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Downtown Commercial Core · Calgary office building record

Burns Building

Office · building · built 1913 · 237 8 Ave SE

Burns Building (237 8 Ave SE) is a building in Downtown Commercial Core, Calgary, recorded on the City assessment roll as built in 1913. The City assesses the parcel at $3.8M on the 2026 roll, 449th of 822 sites in the record by assessed value. A Plus 15 walkway touches the parcel. The nearest CTrain platform is City Hall, 172 m away in a straight line. 1,320 scheduled transit trips call within 300 m of the parcel on a weekday. Since 2012 the City has recorded 33 building permits and 0 development permits on the parcel, the largest a $770,000 office permit for alteration, applied for in 2013. It appears on the City’s Inventory of Evaluated Historic Resources as Burns Building.

LiDAR roof height—

Storey-equivalent (derived)—

Footprint0 m²

Parcel1,197 m²

Year built (roll)1913

Assessed 2026$3.8M

Structures on parcel0

Nearest CTrain172 m

Civic address: 237 8 Ave SE, Calgary, AB
Community: Downtown Commercial Core (DNC)
City sub-property use: C101 Office · all Office sites
Land use district: CR20-C20/R20 — Commercial - Residential Core (Commercial - Core)
Height rank: —
Footprint to parcel: 0% of the parcel under LiDAR footprints
Parcel pieces: 1 titled piece · roll 068101591
Coordinates: 51.045151, -114.058508

Own or manage Burns Building?

Slav Loban and the Commercially × Real Broker team give Calgary commercial owners a confidential pricing opinion based on the public record shown on this page: assessment history, permits, land use and the surrounding market. It is a broker’s opinion of value, not a formal appraisal. You do not need to be ready to list to start the conversation.

Request a pricing opinion Tenant? Review your lease

Massing and site plan

Left: isometric massing of every LiDAR structure on the parcel, at true scale, viewed from the south-west with 3.9 m storey lines. Right: plan of the parcel with surrounding footprints, Plus 15 walkways and nearby stations. Open this building in the 3D city →

No LiDAR structure attributed to this parcel.

Context within 150 m. Grey footprints darken with height; lime is the Plus 15 network.

Access

Public-geometry tests only; confirm routes, entrances and hours with the building.

CTrain

Nearest station: City Hall, 172 m straight-line (route 201/202). Planned Green Line station Beltline is 610 m away (Downtown Segment, per the City’s Green Line map).

Other office buildings near City Hall Station →

Plus 15

The City’s Plus 15 walkway geometry touches this parcel; the plan above shows the connected segments in lime. Confirm access points, hours and the interior route with the building.

Cycling

The best-rated cycling facility within 400 m of the parcel is a protected lane (Cycle Track), 55 m away.

Winter access

The parcel fronts a Priority 1 snow and ice clearing route, 10 m from its edge. Priority 1 routes are cleared first after a snowfall.

Accessible crossing

The nearest accessible pedestrian signal is at 8 Avenue and Macleod Trail, 39 m from the parcel.

Straight-line tests against The City of Calgary Calgary Bikeways, Snow and Ice Clearing Priority Routes and Traffic Signals, retrieved 2026-09-24. Bikeways are ranked by the City's comfort level, where 1 is a protected lane and 4 a major street. Snow priority is a clearing order, not a clearing time. An accessible pedestrian signal gives audible and tactile crossing cues; a signal recorded as unknown is not counted as having none.

Transit service

Scheduled Calgary Transit service at the door, not only the distance to a platform.

1,320 scheduled transit trips call within 300 m of this parcel on a representative weekday, 176 of them between 07:00 and 09:00, across 14 routes and 18 stops. The closest stop is EB 9 AV SE @ Macleod TR, 118 m away.

Service class	Trips on the service day
LRT	672
REGULAR	402
BRT	121
MAX	107
EXPRESS	18

Routes: 1 Bowness/Forest Lawn · 4 Huntington · 10 City Hall/Southcentre · 24 Ogden · 90 Bridgeland/University of Calgary · 101 Inglewood · 117 McKenzie Towne Express · 131 East Bow Express · 151 New Brighton Express · 201 Red Line - Somerset - Bridlewood/Tuscany CTrain · 202 Blue Line - Saddletowne/69 Street CTrain · 302 BRT Southeast/City Centre · 500 Airport Express · MP MAX Purple City Centre/East Hills.

Calgary Transit Scheduling Data (GTFS), service day 2026-09-28 inside the 2026-09-15 to 2026-12-20 service period. A trip is counted once however many stops it calls at inside the radius. Schedules change each service period; this is the schedule, not observed service.

Parking

What the City’s own tariff record says about kerbside parking beside this parcel.

Paid on-street parking within 200 m

110 metered stalls across 12 City parking zones touching this walking radius, at $1.00 to $4.75 per hour depending on zone and time of day. Maximum stay 15 to 240 minutes. Tariff zones 14, 2, 4c.

Enforced 0710-1750 MON-FRI, 0910-1750 SAT; 0910-1450 MON-FRI; 0910-1520 MON-SAT; 0910-1750 MON-FRI.

Closest zone

9 Av SE, Fr MacLeod Tr SE To 1 St SE — 62 m from the parcel, 9 parallel stalls, tariff zone 2, 120-minute maximum.

When	Rate
Mon-Fri 9:00 AM to 11:00 AM	$3.00 per Hour
Mon-Fri 11:00 AM to 1:30 PM	$3.50 per Hour
Mon-Fri 1:30 PM to 3:30 PM	$2.50 per Hour
Mon-Fri 3:30 PM to 6:00 PM	$1.50 per Hour
Saturday: 9:00 AM to 6:00 PM	$1.00 per Hour
Sunday/Holidays:	Free parking
Free parking to 9 AM	See Signs /Parking Restrictions

The City of Calgary On-Street Parking Zones with Rates, retrieved 2026-09-24. Counts cover Active paid parking zones only: loading bays, taxi stands, accessible stalls and permit-only zones are excluded, and off-street parkades are not in this dataset. Tariffs and enforcement hours change; confirm on the sign.

Heritage inventory

The City of Calgary Inventory of Evaluated Historic Resources records the following on this parcel.

Burns Building

Construction year: 1912
Architect: Unknown
Style: Chicago Commercial Style
Typology: Shop and Office
Development era: 1906 to 1913 (Pre WWI Boom, Age of Optimism)
Original use: Commerce
Planning theme: Business and Industry
Designation: Provincial Historic Resource
Provincial: 1987-07-20
Inventory class: CWHR

The Burns Building, built in 1912, is one of Calgary's most distinguished office buildings from the pre-World War I era. It is a very good example of the Edwardian Commercial style; its two principal facades clearly articulated with Classical detail in an arrangement that represents a base (two lower floors, topped by an entablature); a shaft continuing for the next four storeys; and a carefully detailed frieze and cornice at the top. The building is considered to be excellent in its design and exterior details, not only for the precisely detailed ornament, but also for the use of terra-cotta facing. Individual details such as the lions' heads which support the canopies and the elaborate cartouches at the tops of the pilaster strips are a delight to view. The architects were Hodgson, Bates and Beattie, one of Calgary's leading firms of the time. The structure beneath the terra-cotta is

Character-defining elements: The character-defining elements of the Burns Building include such features as: - mass, form, and style; - flat roof with dentiled terra-cotta entablature forming top floor parapet; - dentiled terra-cotta entablature above second storey; - terra-cotta sheathing and sculpted decorative elements, including "BURNS BUILDING" set in relief; - wrought iron canopy at ground level; - fenestration pattern; - entrance lobby containing original interior marble finishings, tile flooring, and stair railings; - tile flooring in main floor.

Source: The City of Calgary Inventory of Evaluated Historic Resources, entry 210.

Assessment history

Assessed values are The City of Calgary’s taxation figures by roll year, not sale prices or rents; Alberta does not publish transaction prices.

Roll 068101591 · Office

Published values by roll year

Roll year	Assessed value	Change
2005	$5.8M	—
2006	$7.5M	31.3%
2007	$9.7M	28.2%
2008	$13.0M	34.0%
2009	$13.4M	3.1%
2010	$12.6M	-5.9%
2011	$7.7M	-39.1%
2012	$7.0M	-8.5%
2013	$10.8M	54.1%
2014	$12.9M	19.1%
2015	$12.3M	-4.0%
2016	$11.0M	-11.3%
2017	$6.5M	-41.0%
2018	$5.8M	-9.9%
2019	$5.3M	-9.1%
2020	$3.8M	-28.5%
2021	$2.9M	-23.2%
2022	$2.0M	-29.9%
2023	$1.3M	-37.3%
2024	$2.2M	71.1%
2025	$3.7M	68.5%
2026	$3.8M	2.2%

Development and building permits

Applications the City has located on this parcel since 2012, from the Development Permits and Building Permits datasets.

Recent development permits 0 since 2012

None located on this parcel since 2012.

Recent building permits 33 since 2012 · 26 in the City’s office class

Applied	Permit	Class · work	Est. cost	Status
2025-11-05	BP2025-21575	3402 - Office · Alteration Interior alterations - Holman	$237,467	Completed
2024-05-06	BP2024-08624	3402 - Office · Alteration Office Interior Alteration	$75,000	Issued Permit
2023-03-30	BP2023-04104	3402 - Office · Alteration interior alteration	$90,000	Completed
2022-08-17	BP2022-14164	3402 - Office · Fire/ Security Alarm Change programming so that interconnect causes a trouble instead of an alarm signal to fire alarm panel as per code.	$2,000	Expired
2022-05-10	BP2022-07718	3402 - Office · Alteration HOK Calgary Studio - Tenant Improvements	$188,530	Completed
2022-01-14	BP2022-00555	3402 - Office · Alteration Hindle Studio - Tenant Improvement	$175,000	Completed
2022-01-13	BP2022-00505	3402 - Office · Alteration Interior Alteartions	$125,000	Completed
2020-07-27	BP2020-10085	6499 - Foreign/Commercial Misc. · Alteration Exterior Repairs	$173,400	Expired

Declared estimated project cost across all 33 non-residential building permits on the parcel since 2012: $4.2M. Permit descriptions are the City’s records at retrieval; applicant and contractor names are not reproduced.

Inspections

What City inspectors recorded against the permits on this parcel.

106 inspection results are published against 24 of the 33 building permits on this parcel, from 2013-04-05 to 2026-04-10. The most recent occupancy inspection was accepted on 2018-08-17. 10 inspections used a life-safety checklist and 1 a barrier-free checklist.

What was inspected

Result of each visit

Outcome	Inspections
Acceptable Add Inspection	39
Acceptable with Conditions	29
Not Acceptable	21
Acceptable	17

Stage

Inspection type	Count
Progress	47
Final	36
Occupancy	13
Framing	9
Site Safety	1

The 14 most recent inspection results

Date	Permit	Stage	Checklist	Outcome	Inspector note
2026-04-10	BP2025-21575	Final	All Directives	Acceptable with Conditions	No deficiencies noted. No further building inspections are required. - As discussed on site, add filler to guard at building exterior wall to close gap to correct spacing.
2026-01-27	BP2022-14164	Progress	All Directives	Not Acceptable	Permit expired.
2023-10-06	BP2023-04104	Final	Field Level Hazard Assessment (FLHA)	Acceptable	Field Level Hazard Assessment: - No unsafe conditions identified. Hard hat, Safety boots and vest worn.
2023-10-06	BP2023-04104	Final	General Inspection Observations	Acceptable	Tenant Improvement Inspections Observations were: - Scope of work is complete and confirmed that all associated trade permits are completed. - Received Sprinkler VI C1 and C2 Architectural C2 Electrical - No deficiencies to report and closing building permit file.
2022-09-20	BP2022-07718	Final	General Inspection Observations	Acceptable	Tenant Improvement Inspections Observations were: - Received documents. Requirements in place. Close file.
2022-08-04	BP2022-07718	Framing	Documents Commercial	Acceptable with Conditions	Contractor is to ensure that all related Trade Permits are closed prior to calling for Building Final
2022-08-04	BP2022-07718	Framing	Field Level Hazard Assessment (FLHA)	Acceptable with Conditions	Field Level Hazard Assessment: small work area on level 4 in an occupied Building, general construction conditions, no unusual hazards noted, site is relatively clean and accessible.
2022-08-04	BP2022-07718	Framing	Documents Commercial	Acceptable with Conditions	Sprinkler Verification required for Final
2022-08-04	BP2022-07718	Framing	Documents Commercial	Acceptable with Conditions	C1 and/or C2 letters required
2022-08-04	BP2022-07718	Framing	General Inspection Observations	Acceptable with Conditions	small office renovation for a new Tenant, no new penetrations, Fire Alarm will not be modified
2022-06-08	BP2022-00555	Final	General Inspection Observations	Acceptable	Tenant Improvement Inspections Observations were: work completed, all required documentation provided, reviewed and sent to File. The Permit will be closed with no further Building Inspections required.
2022-03-30	BP2022-00505	Final	—	Acceptable with Conditions	work completed, all required documentation provided, reviewed and sent to File. The Permit will be closed with no further Building Inspections required
2022-03-30	BP2022-00505	Final	Documents Commercial	Acceptable with Conditions	contractor is to ensure that all Trade Permits are closed.
2022-03-29	BP2022-00555	Framing	Documents Commercial	Acceptable with Conditions	Sprinkler Verification required for Final

An inspection result is a record of one visit, not a verdict on the building. 21 of these 106 results are recorded as Not Acceptable. In the City's process a Not Acceptable result is an ordinary step: the inspector lists what must change and the work is re-inspected, which is why the most common outcome across the record is Acceptable Add Inspection. Most results relate to a single tenant improvement rather than the whole building. Inspector notes are The City of Calgary's own text at retrieval, with contact details removed; applicant and contractor names are never read.

The City of Calgary Building Inspections Results, joined to building permits by permit number, retrieved 2026-09-24.

Occupiers and licensed businesses

The public record of who operates on the parcel, labelled by source.

Businesses licensed by the City on this parcel 3 as of 2026-09-24

Licensed business	Address	Licence type	Status	Licensed since
Global Upholstery Co	237 8 Ave SE	Wholesaler	Licensed	2018
Sasa Cafe	237 8 Ave SE	Food Service - Premises (Seating)	Licensed	2026
Individually licensed practitioner	237 8 Ave SE	Contractor (No Provincial Licence Required)	Licensed	2016

Not a tenant roster. The City licenses specific business types (retail, food service, personal services, contractors, wholesalers, schools and similar). Most office occupiers such as professional firms need no municipal licence and do not appear here. Matched by civic address and by licence location inside the parcel; home-based licences are excluded.

No individuals are named. The City issues many personal-service licences to people trading under their own name. Suite numbers are never published, and where a licence reads as an individual rather than an organisation the name is withheld and only the licence category is shown; 1 of the 3 licences on this parcel is withheld on that basis. Names of sources this site does not use are omitted.

Nearby office buildings

The six nearest office building sites in the record, by straight-line distance between parcel centroids.

Historic City Hall800 Macleod Trail SE57.2 m · built 1982 · Office · Downtown Commercial Core · 111 m
303 9 Ave SE15.5 m · built 1966 · Office · Downtown Commercial Core · 129 m
615 Macleod Trail SE62.8 m · built 1972 · Office · Downtown Commercial Core · 176 m
W.R. Castell Central Library616 Macleod Trail SE30.5 m · built 1974 · Office · Downtown Commercial Core · 204 m
Tudhope, Anderson Company Ltd.239 10 Ave SE19.3 m · built 1905 · Office · Beltline · 247 m
110 221 10 Ave SE16.8 m · built 2003 · Office Condo · 9 accounts · Beltline · 251 m

Where this building sits in the record

Every collection this building belongs to, from the same public data shown above.

Downtown Commercial Core office buildings Southeast Calgary All Office sites Built in the 1910s Land use CR20-C20/R20 Plus 15 connected buildings Heritage office buildings Named office buildings Paid street parking Office buildings near CTrain Transit service ranking Assessment cycle 2015–2026 Construction record

Burns Building questions

Answers drawn from the record.

How tall is Burns Building?

No LiDAR structure could be attributed to this parcel in the current City 3D building layer.

When was Burns Building built?

The City’s assessment roll records 1913 as the year of construction. The heritage inventory records 1912.

What is the assessed value of Burns Building?

The City of Calgary assesses this parcel at $3.8M in total on the 2026 roll, 449th of 822 sites in this record. Assessed value is the City’s figure for property tax, not a sale price or an asking price.

What is Burns Building zoned?

The parcel is designated CR20-C20/R20, Commercial - Residential Core, under the City of Calgary Land Use Bylaw. Confirm the designation and any amendments with the City before relying on it.

Which CTrain station is closest to Burns Building?

City Hall Station, 172 m in a straight line from the parcel centroid.

Who is in Burns Building?

The City of Calgary business licence register lists 3 licensed businesses at this address or inside the parcel as of 2026-09-24, shown in the occupiers section. Most office occupiers such as professional firms do not need a municipal licence, so the register is not a tenant roster.

Has Burns Building been inspected?

The City publishes 106 inspection results against 24 permits here, between 2013-04-05 and 2026-04-10. 10 used a life-safety checklist such as fire separations, firestopping or emergency lighting. 1 used the barrier-free checklist. The most recent occupancy inspection was accepted on 2018-08-17. Each result records one visit and most relate to a single tenant improvement, so this is not a verdict on the building.

How good is transit at Burns Building?

1,320 scheduled transit trips call within 300 m of the parcel on a representative weekday, 176 of them in the morning peak, across 14 routes. The closest stop is EB 9 AV SE @ Macleod TR, 118 m away. That is the published schedule for one service period, not observed service, and it counts each trip once however many stops it makes nearby.

Can staff cycle or get there in winter at Burns Building?

The best-rated cycling facility within 400 m is a protected lane, 55 m away. The parcel fronts a Priority 1 snow and ice clearing route. These are straight-line tests against City layers.

Where can visitors park at Burns Building?

The City of Calgary's tariff record shows 110 paid on-street stalls in 12 zones within 200 m of the parcel, at $1.00 to $4.75 per hour. The closest is 9 Av SE, Fr MacLeod Tr SE To 1 St SE, 62 m away. Loading bays, taxi stands, accessible stalls and off-street parkades are not counted, and rates change, so confirm on the sign.

Is office space available at Burns Building?

This profile is built from public records and does not track availability, rents or tenancy. Submit a private requirement and current options in the building or nearby will be confirmed through Commercially.

Open in 3D Downtown Commercial Core office buildings Calgary office space guide Downtown map Skyline Office lease cost guide Office tour checklist

Public record sources: Current Year Property Assessments (Parcel), Historical Property Assessments (Parcel), Assessment Subproperty Use Codes, 3D Buildings - Citywide (LiDAR roof outlines), Land Use Districts, Transit LRT Stations, Green Line Stations, Plus 15, Historic Resource (Inventory of Evaluated Historic Resources), Development Permits, Building Permits, Calgary Existing Buildings - Performance Metrics (BenchmarkYYC), Calgary Business Licenses, On-Street Parking Zones with Rates, Building Inspections Results, Residential Parking Zones, Snow and Ice Clearing Priority Routes, Traffic Signals, Calgary Bikeways — The City of Calgary, retrieved 2026-09-24. Contains information licensed under the Open Government Licence – City of Calgary. Building names, floor counts and architects, where shown, come from Wikidata (CC0). No brokerage, listing-data or commercial research source is used.

Boundary: Assessed values are the City’s assessment-roll figures for taxation and are not sale prices, asking rents, vacancy or availability; Alberta does not publish transaction prices. LiDAR heights are roof-surface elevations above the lowest ground point at the building perimeter and can differ from architectural heights. Storey equivalents are derived at 3.9 m per storey and are not floor counts. Distances are straight-line. Permit descriptions are the City’s records at retrieval and do not establish current use, tenancy or availability. Read the methodology.

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