Major renovation underway to update Ventures Building
A well-known commercial building bookending a stretch of 107 Avenue is getting an overhaul.
The Ventures Building — a threestorey, ’60s-era commercial building whose many tenants have included a hair salon, pizza parlour, barber shop, staffing agency, night club and accounting business — is getting a new facade as part of a major renovation.
The mid-century modern building currently features floating exterior staircases and brick, glass and stone facades. It has occupied a prominent spot at 109 Street and 107 Avenue since 1962.
While businesses have come and gone, the building itself has been virtually unchanged.
Shazad Mardhani, vice-president of asset management with Edmonton-based Imperium Developments, said the company acquired the building in December and hopes to finish work this summer.
“The majority of the projects that I do are reusing or rehabbing the majority of the building,” he said. “I’d really like for it to become something very iconic.”
Imperium plans to remove an entire floor of the building, bringing the main floor down to street level. That will reduce the total square footage to 16,000 from 24,000 and reduce the number of units to lease by one-third. The building was 50 per cent vacant when the company bought it.
Scott Rollans of the Central McDougall Community League had some fond memories of the old building. He first ate pizza there at Crown Pizza as a kid in the 1970s.
But he said the building looks dated and is less than inviting. The small parking lot separates it from the street, and the elevated stairs make it difficult to access for people with mobility issues. The night club there, Connect Ultra Lounge, was linked to a shooting in early 2017.
Rollans said the new building looks like an improvement, but allowed that the old building is unique.
“I can’t think of another building in Edmonton like it in terms of the design,” he said.
Dan Rose of the Edmonton Heritage Council agreed.
He said the building is not on any heritage lists, but said it likely would have been eligible for listing “given its age and, I would say, its pretty outstanding design qualities.”
He said the building was an example of “Mad Men-era” architecture, in reference to the HBO TV drama.
“It certainly represents a bit of our architectural past that I don’t think we’ve learned to fully appreciate,” he said.
Mardhani said work on the building should be finished by July.