EDMONTON -- The largest office-turned-residential rental building in the province was officially opened in Edmonton on Monday.
The building, dubbed e11even, is located near 100 Avenue and 111 Street. It was entirely vacant two years ago but now hosts 177 residential units.
"We knew we were acquiring an office building near the end of its life cycle in a soft market, we made those decisions and this is the consequence of the overall real estate cycle," said Riaz Mamdani with Strategic Group, the developer behind the project.
Mamdani says repurposing the building created over 200 construction jobs and avoided a teardown that could have resulted in 18,000 tonnes of material waste.
"Repurposing simply makes good sense."
Mayor Don Iveson says newer developments like the Stantec, Edmonton and EPCOR towers all have led to a surplus of downtown office space, but also a higher standard for developers to meet.
"We've seen with other class-A buildings the need for folks who haven't invested for 20 or 30 years to spruce up their buildings and address the demands of the marketplace," Iveson said.
"It's created some friendly competition and some creative thinking in terms of repurposing."
Residents began moving into the building in September.
