Anthem has purchased 95 acres of industrial land in southeast Calgary. The former site of a welded steel pipe manufacturing facility will be turned into a multi-phase business park with facility options for small- to medium-format occupiers, along with ancillary retail components.
The development project—the latest in a series of acquisitions from the company’s newly formed industrial team—sits at the busy corner of Barlow Trail SE and Glenmore Trail SE in the mature Foothills industrial node.
Alberta’s industrial market has seen heightened demand for industrial product and the lowest vacancy rates since 2014. Since August 2021, Anthem’s industrial portfolio in Calgary has grown by more than 375 per cent with the acquisition of five existing industrial properties, totaling upwards of 650,000 square feet of gross leasable area, along with about 290 acres of industrial development land.
“Regional and national distributors and logistics companies are looking to Alberta,” says Sean Day, Anthem’s vice-president of industrial. “Calgary’s excellent transportation infrastructure, low cost of living, young and dynamic population, availability of developable land and more economic rents compared to Toronto or Vancouver make it one of the hottest markets for industrial right now.”
The project will complement Anthem’s two other industrial development projects in the rapidly expanding distribution hub of Balzac, immediately north of the Calgary city limit. Those future logistics parks will be designed with medium- to large-format distribution/logistics tenants in mind.
“Our Barlow development will supply more industrial density to the area, transforming the site from a low-density heavy industrial usage to high-density light industrial,” says Day. “There is relatively limited supply of modern small- to medium-format industrial space in southeast Calgary, so we’re aiming to provide some relief to the market in that regard.”
“It’s our goal to be able to offer various options to different business types across the region. “We are devoted to meaningful, long-term investment in Alberta. Calgary is just the beginning.”
