Calgary Openings, Closings, and Developments

[fundmark19]

Originally Posted by jayswin

Thats becoming quite the strip mall across from Chinook. Used to be all junky business, now they have Robo Chicken, Ogam chicken and now greedy donuts.

And a strip club!

[shermanator]

Originally Posted by Hack&Lube

During the pandemic the Nexen building was completely abandoned as their main tenant - Nexen moved into the Bow Tower so its funny we still call it the Nexen building.

Not sure if that is still the case today but it was one of the main examples of a full modern office tower being completely empty.

All the tenants left to remediate asbestos removal.

[Hack&Lube]

Originally Posted by shermanator

All the tenants left to remediate asbestos removal.

Oh okay that makes sense. Asbestos abatement is an awful process in cost, time, and risk.

[agulati]

Originally Posted by Barnet Flame

I have no fricking idea how I posted that here.

I do completely agree though

[Cappy]

It's actually part of a nasty legal value over the lease:

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/busi...-over-calgary/

[Fuzz]

Originally Posted by shermanator

All the tenants left to remediate asbestos removal.

I had heard that's kind of a BS excuse CNOOC used to get out of rent there. Was there confirmed asbestos? Last I had heard, it was a pretty shaky excuse.

Ah, here we are:

The group said, as landlord, it responded to CNOOC’s concerns with extensive testing and a plan to address any problems within legal guidelines – that is, spot abatement where needed.

It said the testing revealed the asbestos fibre concentrations, discovered as part of the fireproofing in the 38-year-old tower, are minute and can be dealt with safely without evacuating the building. CNOOC is using the presence of asbestos as an excuse to bail on a lease that had more than a decade remaining after extensive layoffs that left many floors vacant, the owners charge.

“By the fall of 2017, CNOOC found that its premises were much larger than it needed, and that it remained committed to pay rental rates significantly higher than prevailing market rates. CNOOC set about trying to break its lease,” the owner group said in its statement of defence.

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/busi...-over-calgary/

[Wormius]

Did Soluxe close? I remember it was something else before it became some kind of company restaurant for one of the oil companies. It is all covered up now.

[Hack&Lube]

Originally Posted by Wormius

Did Soluxe close? I remember it was something else before it became some kind of company restaurant for one of the oil companies. It is all covered up now.

Its one of the oldest buildings in Chinatown with the metal signage structures being mid-20th century style. It used to be New Harbour City Restaurant and before that I don't recall.

Not sure what the Soluxe business was about but it seemed like it was bought to be a dedicated restaurant for CNOOC (interesting tie-in to the Nexen discussion above) and mainland Chinese interests which took over from the primarily Cantonese patronage it had before as a public restaurant.

[timun]

Originally Posted by Fuzz

I had heard that's kind of a BS excuse CNOOC used to get out of rent there. Was there confirmed asbestos? Last I had heard, it was a pretty shaky excuse.

The argument, from the legal decisions I've read (see the latest (2022 ABCA 293) and the sordid history of the last three years...), centres on the premise that the steel structure's spray-applied fireproofing contains asbestos and it posed a danger to the occupants. It is super-common in office buildings that the space above the ceilings is used as a 'plenum' for air to be returned back to the air-handling system (whereas in, say, a healthcare facility air will be ducted back to the air-handler for infection prevention and control reasons), and in the case of the Nexen Building—or rather, "801 Seventh" now—the fireproofing is directly exposed to the plenum and thereby asbestos fibres could be pick up, circulated back into the air-handling system and cause health problems for the occupants.

There's no doubt the fireproofing has asbestos in it, it's just a question of whether it poses a risk to the occupants or not. CNOOC argued it was and used it as the reason to break their lease and move into Brookfield Place. The landlord's counterargument is it's total BS because unless you damage the fireproofing in some way there's no way for the embedded asbestos to be released.

Granted I'm not an asbestos expert but I do know building HVAC systems, and in my experience what CNOOC is arguing is super-flimsy BS. There is no reason for asbestos fibres to be released from the fireproofing unless quite deliberately disturbed, and even on the flimsy assumption that asbestos was released and particles were light enough to be carried away and into the air-handling unit, the filters at the AHU should be MERV 7 or 8: more than sufficient to filter it out anyway.

It's a super-shaky excuse, and CNOOC's legal counsel is being as obstinate as possible about it.

[Wormius]

Originally Posted by Hack&Lube

Its one of the oldest buildings in Chinatown with the metal signage structures being mid-20th century style. It used to be New Harbour City Restaurant and before that I don't recall.

Not sure what the Soluxe business was about but it seemed like it was bought to be a dedicated restaurant for CNOOC (interesting tie-in to the Nexen discussion above) and mainland Chinese interests which took over from the primarily Cantonese patronage it had before as a public restaurant.

Oh yeah, now I remember. We ate there once when we lived at Five Harvest, it seemed very uninviting when it was still New Harbour, just a totally different vibe than the other restaurants in Chinatown.

[Hack&Lube]

Originally Posted by Wormius

Oh yeah, now I remember. We ate there once when we lived at Five Harvest, it seemed very uninviting when it was still New Harbour, just a totally different vibe than the other restaurants in Chinatown.

It always had a bit of snobby vibe. You lived at Five Harvest? Hardcore.

[Wormius]

Originally Posted by Hack&Lube

It always had a bit of snobby vibe. You lived at Five Harvest? Hardcore.

I wish we bought one or two of those units back then. I still keep thinking about what a nice, hands off rental property they would be given the low condo fee and property tax.

[Calgary14]

Costco is planning a liquor store and gas bar in their new location at Bingham Crossing.

https://www.westernstandard.news/alb...fb9659c3a.html

[you&me]

Originally Posted by Calgary14

Costco is planning a liquor store and gas bar in their new location at Bingham Crossing.

https://www.westernstandard.news/alb...fb9659c3a.html

The Western Standard, with the hard-hitting and insightful stories. A liquor store and a gas bar at a Costco you say?

I hope they report next on whether or not the building will have a roof.

[Fuzz]

Why TF are you going to Western Standard for news? It's full of bull####.

[Calgary14]

It was linked from Google news.

[Fuzz]

Originally Posted by Calgary14

It was linked from Google news.

Gross, Google.

[timun]

*googles "Bingham Crossing"*


Oh, this is what this mall in Springbank we've been talking about is going to be called. How delightfully generic.

[Fuzz]

Bingham Crossing will be a unique, state-of-the-art, pedestrian-oriented shopping and lifestyle centre in the heart of Springbank

LOL. You've gotta drive to it, but it'll be totally built for pedestrians. Uh huh. Sure.

[timun]

It'll be "unique" too...