How PBA Group Converted A Calgary Office Tower Into The Element Hotel

PBA Group has given new life to a long-empty office tower in downtown Calgary. The 12-storey building at 833 4th Avenue SW, once called the Canadian Centre, has been turned into the brand-new Element Hotel by Westin. This is the first time the city’s office conversion incentives were used to make an office into a hotel, and the hotel officially opened its doors on June 19, 2025.

This building was built back in 1982 and had about 170,000 square feet of office space. Over time, more and more tenants left, until more than 90% of the building sat empty. PBA Group bought the property in 2022, hoping to reuse it in a smart way. They chose to turn it into a hotel because office buildings like this one were in good shape, had useful ceiling heights, and a floor layout that made guest rooms easy to design.

To make the conversion work, they kept parts of the old building that were still good—like the windows and roof—but tore out nearly everything else down to the structural frame. They replaced mechanical systems and carefully planned how to drill into the building for new vents. The tricky part was avoiding the tensioning cables hidden in the concrete. To make sure they didn’t damage the structure, they used x-ray scans to mark where it was safe to make openings.

The new hotel now offers 226 comfortable suites, including extended-stay rooms with kitchens, a shared “Studio Commons” area for guests to cook and relax, and a rooftop restaurant. There’s also a fitness centre, meeting rooms, a lobby café, and facilities to borrow bicycles—all part of making the space feel modern and friendly.

Doing this kind of conversion was only possible because of the City of Calgary’s Downtown Calgary Development Incentive Program. The city gave a grant—\$75 for every square foot converted—which helped make the project affordable and worthwhile. The building was nearly empty, sitting unused and costing the city. Now it brings life back, employs around 75 people, and will bring more property tax income to the city over time.

Beyond what it adds to Calgary's downtown, the project also helped the environment. By changing the old building instead of tearing it down and building new, they kept roughly 570,000 kilograms of waste out of landfills and avoided the carbon emissions that come with demolition and rebuilding. The Element Hotel also includes features to reduce its environmental impact, like recycled materials, water-saving fixtures, bike borrowing, and more.