Avison Young closes one of Alberta’s largest office leases, securing a new office tower in Edmonton’s world class ICE District to house the corporate headquarters for Canadian Western Bank

Toronto, ON – Avison Young announces the completion of a long-term lease on behalf of its client Canadian Western Bank (CWB) for its corporate headquarters. CWB will relocate to a new tower to be constructed in Edmonton’s world class mixed-use ICE District development. This new commitment to the City of Edmonton and ICE District represents one of the largest completed in Alberta over the past several years.

CWB is expected to take occupancy of 205,000 square feet in 2025, when construction of the 16-story tower will be complete. This brand-new workplace will embrace all components of X Factor, Avison Young’s comprehensive program that helps occupiers shape the new reality of the workplace, treating it as a dynamic ecosystem that fosters collaboration, creativity and human experience.

ICE District will be Canada’s largest mixed-use sports and entertainment district, spanning over 25 acres in Edmonton’s downtown core with direct access to offices, dining and retail experiences, as well as fitness, hotels and residences.

For the first two months of 2022, foot traffic in downtown Edmonton continues to recover. The Avison Young Office Vitality Index tracks downtown activity in 23 cities across North America, including Edmonton and five other Canadian cities. As companies continue to implement Return to Office strategies, the war for recruiting and retaining talent is an integral part of business considerations. Avison Young research reveals that employees want to return for activities such as team building (70%) and corporate social events (68%) – and workspaces that foster collaboration and offer amenities are most appealing to workers.

QUOTES:

“Avison Young was thrilled to assist CWB in solidifying Edmonton as its corporate home for the future. It was critical to support the bank in finding space that would represent the world class organization and corporate culture CWB embodies. The goal was to secure premises that would provide its employees a state-of-the-art workplace as it competes for best-in-class talent. The new tower will be surrounded by the amenity-rich ICE District that has become the heart of downtown Edmonton.” – Arlyn Stoik, Principal and Director, Avison Young

“Avison Young’s office leasing and consulting teams worked collaboratively to develop an agile workplace strategy built for the future to accommodate CWB’s diverse, expanding and dynamic work force. The comprehensive process was critical to ensure the bank’s long-term needs would be met while taking into account the intricacies and challenges of the current environment.” – Mark Hartum, Principal, Avison Young

“We’re delighted to work with CWB as, like many large users of office space, they reimagine their workplace needs in a post-pandemic era. Creating collaborative, high-performance workspaces and employee experiences are key for companies like CWB as they find new ways to balance individual and teaming spaces.” – Sheila Botting, Principal & President Americas, Professional Services, Avison Young

“CWB were extremely pleased to partner with Arlyn Stoik and Mark Hartum of Avison Young, with support from their professional services team, to secure our future corporate head office in ICE District. We were able to achieve an outstanding result for our organization through the team’s incredibly hard work, especially in light of all of the complexities of establishing our workplace of the future during the disruption of the pandemic. We look forward to our continuing relationship with Avison Young as we move towards opening the new offices.” – Stef Schiedon, Sr. AVP Corporate Services, CWB Financial Group