The Bow to welcome occupants by year-end

The long wait for two city energy firms to occupy the The Bow tower will be over by year’s end, says the project’s developer.
The iconic downtown structure will then be fully occupied by employees from Encana and Cenovus – several months after anticipated – following what has been a co-ordinated, year-long move-in process, said Jack Matthews, president of Matthews Development.
When announced in October 2006, officials said the 59-storey, $1.4-billion project would be completed by the third quarter of 2010 with final occupancy in 2011.
“There were some delays early on in the process mostly,” Matthews said.
“If you think back in 2008, there was a little uncertainty in the (financial) markets and that caused us some slow down.”
Cenovus started moving furniture into the building a few weeks ago and Encana is getting ready to start its move.
“We expect it all done by the end of the year,” Matthews said.
Craig Reardon, vice-president of administration for Encana, confirmed that staff are expected to be moved in by the end of 2012.
“The relevance of the early estimated move-in dates has diminished over time,” he said. “Several events, including the financial crisis in 2008 and the split of the company in 2009 have impacted the schedule.”
Reg Curren, a spokesperson for Cenovus, said the company anticipates moving employees into The Bow during the third quarter of this year.
“There’s been a bit of a shift in timing, but we’ve been working obviously very closely with the developer and contractors, finding out what timing they anticipate for the remaining floors they’re were working on,” Curren said. It’s expected 200 employees will make the move each week.
Cenovus staff will occupy up to the 28th floor of the building.
The city granted an occupancy permit to the developer on April 20 for the parkade and the first 22 floors.
To obtain the development completion permit, The Bow developers had to put up a record $16.9-million security line of credit as an assurance they would complete all unfinished aspects of their project, including the Plus-15 bridges and public art.
The city requires a developer to put up security covering 150 per cent of the costs of unfinished elements, just in case the company finishes up the building without some of the aspects it agreed to provide in its permit.
“We’ve often found that the costs that the developer presents us with may be something that they’ve got through their contractors working on site, so they might be getting a better price,” said Judy Lupton, manager of planning implementation.
That meant $4 million for public art, $3.5 million for granite at the tower’s base, and $2.3 million for the Plus-15 walkways, she said.
Lupton had never heard of such a huge security being given to the city, but it’s also a huge office building without precedent in Calgary. And city officials express confidence The Bow developer will meet all the conditions of its permits.
When The Bow was originally announced, plans included a second, smaller tower of office, retail and cultural space where the York Hotel once stood. Last year, the city received a development permit from Matthews Southwest for a 12-storey building to be called 600 Centre, which would incorporate some of the facade of the old York Hotel.

“The south tower we haven’t spent a whole bunch of time on,” said Jack Matthews. “We have plans in the city to get approval but there’s no discussion on starting that yet.”
Ald. Druh Farrell said she is interested in how the south block develops.
“The Bow and the south block were the first major investments for commercial development east of Centre Street in many, many years,” said Farrell.
“The employees of Encana really wanted to contribute to the neighbourhood and be part of a neighbourhood precinct with a lively mixture of uses. . . . And we’ve seen now an erosion of those goals. The north block is a beautiful tower and it’s a landmark, but the south block was where the street activity was to occur. So, moving forward, it’s very important that those principles are still met.”
Matthews said, for now, his company’s focus remains on completing the north tower.
“You don’t get a chance to do something like The Bow very often. It’s a special building in so many ways,” he said.
“With the way it sits in the city’s skyline. What it means to Calgary in its place for Canada’s growth . . . and from a skyline perspective, what it says about Calgary and where Calgary sits in the balance of power in Canada.”