Hey, I'm not making this up. The bank manager phoned my mother yesterday and asked her to come in with me because there was a problem with her safety deposit box that I have access to. The manager didn't try to explain the problem on the phone so we didn't know what to expect.
It turns out the bank put all the keys for all the empty safety deposit boxes into an empty safety deposit box and then locked it and forgot which box the keys were in.
So a couple of weeks ago they brought 2 security guys out from Toronto to hunt for it and they drilled Mom's box thinking it was the one. When they realized they had the wrong box, they had to video tape and list the contents with 2 bank officers watching. Its a good thing there was nothing embarassing or illegal in there! Mom hasn't been in to the bank vault to open her box since 2002 so its good that I'm not a crackhead or a gambler and I didn't sell everything to buy drugs or pay gambling debts or something!
The contents of the box were put in a sealed plastic bag and then the sealed bag was put in another sealed bag with a list of the contents.
The sealed bag has been locked in the vault until today. The manager explained that she would have called sooner but she has been dealing with a tragedy. One of her best friends who managed another CIBC branch was killed in a car accident.
We had to witness the sealed bags being cut open with 2 bank officers present and then we had to go through the contents and check it with the list they had made with the list we had already.
All the diamonds, rubies and gold bars were gone! Ok there weren't any goodies like that. All the contents were accounted for.
So now Mom has a new box at the bank and they gave her $85 for the 2007 rental fee to make up for their error of drilling the old box. It took 85 minutes to do all the paperwork and verifying of the items.
The new box number is by coincidence Mom and Dad's birthdays combined! The manager said it wasn't the next box number to be given out and just on a whim she chose the number not knowing it would have meaning for Mom.
Tuesday, October 31, 2006
Monday, October 30, 2006
make it bigger
Did you know that you can click on photos in my blog to make them bigger for a better look?
Sunday, October 29, 2006
Wednesday, October 25, 2006
ArriVa
This is the first of a 3 tower condo development in Victoria Park
near the Stampede.It is being built in the block that used to contain the neighbourhood school, which can be seen in the foreground in the second photo.
15-20 years ago I used to work in an office across the street from the school, never dreaming anything would ever be built there, as the desolate neighbourhood has long been a haven for drugs and prostitution.
The pile of dirt in the foreground of the first picture is the start of the Stampede Park expansion. A new casino, oh joy.
The ArriVa tower under construction is going to have 30 plus floors. I believe it is sold out. The next 2 towers are going to be 42 stories high and are being billed as Alberta' s tallest condos. However, a new development on the west side of the Beltline is promising 2 towers of 47 and 52 stories.
One block to the west of ArriVa is another new development called Keynote that will have 2 condo towers, an office tower and retail. The block next to Keynote to the west is about to be developed with a hotel and condo towers.
The Bridges
I had an appointment in the Bridges in Bridgeland this morning so I took a couple of pictures from where I parked the car.
The first picture shows where the Calgary General Hospital was until it was blown up by the government in act of state terrorism in 1998 in order to instill fear in the local populace by Dear Leader Ralph
so we would be afraid to get sick or injured in our glorious pursuit of being debt free. Now we are debt free because of Dear Leader (and rat free too, but not because of Ralph!).The wall in the middle of the lawn in the picture
commemorates the former hospital.
Behind the wall are several new condo developments along Centre Avenue E. and there is a new Starbucks of course!
In the sky is a chinook arch which means it is a balmy breezy day here.
I looked at a condo show home here 2 years ago. I thought it was overpriced at $379,000, but now they are going for close to $900,000.
The second photo shows the view from the Bridges towards downtown.
Cayce on Death
I remarked to Death, 'You are not as ordinarily pictured with a black mask or hood, or as a skeleton or like Father Time with a sickle. Instead you are fair, rosy-cheeked, robust and have a pair of shears or scissors.' The being explained to him that death "is not the horrible thing" that people typically expect, and the scissors are a representative implement of life and death-- they "unite by dividing, and divide by uniting." Cayce came to conclude that the death state is a more normal one for the soul than earthly existence, and that the question of whether consciousness survives death was backwards. The significant question for the soul was how much of its creativity and divine essence would survive its birth into a body.
Sunday, October 22, 2006
Friday, October 20, 2006
NeoCounter, one week later
Last Friday, I added the NeoCounter which shows the country of origin of visitors to my blog. I am surprised to have had visitors from all over the world. I thought it would just be the friends and family mainly in Canada that I email who would have a look, but they aren't the visitors for the most part.
The only visitor that I begged to click on my blog so I could add a rare flag to the list was my friend Margaret who is teaching in Oman.
I am surprised to have had so many visitors from South America. Hopefully their English is much better than my non-existant Spanish & Portugese, if not there are plenty of photos and videos to look at.
So far the stats are: 63 visitors in total from 15 different countries.
The USA is in the lead with 21 visitors followed by Canada with 17.
There were 12 visitors from the EU, followed by South America with 8, 4 of them being from Argentina.
Australia and Asia both had 2 visitors.
188 people have looked at my profile since the beginning of the blog.
The only visitor that I begged to click on my blog so I could add a rare flag to the list was my friend Margaret who is teaching in Oman.
I am surprised to have had so many visitors from South America. Hopefully their English is much better than my non-existant Spanish & Portugese, if not there are plenty of photos and videos to look at.
So far the stats are: 63 visitors in total from 15 different countries.
The USA is in the lead with 21 visitors followed by Canada with 17.
There were 12 visitors from the EU, followed by South America with 8, 4 of them being from Argentina.
Australia and Asia both had 2 visitors.
188 people have looked at my profile since the beginning of the blog.
Thursday, October 19, 2006
GE5 open house
GE5 = Glenmore/Elbow/5 street $110 million interchange being built a block from my place.
Thursday evening I went to the City of Calgary open house at the Christopher Robin school.I have missed every previous one they have held, so I thought I should go see what's up. This was the one I should have missed as it dealt with the sound barrier and landscaping for the north side of Glenmore.
At least I got to meet Howard with whom I have been dealing with on the phone. It is always nice to put a face to the name. I asked him a bunch of questions and he showed me the plans and drawings. There will be a ped/bike path parallel to Glenmore along the sound-barrier wall. Also the ped bridge across Glenmore I used to use will be rebuilt by summer 2007.
Friend's of A's who live in Mayfair were at the open house. Their last house was demolished to make way for the temporary road. They found a new home in the neighbourhood.
The construction should be finished by spring 2007 as they are ahead of schedule. Landscaping and final touches should be done by 2008.
They are finally starting on the new sidewalk out front. The old sidewalks disappeared in July so it has been a long wait. They still have lots more to do after the sidewalks are put in, so I haven't heard the last of the construction noise yet.
Thursday evening I went to the City of Calgary open house at the Christopher Robin school.I have missed every previous one they have held, so I thought I should go see what's up. This was the one I should have missed as it dealt with the sound barrier and landscaping for the north side of Glenmore.
At least I got to meet Howard with whom I have been dealing with on the phone. It is always nice to put a face to the name. I asked him a bunch of questions and he showed me the plans and drawings. There will be a ped/bike path parallel to Glenmore along the sound-barrier wall. Also the ped bridge across Glenmore I used to use will be rebuilt by summer 2007.
Friend's of A's who live in Mayfair were at the open house. Their last house was demolished to make way for the temporary road. They found a new home in the neighbourhood.
The construction should be finished by spring 2007 as they are ahead of schedule. Landscaping and final touches should be done by 2008.
They are finally starting on the new sidewalk out front. The old sidewalks disappeared in July so it has been a long wait. They still have lots more to do after the sidewalks are put in, so I haven't heard the last of the construction noise yet.
Wednesday, October 18, 2006
I'm a published author!
No not really, but my letter to the editor of the National Post was in today's paper along with 2 other similar letters featured in a box in the middle of the letters page titled "Letters of the Day". I thought they might edit the letter, but they didn't change a thing.
Tuesday, October 17, 2006
a skiff of snow this morning, chilly brrrr
There was a pile-up on the icy Calf Robe Bridge on Deerfoot last night involving over 90 vehicles. They closed the freeway and brought in city transit buses to keep the people involved in the crash warm while they sorted it out all out.
The auto body shops must be jumping for joy. I think insurance companies should demand better driving skills & tires from their customers.
This morning as I drove over the same bridge where the pile-up was last night, I was briefly stuck behind a body shop loaner Sentra (someone who has already had a recent accident) doing 50 km/h in the fast lane because she was seemingly so terrified of the wet surface on the bridge. Everyone else was slowing down to 95 which was more sensible. Doing 50 in the fast lane is going to cause an accident as well as make your fellow commuters late. I arrived in Bridgeland right on time, but the rest of the morning I was late for everything.
re: letter to the editor Monday
Can you believe it? The National Post printed letters to the editor with more important topics than mine! I had an email from the Post letters editor last night saying they were considering using my letter, but alas I remain unpublished in the Post for now...
Tuesday afternoon:
the sun is shining, the snow is melting...
The auto body shops must be jumping for joy. I think insurance companies should demand better driving skills & tires from their customers.
This morning as I drove over the same bridge where the pile-up was last night, I was briefly stuck behind a body shop loaner Sentra (someone who has already had a recent accident) doing 50 km/h in the fast lane because she was seemingly so terrified of the wet surface on the bridge. Everyone else was slowing down to 95 which was more sensible. Doing 50 in the fast lane is going to cause an accident as well as make your fellow commuters late. I arrived in Bridgeland right on time, but the rest of the morning I was late for everything.
re: letter to the editor Monday
Can you believe it? The National Post printed letters to the editor with more important topics than mine! I had an email from the Post letters editor last night saying they were considering using my letter, but alas I remain unpublished in the Post for now...
Tuesday afternoon:
the sun is shining, the snow is melting...
Monday, October 16, 2006
it is snowing this morning!
The snow is melting on the roads, but staying on the lawns & trees & flowers so I guess this is the end of my garden for another year.
It always snows before Halloween, but it never stays on the ground for very long this early in the season.
Bring on global warming! Just kidding, sort of.
It always snows before Halloween, but it never stays on the ground for very long this early in the season.
Bring on global warming! Just kidding, sort of.
letter to the editor of the National Post
This morning after returning home from the dentist (teeth are clean again & no cavities for now), I wrote a letter to the editor of the newspaper. They had an editorial from the Edmonton Journal about the proposed EnCana office tower in downtown Calgary.
It is such an inane rivalry between the 2 cities, so I had to add my 2 cents worth about it:
Thank you for sharing the loony Edmonton Journal editorial about the Bow, EnCana's proposed office tower for downtown Calgary, with the rest of Canada. It is clear to see who exactly has the tower envy. One need look no further than the West Edmonton Mall for "devotion to ostentatious showings of richesse", or to Edmonton and area for unrelenting urban sprawl.
I suggest the Edmonton Journal search to see if the heart of Edmonton is still beating while enduring Canada's highest murder rate. Is it because Edmontonians are superior to capitalist Calgarians that you are killing each other in record numbers?
Oh ya, too bad about the Eskimos, you go City of Champions!
Jim
Calgary (obviously)
I'll let you know tomorrow if my letter made it to print. I usually write anti flouride tirades to the Calgary Herald, this is my first letter to the Post. I'm glad I chose such an important issue to write about and not something trivial like North Korea or Afghanistan or world hunger...
It is such an inane rivalry between the 2 cities, so I had to add my 2 cents worth about it:
Thank you for sharing the loony Edmonton Journal editorial about the Bow, EnCana's proposed office tower for downtown Calgary, with the rest of Canada. It is clear to see who exactly has the tower envy. One need look no further than the West Edmonton Mall for "devotion to ostentatious showings of richesse", or to Edmonton and area for unrelenting urban sprawl.
I suggest the Edmonton Journal search to see if the heart of Edmonton is still beating while enduring Canada's highest murder rate. Is it because Edmontonians are superior to capitalist Calgarians that you are killing each other in record numbers?
Oh ya, too bad about the Eskimos, you go City of Champions!
Jim
Calgary (obviously)
I'll let you know tomorrow if my letter made it to print. I usually write anti flouride tirades to the Calgary Herald, this is my first letter to the Post. I'm glad I chose such an important issue to write about and not something trivial like North Korea or Afghanistan or world hunger...
Sunday, October 15, 2006
welcome world!
I like the new NeoCounter I added last week. It is interesting to see where the visitors to my blog come from. It just tells me the city (sometimes) and country of the visitor, no other clues to your identity so you remain anonymous.
After a slow start, the United States has become the source of my most frequent visitors. I like how the American visitors are forming a circle on the map!
I hope I get visitors from India & Africa & the middle east. Antarctica would be a bonus.
Please take a few moments to play the flag game. My best is 15 flags. Sorry they are so small & hard to see.
I hope you like my eclectic blog about my world as I see it.
Peace.
After a slow start, the United States has become the source of my most frequent visitors. I like how the American visitors are forming a circle on the map!
I hope I get visitors from India & Africa & the middle east. Antarctica would be a bonus.
Please take a few moments to play the flag game. My best is 15 flags. Sorry they are so small & hard to see.
I hope you like my eclectic blog about my world as I see it.
Peace.
save Alberta's wild horses
http://www.mastersgalleryltd.com
I saw Maureen's show at Master's Gallery this afternoon. I really like her new paintings. She wants to establish a sanctuary for wild horses somewhere between Ghost river & Ya Ha Tinda.
I saw Maureen's show at Master's Gallery this afternoon. I really like her new paintings. She wants to establish a sanctuary for wild horses somewhere between Ghost river & Ya Ha Tinda.
Friday, October 13, 2006
having a laff with Shelli in my lap
hey blondie drop your laundry!
I thought my blog needed some t&a...
will Esso go higher than EnCana?
Imperial may follow EnCana with new tower Calgary headquarters
Jon Harding, Financial Post
Published: Friday, October 13, 2006
CALGARY - In what could shape up as a battle between Canadian oil titans to dominate Calgary's skyline, EnCana Corp. unveiled plans yesterday for the country's second-largest office tower just as Imperial Oil Ltd. is considering building its own downtown Calgary monolith.
Encana, Canada's largest oil-and-gas company by market value, laid out a $1-billion project to build a new and much-needed headquarters on the east side of Calgary's downtown core.
Completed by 2010, it would be the tallest office tower in Western Canada at 59 storeys or 247 metres, and rival for size and height Toronto's First Canadian Place and Scotia Plaza, with 1.7 million square feet of leasable office space.
Imperial, meanwhile, is taking steps to solve its own growing need for space. Two weeks ago, Canada's second-largest oil-and-gas company issued a request for proposals to a number of commercial real estate developers in the Calgary market.
Imperial, with 2,000 employees spread throughout three buildings, is looking to secure 700,000 square feet of commercial space and already owns half of a square city block in the heart of the downtown -- land that now houses a commercial parking lot.
"We're doing some research," Imperial spokesman Gordon Wong said. "We could renew our existing leases, which run until 2011, we could become a new tenant in a new development, or we could build a new office tower."
EnCana's crescent-shaped, steel-and-glass structure was designed by well-known London-based Foster + Partners, whose architectural exploits include the London City Hall, completed in 2002, last year's redevelopment of Wembley Stadium and the Beijing Airport, which is now under construction. The Calgary project is Foster's largest to date in North America.
A development application for The Bow -- the tower is named for the river that runs through the city and because of its shape -- was submitted to the Calgary's planning department yesterday by the project's developer, Toronto-based Matthews Southwest.
John Brannan, the EnCana executive leading the project, said the company, whose 3,600 employees are currently spread throughout five downtown Calgary buildings, will become the tower's primary tenant, occupying all but six of the storeys. The move into the new building will occur in stages between late-2010 and throughout 2011.
He also said EnCana intends to sell the project between now and the completion date. "Now that we have put in the application, we will start a disposition process to sell this overall project, probably to a trust fund, a REIT, to a developer or to investors, for the long term," Mr. Brannan said.
Booming downtown Calgary is feeling a major squeeze for commercial real estate space and is home to some of the highest lease rates in North America.
But EnCana's proposal raises the amount of commercial space being built or under consideration, city-wide, to 12.5-million square feet, the largest slate of new commercial projects of any city in Canada, according to Calgary's economic development department.While the head of the department, Bruce Graham, said he has little fear a glut could occur, that scenario is one Imperial is considering. "It's too early, at least until we get the [proposals] back, to say which option is the best for us," Mr. Wong said.
Imperial moved its headquarters west from Toronto in August 2005.
Calgary Mayor Dave Bronconnier said other energy firms may be eyeing new developments in Calgary. "Yes, we are meeting with a number of other companies that are looking at building a building but as of this morning, I can't identify who or where," Mr. Bronconnier told reporters.
Mr. Graham said the new Encana tower is symbolic of the westerly shift of the country's economic power base.
"First Canadian Place was built over 30 years ago and, I believe, was symbolic of the shift in economic power that occurred at the time from Montreal to Toronto," said Mr. Graham, a longtime city of Toronto employee before becoming head of Calgary's economic development department three years ago. "In many ways, I think this EnCana project symbolizes the westerly shift today."
Downtown Calgary's biggest landlord, Brookfield, has a completed platform at First Canadian Centre approved for a 64 storey building. It is only a matter of time before they find a lead tenant and move forward on the second tower at 1stCan.
Jon Harding, Financial Post
Published: Friday, October 13, 2006
CALGARY - In what could shape up as a battle between Canadian oil titans to dominate Calgary's skyline, EnCana Corp. unveiled plans yesterday for the country's second-largest office tower just as Imperial Oil Ltd. is considering building its own downtown Calgary monolith.
Encana, Canada's largest oil-and-gas company by market value, laid out a $1-billion project to build a new and much-needed headquarters on the east side of Calgary's downtown core.
Completed by 2010, it would be the tallest office tower in Western Canada at 59 storeys or 247 metres, and rival for size and height Toronto's First Canadian Place and Scotia Plaza, with 1.7 million square feet of leasable office space.
Imperial, meanwhile, is taking steps to solve its own growing need for space. Two weeks ago, Canada's second-largest oil-and-gas company issued a request for proposals to a number of commercial real estate developers in the Calgary market.
Imperial, with 2,000 employees spread throughout three buildings, is looking to secure 700,000 square feet of commercial space and already owns half of a square city block in the heart of the downtown -- land that now houses a commercial parking lot.
"We're doing some research," Imperial spokesman Gordon Wong said. "We could renew our existing leases, which run until 2011, we could become a new tenant in a new development, or we could build a new office tower."
EnCana's crescent-shaped, steel-and-glass structure was designed by well-known London-based Foster + Partners, whose architectural exploits include the London City Hall, completed in 2002, last year's redevelopment of Wembley Stadium and the Beijing Airport, which is now under construction. The Calgary project is Foster's largest to date in North America.
A development application for The Bow -- the tower is named for the river that runs through the city and because of its shape -- was submitted to the Calgary's planning department yesterday by the project's developer, Toronto-based Matthews Southwest.
John Brannan, the EnCana executive leading the project, said the company, whose 3,600 employees are currently spread throughout five downtown Calgary buildings, will become the tower's primary tenant, occupying all but six of the storeys. The move into the new building will occur in stages between late-2010 and throughout 2011.
He also said EnCana intends to sell the project between now and the completion date. "Now that we have put in the application, we will start a disposition process to sell this overall project, probably to a trust fund, a REIT, to a developer or to investors, for the long term," Mr. Brannan said.
Booming downtown Calgary is feeling a major squeeze for commercial real estate space and is home to some of the highest lease rates in North America.
But EnCana's proposal raises the amount of commercial space being built or under consideration, city-wide, to 12.5-million square feet, the largest slate of new commercial projects of any city in Canada, according to Calgary's economic development department.While the head of the department, Bruce Graham, said he has little fear a glut could occur, that scenario is one Imperial is considering. "It's too early, at least until we get the [proposals] back, to say which option is the best for us," Mr. Wong said.
Imperial moved its headquarters west from Toronto in August 2005.
Calgary Mayor Dave Bronconnier said other energy firms may be eyeing new developments in Calgary. "Yes, we are meeting with a number of other companies that are looking at building a building but as of this morning, I can't identify who or where," Mr. Bronconnier told reporters.
Mr. Graham said the new Encana tower is symbolic of the westerly shift of the country's economic power base.
"First Canadian Place was built over 30 years ago and, I believe, was symbolic of the shift in economic power that occurred at the time from Montreal to Toronto," said Mr. Graham, a longtime city of Toronto employee before becoming head of Calgary's economic development department three years ago. "In many ways, I think this EnCana project symbolizes the westerly shift today."
Downtown Calgary's biggest landlord, Brookfield, has a completed platform at First Canadian Centre approved for a 64 storey building. It is only a matter of time before they find a lead tenant and move forward on the second tower at 1stCan.
Thursday, October 12, 2006
EnCana tower
UPDATE 2-EnCana plans huge office tower in booming Calgary
Thu Oct 12, 2006 4:20pm ET
CORRECTED - EnCana says new Calgary office to cost C$850 million
By Jeffrey Jones
CALGARY, Alberta, Oct 12 (Reuters) - EnCana Corp. plans to build a C$1 billion ($877 million) Calgary office complex, a huge, crescent-shaped tower officials hope will revitalize one of the booming Canadian oil city's few eyesore areas.
The 59-storey glass and steel building, which will dominate Calgary's skyline when completed in 2011, will be by far the biggest project in a downtown market where seven office towers are already under construction, city officials said Thursday.
EnCana, Canada's largest energy company, will consolidate its head office staff in the 1.7 million square foot complex straddling two city blocks on the east side of the downtown core. They are currently scattered in five buildings.
The structure will be the country's tallest office tower outside of Toronto. It could cost C$850 million to C$1 billion, said John Brannan, the EnCana executive leading the project.
"The project team is working on a lot of the details right now, working with contractors to help finalize it. But that's our estimate at this point," he told a news conference.
Led by a boom in spending on oil sands and other energy projects, Western Canada's construction industry has been hit with surging costs due mostly to a tight labor market.
Meanwhile, Calgary's commercial and residential real estate markets are the hottest in Canada due to the energy boom. EnCana is concerned about such inflation, but the building's design, featuring steel construction rather than concrete, should help keep costs down, Brannan said.
In the second quarter alone, EnCana posted a profit of $2.2 billion. Last week, EnCana said it would spend $7.5 billion in a deal with ConocoPhillips to develop its Alberta oil sands reserves and process the heavy crude at U.S. refineries.
The company aims to eventually sell the curved building, called "The Bow" after the river that flows through the city of one million people, to a real estate management firm.
It was designed by London-based architects Foster + Partners. The firm also designed Beijing Airport, an expansion of the Hearst Tower in New York and revisions to London's city hall and Wembley Stadium.
The southwest side of the tower will be concave, providing a panoramic view of the Rocky Mountains in the distance and the torch-shaped Calgary tower in the foreground. Levels with indoor gardens are planned 18 floors apart.
A seven-story retail building will be attached to the squat York Hotel, which will be renovated. It was built in 1930 and was most recently used for low-income housing.
Calgary Mayor Dave Bronconnier and other city officials said they hope the new complex will kick-start revitalization of the threadbare east end of downtown, where several renewal proposals failed to materialize in the past decade.
Many of the buildings were razed long ago and now the area is domain of Calgary's growing homeless population.
"This project is a catalyst for the redevelopment," Bronconnier said. "It's something that's been a focal point from city council -- to deal with the preservation of heritage, the protection of it as well as new building, and then of course dealing with people who are in the area." Current office construction projects in Calgary are expected to add 12.3 million square feet of space, increasing the city's capacity by 25 percent, officials said.
Pictures of the planned complex are available at http://www.encana.com/pdfs/media/building/images.pdf.
(Additional reporting by Scott Haggett)($1=$1.14 Canadian)
© Reuters 2006. All Rights Reserved.
Thu Oct 12, 2006 4:20pm ET
CORRECTED - EnCana says new Calgary office to cost C$850 million
By Jeffrey Jones
CALGARY, Alberta, Oct 12 (Reuters) - EnCana Corp. plans to build a C$1 billion ($877 million) Calgary office complex, a huge, crescent-shaped tower officials hope will revitalize one of the booming Canadian oil city's few eyesore areas.
The 59-storey glass and steel building, which will dominate Calgary's skyline when completed in 2011, will be by far the biggest project in a downtown market where seven office towers are already under construction, city officials said Thursday.
EnCana, Canada's largest energy company, will consolidate its head office staff in the 1.7 million square foot complex straddling two city blocks on the east side of the downtown core. They are currently scattered in five buildings.
The structure will be the country's tallest office tower outside of Toronto. It could cost C$850 million to C$1 billion, said John Brannan, the EnCana executive leading the project.
"The project team is working on a lot of the details right now, working with contractors to help finalize it. But that's our estimate at this point," he told a news conference.
Led by a boom in spending on oil sands and other energy projects, Western Canada's construction industry has been hit with surging costs due mostly to a tight labor market.
Meanwhile, Calgary's commercial and residential real estate markets are the hottest in Canada due to the energy boom. EnCana is concerned about such inflation, but the building's design, featuring steel construction rather than concrete, should help keep costs down, Brannan said.
In the second quarter alone, EnCana posted a profit of $2.2 billion. Last week, EnCana said it would spend $7.5 billion in a deal with ConocoPhillips to develop its Alberta oil sands reserves and process the heavy crude at U.S. refineries.
The company aims to eventually sell the curved building, called "The Bow" after the river that flows through the city of one million people, to a real estate management firm.
It was designed by London-based architects Foster + Partners. The firm also designed Beijing Airport, an expansion of the Hearst Tower in New York and revisions to London's city hall and Wembley Stadium.
The southwest side of the tower will be concave, providing a panoramic view of the Rocky Mountains in the distance and the torch-shaped Calgary tower in the foreground. Levels with indoor gardens are planned 18 floors apart.
A seven-story retail building will be attached to the squat York Hotel, which will be renovated. It was built in 1930 and was most recently used for low-income housing.
Calgary Mayor Dave Bronconnier and other city officials said they hope the new complex will kick-start revitalization of the threadbare east end of downtown, where several renewal proposals failed to materialize in the past decade.
Many of the buildings were razed long ago and now the area is domain of Calgary's growing homeless population.
"This project is a catalyst for the redevelopment," Bronconnier said. "It's something that's been a focal point from city council -- to deal with the preservation of heritage, the protection of it as well as new building, and then of course dealing with people who are in the area." Current office construction projects in Calgary are expected to add 12.3 million square feet of space, increasing the city's capacity by 25 percent, officials said.
Pictures of the planned complex are available at http://www.encana.com/pdfs/media/building/images.pdf.
(Additional reporting by Scott Haggett)($1=$1.14 Canadian)
© Reuters 2006. All Rights Reserved.
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