Milestone for new highrise: Stantec Tower now above grade

Stantec tower now above grade The Stantec Tower is now above grade, and things are only looking up.

When it’s completed, the Stantec Tower will be the tallest building in Canada, outside of Toronto – but for now, developers are celebrating a much shorter milestone.

With the last concrete pour on Thursday, construction on the Stantec Tower is now above grade.

“It will become a beacon of the City of Edmonton’s skyline, and it will be seen far and wide, even as far as Calgary I am told,” Tip Shipton, Oilers Entertainment Group (OEG) Communications VP joked.

When it is completed, the Stantec Tower will rise 66 storeys near Edmonton’s downtown arena in the new Ice District.

At nearly 250 metres tall, it will be the seventh tallest building in Canada.

Design firm Stantec will occupy 19 of the 28 storeys designated for office space, with 1700 Stantec employees moving in in the fall of 2018.

A year later, the rest of the building will open with 481 residential units.

“We’re going to take the country by storm this year, and the next couple of years,” Mayor Don Iveson said. “All this infrastructure comes online to support business, to support entertainment, to support vibrancy in our downtown core.”

The tallest building in Edmonton currently is Manulife Place, and the Stantec Tower will be 30 storeys taller.

With files from Marni Kuhlmann