The Cornerstone: Open house scheduled Saturday for 112 apartments in downtown Calgary

Converted office space nearly ready for tenants A new office-to-residential building conversion is nearing completion in the west end of downtown. Mark Villani explains.

More than 100  family-oriented two and three bedroom downtown apartments are part of a unique open house taking place Saturday at The Cornerstone, at 909 5th Ave. S.W.

The open house starts at 1 p.m. and goes until 4 p.m.

Astra Living said in a Friday release that its new rental property is the first office conversion project completed under the Downtown Calgary Development Incentive Program. Located in the heart of downtown, it offers 112 residential units near grocery stores and coffee shops.

"We invite Calgarians to join us at the open house and experience our new residential property," said Cornerstone property manager Antonina Arbuzova. "Families and individuals alike are encouraged to apply to make their home in this beautiful centrally-located building.”

In November, CTV News reporter Mark Villani toured the property along with Mayor Jyoti Gondek.

According to Maxim Olshevsky, the managing director of People First Developments, a majority of the building’s units will be sold below market costs.

"A  total of 40 per cent of the units will be 20 per cent below market rents in this building and this is the initiative we're planning to carry on with all of our other developments," he said in November.

The rental price at that time was to be determined.

Mayor Gondek said the project would ensure Calgarians looking for affordable options can ‘live with dignity.’

“This is a very big deal for our city. We didn't ask the developer to do this, but they thought it was a good idea to include a component of affordability so incentives absolutely work and this project is a great example,” said Gondek.

The second floor of The Cornerstone will be home to a co-working space for up to 60 independent beauty businesses, which People First says will make it the biggest co-working space for estheticians in the city.

The first floor will also feature retail space.

The Cornerstone is the first of three office-to-residential conversion projects People First Developments are undertaking, that will take approximately 500,000 square feet of vacant office space off the market.

With files from Mark Villani, CTV News