MARCH 2026 converting nearly 100,000 square feet of office space. They also took advantage of several exciting incentives to fund the project – they received $7.5 million from the Calgary Downtown Development Incentive Program, for example, as well $1.2 million from the Climate Retrofit Challenge, as their conversation reduced the building’s emissions by 40 per cent. Emboldened by their success on that project, Alston Properties is now working on two more office-to-residential conversion projects. According to Bryce, they currently see a lot more opportunity in conversions and renovations than in new builds. He says that due to various factors – CHMC has “tightened up” and is offering fewer incentives, for example – new construction is challenging right now, but their company has been able to adjust. “I just don’t think there’s much development margin on new construction right now. It’s tougher to finance projects today that it was a couple of years ago. So we’re mostly looking at buying existing apartment buildings or buying office buildings and then redeveloping them. For the next couple years, we’re going to focus on those types of projects.” Because Alston Properties is vertically integrated – they don’t just develop, they also build and manage their own properties – they are well equipped to withstand any potential downturns in the development sector. Bryce admits they were
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