BEL JAN Avenue, originally built in 1891, and reimagined it as cutting edge retail and office space. The Strathcona includes four unique levels. On the first level, through the front entrance, there’s an open concept café and bar area, where natural light follows in through the skylight of the annex, and the staggered open concept offers views of the upper level businesses. Up the elevator, or the stairs, there are collaborative office spaces, beauty salons, and specialty boutiques. On the next level, there are wellness-based businesses and an outdoor patio and bar. Beljan is particularly proud of what they accomplished there, Chris says, because of the significance the original building had to the city – the Strathcona Hotel was one of the oldest buildings in the province of Alberta and had been a wellknown landmark for over 100 years. “To take that on, reposition it, and give it hopefully another 100 years of life, that’s a big achievement for us,” Chris says. Adding to the achievement was the fact that they had to navigate a serious fire over the course of the development. “For so many years, that building has operated as a dive bar and a low budget motel, and it never burned down,” Chris recalls. “I thought that was so amazing. I’ll never forget the day I went walking through there prior to purchasing it, I kept saying to myself ‘I’m surprised this is still standing.’ After that many years of people probably drinking too much at the bar on the main floor, coming up to their room,
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