A startup Calgary developer wants to convert downtown office space to a fully accessible luxury hotel — and he’s hoping Waldorf Astoria will be on the marquee.
Russell Petiot says a high-end hotel catering to the mobility-challenged with an adjacent residential component of the same type would be a first for the country, and he’s aiming for a licensing pact with the top of the hotel pecking order to fulfill it.
“We haven’t confirmed Waldorf Astoria, it’s one of the brands we’re considering,” said Petiot, CEO of Precedent Developments.
“(Parent company Hilton) are really eager to get another one in the area, Hilton’s been really good to chat with and seem interested in making investment happen.”
There are currently 10 Hilton-branded hotels throughout the city.
Petiot and his partners, Maggie Bowles and Myles Winnicki, envision transforming an underused office building into a 23-storey, 230,000 sq.-ft. project, split roughly 50-50 between hotel and residential with restaurants/bars on ground, second and top floors. It would consist of 110 hotel rooms and 90 residential units.
It would join one of a lengthening string of office space conversions in downtown Calgary that have primarily become residential units.
Precedent Developments founding partners from left: chief brand officer Maggie Bowles, CEO and managing partner Russell Petiot, and chief operating officer Myles Winnicki.
But the company is focusing on an aging, affluent demographic who’d gravitate to both the hotel and the residential sides.
“It’s for people who aren’t able to live in their large luxury home, we’re trying to figure out the nuances and making sure luxury spaces are fully accessible,” said Petiot, adding it’s time for developers to cater to that demographic.
“There is a different way we can do things as an industry and be the change that you want . . . we feel accessibility should be a given, that comes naturally,” he said.
Part of that drive, he said, is related to challenges he faces with a degenerative nerve disease that will ultimately make barrier-free living a personal imperative.
Search for suitable downtown building ongoing
Right now, the partners are still seeking a suitable building to convert, having assessed one that didn’t quite fit the bill.
That search, said Petiot, has been narrowed down to two buildings in the downtown core, though he wouldn’t divulge which ones they are.
It would be a conversion with a $100 million price tag and one with a built-in flexibility, he said.
“There could be a transformation of the hotel portion into assisted (residential) living,” said Petiot.
“After 15-25 years of a licensing agreement, we can see if the hotel demand is still there or if there’s a demand for assisted living.”
Calgary’s downtown office sector fell on hard times starting with the oil price plunge in 2014-15, followed by fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, driving vacancy rates past 30 per cent.
Precedent Developments is backing an office conversion project that would see a downtown Calgary high-rise turned into a fully accessible luxury hotel-residential building.
Those who study demographic trends in health care say the number of seniors in Calgary is projected to increase from 268,000 this year to 371,000 by 2036 and to 483,000 a decade after that, he said. Those aged 85 years and over will jump from 25,000 to 44,000 in the next 10 years.
More hotels in development for Calgary’s core
In recent months, the city has been the hub of a plethora of proposed hotel developments centred on the inner-city area.
Precedents’ proposal isn’t the first office-to-hotel conversion proposal for the downtown. So far, such transformations have created 226 hotel rooms in the core.
Aside from those are mega-developments like a hotel-residential complex that would consist of Marriott International’s 69- and 62-storey towers in Victoria Park, touted to be the two tallest buildings in western Canada. That would create more than 400 hotel rooms.
Last year, developer Truman announced another downtown hotel project, a $330-million property, which will operate under Autograph Collection Hotels and in partnership with the Calgary Stampede, and is set to open in 2028 with more than 320 rooms. The 13-storey building will be directly across from the expanded BMO Centre and will be the first hotel on Stampede grounds.
By the early 2030s, Victoria Park could see 1,000 new hotel rooms.
Truman is also behind a five-storey East Village development, plans that will add 132 hotel rooms to the area.
In 2025, then-mayor Jyoti Gondek said the city was short 4,500 hotel rooms, a barrier preventing the city from reaching its full hospitality and tourism potential.
The site of a new hotel within Stampede Park, to be operated under the Autograph Collection Hotels banner, as seen from the BMO Centre on April 25, 2026.
Driving much of that is the city’s growing convention sector, exemplified by the $500-million expansion of the BMO Centre, which opened in 2024.
Petiot said Precedence’s proposal wouldn’t get trampled in any hotel construction rush because it’s a smaller, more niche boutique offering that reflects the developer’s name.
“Ours wouldn’t compete with full-service hotels,” he said.
The Calgary Downtown Association hasn’t been involved in any discussions related to the project so their comment on it was limited, but such a proposal was nonetheless welcome, said a spokeswoman.
“As always, we are supportive of continued investment and activity in downtown Calgary, particularly projects that contribute to long-term vibrancy and economic resilience,” Bre Tighe said in an email.
Hilton didn’t respond to a request for comment.
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