Article
CBRE Teams Collaborate to Help ATB Financial Secure Offices in Calgary, Edmonton
February 25, 2026 5 Minute Read
CBRE’s Edmonton and Calgary office leasing teams joined forces to help ATB Financial ink deals to rent space in both cities.
ATB secured 173,000 sq. ft. at Calgary’s revamped Suncor Energy Centre and renewed its HQ lease for another five years at ATB Place in its hometown Edmonton.
The Calgary deal consolidates ATB’s multiple locations across the city into one at Suncor Energy Centre.
"Our decision to establish a single, prominent corporate presence in the Suncor Energy Centre is a powerful statement about ATB's long-term commitment to downtown Calgary,” says ATB’s Krista Lauridsen, VP, Head of Real Estate, Facilities, Design & Construction.
ATB’s Edmonton lease extension, keeping it at ATB Place Tower at 10020 Jasper Avenue until 2034, represents one of that city’s biggest office renewals in recent years. "By renewing our long-term lease at ATB Place, we are reaffirming our foundational commitment to Edmonton as ATB's head office,” Lauridsen says.
Both deals were the result of a tag team effort by CBRE Edmonton’s Mark Anderson and Jeremy Deeks in conjunction with CBRE Calgary’s Katie Sapieha, Angus Fraser, Trevor Davies and John Fisher.
“We knew it would be more effective for CBRE to work with ATB as a single unit across Alberta,” Deeks explains. “And we are thrilled we were able to find the right office space to position them for growth, operational efficiency and long-term sustainability in Alberta’s major cities.”
Joint CBRE Effort
CBRE’s collaboration on the ATB file started three years ago, when the Calgary and Edmonton offices teamed up to respond to a request for proposals for the listing of ATB’s sublease space in both cities.
“Since both markets got the RFP we thought it would be a good idea for our teams in those cities to work together on the pitch,” Sapieha says.
Having gone through the RFP process for ATB’s brokerage services and listing, CBRE was able to shift into a tenant representation role and pursue leasing deals for ATB seamlessly.
“We were constantly in communication with them,” says Deeks, “and the subleasing discussions triggered a bigger conversation about their corporate headquarters and how subleases would impact that.”
“That’s when we began to put a longer-term plan in place for ATB,” Sapieha says.
Starting Early
In Calgary, ATB had substantial office footprints downtown and in the suburbs, with leasing expiries two years apart: 2028 in the suburbs and 2030 downtown.
“The concept became, ‘Can we get everyone together somewhere?'” Fraser recalls. “And would it be all downtown or all in the suburbs? It wasn’t clear at the beginning.”
If it was going to be in the suburbs, it would likely involve the development of a new office building. “And that meant an early engagement in the market given ATB’s lease expiries in 2028 and 2030,” he says. “If we wanted the new development option to be part of the competitive process we had to get started on it early.”
Ultimately ATB decided it wanted a single, unified footprint and focused efforts on downtown.
Enter Suncor Energy Centre. Owners Brookfield and ARCI have invested more than $90 million to redevelop the complex into a mixed-used destination, with an events theatre, licensed food hall and exterior dining terrace. “It is the ideal spot for ATB,” says Fraser.
“The fact CBRE was able to get a lease commencement date for its Calgary office just five years from now had everything to do with the size and pedigree of ATB,” he adds. “So we certainly leveraged the AAA nature of the client and the size. ATB is a big tenant for Calgary.”
ATB’s move to Suncor Energy Centre will result in 90,000 sq. ft of positive absorption for the downtown office market.
Branding is critical for a retail financial institution, and ATB will have podium signage at street level and crown signage at the top of Suncor Energy Centre.
”We view this as a strategic investment in a premier location that aligns us with the city's future growth and positions our brand for maximum visibility in the evolving professional core,” says ATB’s Lauridsen. “We look forward to partnering with Brookfield on this next chapter.”
Amenities Seal Deal
In Edmonton, ATB’s lease expiry at ATB Place Tower was set for 2029. So Deeks says it made sense for CBRE’s Calgary and Edmonton teams to run their leasing processes at the same time.
“The RFP for leasing options went out at the exact same time in both markets. We knew it would be more effective if we collaborated on the effort.”
ATB’s decision to extend its lease at ATB Place in Edmonton was based in large part on the landlord’s commitment to a significant investment in the podium and the addition of new amenities to the complex, which dates from the early 70s.
“A big part of the deal was to get those amenity upgrades,” says Deeks. “That was really the only way we would sign this extension. And that applies to Calgary as well with the revamped Suncor Energy Centre. In both locations the client and team member experience is paramount for ATB moving forward.”
“ATB knows office attendance is directly correlated to the experience provided,” adds Fraser.
Maintaining a strong presence in downtown Edmonton was an important factor in ATB’s headquarters decision. “We are proud to anchor our business in the downtown core and contribute to the continued revitalization of Jasper Avenue,” says Lauridsen, “underscoring our confidence in downtown Edmonton as a whole.”
With all said and done, Fisher says the CBRE tag team couldn't be happier with the end result in both cities. “We are proud to represent a top tier client like ATB making big decisions in Alberta.”
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