Downtown Office Conversion Program (Calgary)

Program Description

The City of Calgary pays downtown property owners a per-square-foot incentive to convert existing commercial office space into residential units, hotels or other approved uses. The rate is $75 per square foot of converted office floor area (plus $50 per square foot for active uses at ground and Plus 15 levels), to a maximum of $12 million per application unless Council approves more. Renamed from the Downtown Calgary Development Incentive Program when Council approved updated Terms of Reference in May 2026; the June 15 – July 27, 2026 application window has closed.

Eligibility Requirements

• Applicant must own the building, or demonstrate a path to ownership with a letter from the current owner authorizing the application and attesting to the proposed sale — leaseholders and tenants cannot apply.
• The project must be located in Calgary's Greater Downtown Plan Area; projects inside the Downtown Core 'Priority Area' are considered for funding ahead of projects outside it.
• At the time of submission the property must be classified by The City of Calgary as commercial office use and as 'non-residential' property for assessment and tax purposes.
• The project must convert existing office space to an eligible use: multi-residential development/dwelling units, hotel, or an 'other use' within the scope of the program (student housing, seniors housing, co-living, life sciences, self-storage, K–12 schools, performing arts and cultural uses).
• New construction and additions to existing buildings are out of scope.
• Buildings already being converted from non-residential to residential assessment class are out of scope.
• Projects within the scope of the Downtown Post-Secondary Institution Incentive Program are out of scope for this program.
• Property owned by any municipal, provincial or federal government, or any subsidiary or affiliate, is out of scope.
• Applicants (or affiliates) under an unremedied notice of default, or whose prior City conversion funding agreement was terminated, are out of scope until the issues are resolved to the Director's satisfaction.
• Applications must pass three pass/fail preliminary gates — complete submission, legal due diligence, and financing plan/financial capacity — before any scoring occurs.
• Crowdfunding is not an acceptable source of project equity.
• For 'other uses', the applicant must state the incentive rate it is requesting; where two applications score equally, the one requesting the lower rate per square foot ranks higher.