Facelifts for busy Beltline corners
Ambitious plan to revitalize area
A Calgary-based real estate investment firm has ambitious plans to revitalize one of the busiest intersections in the Beltline.
Arlington Street Investments’ project will develop the two corners where 14th Street and 17th Avenue S.W. intersect.
The Sentinel is a mixed-use development on the northwest corner of the intersection, where the Fair’s Fair Bookstore is currently situated, and will consist of a 13-storey, 250,000- to 300,000-square-foot structure with commercial retail and an urban grocery on the main floor. Office space is planned for the second and third floors while the remaining floors will have more than 200 residential rental units.
The existing Scotia Block, located at the southeast corner, will also be redeveloped.
“The really exciting part about this site is that it’s the natural southwest bookend of 17th Avenue. Our goal is to reposition assets on 17th Avenue in a way that honours what it is the community is looking for, and something that would be iconic and stand the test of time,” said Frank Lonardelli, president and chief executive of Arlington.
Arlington also owns other property along 17th Avenue including the Brava Bistro site near Western Canada High School, and the last block on the southeast end of 17th Avenue adjacent to the LRT and Stampede grounds. Arlington recently captured the national Commercial Real Estate Deal of the Year award from the Private Capital Markets Association of Canada for the redevelopment of the Haiku property in the Beltline. The 10th Street S.W. building is home to the Commonwealth Night Club and retailers Speed Theory and Rogue.
Arlington’s strategy is to make languishing downtown and Beltline buildings more attractive for potential tenants and investors.