Historic Hudson’s Bay building being converted into condos

The historic building that formerly housed Hudson's Bay on Stephen Avenue will get a makeover and be turned into condos.

The historic building that once housed the Hudson’s Bay storefront in downtown Calgary is set to get a makeover as the site is prepared to be turned into condos, a new report says.

Calgary-based Astra Real Estate Corporation, which signed an agreement to purchase the iconic Stephen Avenue building in February, has a track record in Calgary of converting downtown office buildings into residential units.

The conversion of the building is welcome news to Heritage Calgary, which hopes the characteristics of the building will remain and that it will become a mixed-use space.

The group told CTV News, saying to legally protect the building, the owner would have to nominate the property for municipal or provincial heritage designation.

One condo expert says the market for a property like this will attract people—but with one caveat.

“If you can do something that offers a unique aspect and it’s priced affordably, that’s kind of the winning combination,” said Calgary realtor Julie Dempsey.

But one local housing advocate says some of the units could be used to make Calgary’s downtown core more affordable for people.

“At least 50 per cent of that building must be affordable houses for people who can’t afford high rents in Calgary,” said Hassina Sadat, who is part of ACORN Canada.

People in the downtown core like the idea of the building getting a second life.

“(Downtown is) more or less vacant…I hope that the new building is going to be sold with a lot of people and coming from…all the different places around the globe,” one Calgarian said.