Encana selling two Calgary downtown properties, Bought a few years ago as part of The Bow tower project by Mario Toneguzzi, March 5, 2014, Calgary Herald
Two downtown properties near The Bow tower project, either owned or jointly-owned by Calgary energy giant Encana, are on the market for sale, the Herald has learned. The 18,000-square-foot Le Rocc building at 149 5th Ave. S.E., which Encana has owned since January 2007, is listed for sale by real estate firm Cushman & Wakefield. It is being sold by bid submission. Also for sale is the former 19,000-square-foot CUPS building, at 128 7th Ave. S.E., which Encana jointly owns with Cenovus. The list price for that building is $3.4 million. The building has been owned by the companies since January 2009. “The reason for putting them on the market is that they are not core to our business. We are in the energy business, not the downtown real estate business, so we do not see a need to carry these properties in our portfolio at this time,” said Doug McIntyre, spokesman for Encana. “The CUPS and Le Rocc buildings were acquired in connection with The Bow project and not for the purposes of any other development.”
Although speculation in the real estate industry is that the Encana Place tower on 9th Avenue S.W. might also be on the block in the future, McIntyre said: “Encana Place is not on the market and currently there are no plans in place to put it there.” Patricia Doherty, Cenovus Media Analyst, said of the CUPS building that “since real estate is not our core business the property is currently marketed for sale.” H&R Real Estate Investment Trust owns the 58-storey, 1.7 million-square-foot Bow tower which is home to both Encana and Cenovus.
In the fall, Encana announced it was cutting its workforce by about 20 per cent or about 1,000 jobs.