bank Centre, will house about 800 National Bank employees across 10 floors. A $45 million renovation is underway.
Correction: This story has been updated to more accurately reflect the role of Colliers in deals involving ATCO Centre.