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Office space with a view

Scores of people gained a new perspective of Red Deer on Thursday — 12-storeys above the city’s downtown.
B07-Business-Executive
Jennifer Forrest

Scores of people gained a new perspective of Red Deer on Thursday — 12-storeys above the city’s downtown.

The doors, and elevators, of the recently completed Executive Place office building at 4900 50th St. were open for a penthouse reception. And about 250 people took advantage.

“I’m amazed by the view,” said Isaac Martinez, a local intern architect who sits on the Greater Downtown Action Plan steering committee.

“I didn’t know there were so many trees around the downtown.”

The abundance of trees also caught the eye of Clay Engel, who does landscape construction in Sylvan Lake.

“We expected a pretty great view of the city,” he said. “We didn’t expect the city to look the way it does. We didn’t know that Red Deer was so forested.”

Even Red Deer Mayor Morris Flewwelling expressed surprise at the local foliage when he spoke at the reception.

“Looking out on here, we realize that we live in a forest — that’s the first thing you notice,” said Flewwelling. “And secondly, you get a wonderful view of our city in ways that we’ve never seen before unless you’ve flown over in a hot air balloon.”

This bird’s-eye view was in jeopardy when Executive Place was only a few floors out of the ground, acknowledged Bert Messier, whose Beca International Ltd. developed the building with joint venture partner Clark Builders.

Messier described how he and Clark Builders CEO Andy Clark pondered capping the structure at six storeys after the global recession set in and leasing prospects for the building dried up.

“Andy and I had a really heavy-duty meeting.”

But, the building had been engineered for 12-floors and elevators for that height had already been ordered.

More importantly, said Messier, he and Clark wanted to see their plans through.

“We said, ‘Let’s take the risk.’”

That risk has included financing the $40-million project themselves. But now that the work is done, Messier is optimistic about the future of Executive Place despite its current dearth of occupants.

“We’ve got a one-of-a-kind building, a one-of-a-kind location right in the heart of downtown, where you can walk virtually everywhere; we’ve got great parking; we’ve got everything close by.

“We will continue to move forward into our negotiations with some very good tenants we’re talking to now.

“Sooner or later, we’ll see 300 people working here.”

Flewwelling praised the developers’ commitment to Red Deer’s downtown.

“We’re encouraged by the private investment of people like these gentlemen, who have taken one of the prime corners of our city and developed this absolutely elegant and beautiful building here in the centre of the downtown.”

Clark echoed Messier’s positive outlook.

“We all got a bit of a setback in 2008 when the economy started going backwards. But fortunately, it’s 2010 and the stories that we hear from businesspeople is that they can’t find enough people to carry on the work that they’re doing right now, and I think we’re all really fortunate to be in Alberta.

“Some tenants have committed already and we have others that we’re still talking to.”

Mike Smith, a private contractor from Sylvan Lake, said he believes the quality of Executive Place will attract tenants.

“It’s definitely a class above everything else around here, I would say.”

hrichards@www.reddeeradvocate.com