Steam rises from buildings in Calgary, Alta., Wednesday, Feb. 8, 2017. A major player in Calgary’s depressed office real estate industry is putting 56 office buildings under court protection from creditors while it tries to find buyers. , The Canadian Press Sharlene Massie, founder of Calgary-based employment agency About Staffing, made great time on her commute from a nearby suburb earlier this week, reaching the city’s empty downtown core in only 15 minutes. The trip in non-pandemic times would take 45 minutes out of her day – but this shortened commute came at a cost. “Where it used to be booming and bustling downtown, it really is empty,” Massie said, adding that March 2020 marked a stark turning point for the city. “That’s when really everything shut down almost permanently. It got colder and drier and emptier, and just stayed there.” The 2015 downturn in the energy sector sparked the growth in office vacancies, which has continued climbing steadily in Calgary’s downtown area over the past few years. Then, things got worse. Once the pandemic sent many people to work from their homes early last year and crashed the price of oil into negative territory, the city’s commercial real […]
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