Matthews Development and the Encana Corporation say the financial difficulties which briefly confronted construction of the Encana Bow Tower a couple of months ago have been straightened out, and the building will be completed by 2011.
“You’re looking at a footprint that’s about 30,000 square-feet,” said Matthews associate vice-president Michael Brown.
“The typical building in Calgary is 10 to 15-thousand square-feet. And the total office space here will be around two million square-feet. What we’re doing is taking the size of the two Petro Canada towers, and building them in one.”
When finished, the Bow Tower will be 58 stories and 775 feet high. That will make it the tallest building in western Canada. Below ground, there’ll be a six-storey parking garage, which is being constructed as the steel above ground continues to go up.
“We can go up to about 24 floors,” says Brown, “before the below ground needs to be done in terms of the parking garage.”
The total estimated cost of the Bow Tower is more than one billion dollars. In early April, there were reports a second, smaller office block connected to the Bow would be delayed because of financial roadblocks. But Matthews and Encana say the underwriting difficulties have been resolved and both the main and smaller buildings will be completed on schedule.
