News from CNW Group

Bentall Announces Phase Two of Livingston Place in Downtown Calgary

Friday, September 30, 2005

CALGARY, Sept. 30 /CNW/ - Bentall Real Estate Services LP today reinforced its confidence in Calgary's economy by announcing it would proceed with construction of the second phase of Livingston Place on behalf of its client British Columbia Investment Management Corporation (bcIMC). Livingston Place is a $220-million premier AA class office tower development located in downtown Calgary at Second Street and Third Avenue S.W.

Bentall announced the first phase of the two-tower project in December 2004. Less than six months later, 180,000 square feet (about 45 per cent of the building) was leased to three major tenants: Pengrowth Energy Trust and sister companies Marsh Canada Limited and Mercer Human Resource Consulting Limited.

Construction of phase two of Livingston Place, a second 21-storey office tower, will begin immediately. Completion of the south and west towers is scheduled for the spring and fall of 2007 respectively. In all, Livingston Place will add 840,000 square feet of AA class office space to downtown Calgary's increasingly scarce inventory of available office space.

Overall, Calgary's downtown core currently has some 32 million square feet of office space (of which about seven million square feet is AA class). Calgary is also second only to Toronto for the number of head offices in Canada.

"Calgary's economy is driving the growth of many businesses and that's increasing the demand for top-quality office space. We fully expect to have both towers completely leased when they open in 2007," said Randy Magnussen, Bentall's Senior Vice President and General Manager, Western Region.

"With the downtown office vacancy rate currently at 3.15 per cent and expected to drop as low as two per cent, we're seeing fewer and fewer options available to tenants looking for 40,000- to 50,000-square-feet of quality space," said Randy Fennessey, President of Colliers International in Calgary, the project's exclusive listing agent. "Livingston Place will provide much needed relief to a shortage of quality office space at a time when Calgary's economic prospects could not be more solid."

Livingston Place features two granite and glass clad 21-storey office towers; two spacious, extensively landscaped outdoor plazas - the largest of any office development in Calgary - and underground parking for 504 vehicles.

The project is located in Calgary's Eau Claire district and named after Sam Livingston - one of Calgary's first and most colourful settlers. The project designer is Gibbs Gage Architects; the general contractor and project manager is EllisDon.

Bentall is developing and building Livingston Place on behalf of property owner bcIMC, one of Canada's largest landlords with a portfolio of top-tier Canadian properties valued at more than $7 billion. Its investments include Canadian office landmarks such as Bankers Hall, Ernst & Young Tower (Eau Claire), Energy Plaza, BP Centre and Western Canadian Place in Calgary, and Commerce Court in Toronto. In Calgary, bcIMC's 3.4- million-square-foot office portfolio is currently more than 98 per cent occupied.

bcIMC provides professional fund management services for public bodies and publicly administered trust funds. Public sector pension plans constitute bcIMC's largest client group and account for 74 per cent of the assets under administration. With an investment portfolio of approximately $72 billion, bcIMC is one of the largest institutional investors in Canada.

Bentall Real Estate Services is a Bentall Capital affiliate. Bentall Capital LP is a leading real estate advisory and service organization in Canada, with significant and growing operations in the U.S. Pacific Northwest, Midwest and Southern California. The company serves major institutional and private investors - supplying a range of asset management, property management, leasing and development services to over 100 clients representing $12 billion currently invested in real estate.

For further information: contact: Randy Magnussen, Senior Vice President and General Manager, Western Region, Bentall Real Estate Services, (403) 303-2400