Cranes signal big growth at airport:
We used to marvel at the number of cranes downtown, but it is just as exciting today – and a great sign of future growth – to count those dotting the skyline at the Calgary International Airport.
Driving down Barlow Trail from Country Hills Blvd., I noticed a couple over where the new tunnel is being built by PCL and then around the terminal building there are another five. One is at the control tower being built by NAV Canada and due to open this fall. It will soar 300 feet above the central area to allow views of all runways on the airport.
The others are hovering over EllisDon crews working on the massive new international terminal building on the south end of the main terminal facility; and all are under the watchful eye of Bob Schmitt, senior vice-president of planning and engineering for the Calgary Airport Authority.
Schmitt has overseen a tremendous amount of construction activity since he joined the authority 25 years ago after being involved in civil construction across Western Canada.
He was appointed to its executive team in 1997 and compares current activity with an investment of $1.5 billion in the years 1992 to 2011 and a forecast of $2.5 billion over the next eight years.
The airport has and will continue to have a huge economic impact on the well-being of this city.
The land covers some 2,000 hectares and within its confines, 24,000 people go to work each day, in addition to an average of 35,000 passengers that brought the 2011 total up to approximately 12.7 million. Staff are able to make use of medical facilities as well as the numerous retail, food and beverage outlets making it a most pleasant place to work.
And those impressive figures will increase.
Maintenance and restoration costs for this year alone are $67 million and the capacity-driven additions of runway and new terminal will cost over $2 billion by the time they are completed in 2014 and 2015 respectively.
The runway, which has been on the books since the early 1970s, is 14,000 feet long – Schmitt says it would stretch from the Calgary Tower almost to Chinook Centre – and is 200 feet wide. It will link with a taxiway system to the new international terminal.
The new terminal, which is already well above ground, will cover two million square feet over five levels to include airline check-in, pre-board screening, baggage-handling systems, support structures and U.S. and Canadian inspection facilities. It will handle 22 gate positions and Schmitt says plans are well underway to build a 300-room hotel that will be leased out to a third party operator.
The plans he shared with me allow for further extensions to the international terminal in the years 2025 and 2030, adding a minimum of 14 more gates.
The more one travels the more one gets to appreciate our airport – and it is going to get even better.
Tim Sommer of Cushman & Wakefield has completed a complicated, multi-faceted transaction with the sale of Vista Tower on the 900-block of 6th Avenue S.W.
He was approached by Ontario-based Starlight Investments, which was looking for a concrete, multi-family highrise in downtown Calgary and persuaded the owner of Vista to sell his property consisting of a 20-storey building with 152 suites and parking.
Sommer’s difficulty in the transaction was that the building is on a land lease, land being owned by GWL Realty Advisors. He says it took a lot of work and understanding by lawyers at Bishop & McKenzie and Fraser Milner Casgrain which had to approve the sale, to finalize the deal, resulting in a $23-million plus sale.
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