We started in 1998 borrowing a boardroom
from a friend. Today, we proudly own and manage 4.25 million square feet in downtown Calgary and Edmonton.
How we got here
Scott Hutcheson co-founded Aspen in 1998 and immediately acquired a handful of promising Calgary properties. One year later, Aspen’s portfolio comprised close to 358,000 square feet of downtown commercial property.
In 2000, Scott was joined by Greg Guatto and the partners continued to add to Aspen’s portfolio, including buying and privatizing a significant block of shares in the publicly traded company Consolidated Properties Ltd. This added 42 more commercial properties to Aspen’s portfolio that ranged from office, retail and industrial to residential—in locations all across Canada.
Soon after, Aspen began divesting its non-Alberta assets and, by 2005, the company was solely focused on what remains Aspen’s specialty to this day: providing value-add downtown office space in Calgary and Edmonton.
In January 2005, Aspen entered into an investment partnership with a Canadian pension fund that endures to this day.
Since its founding, Aspen has bought and sold a total of over $2.6 billion in properties, has acquired and privatized two publicly traded companies, repositioned numerous properties through value-add initiatives and, in 2018, launched a 440,000 sq. ft. building in Calgary - called The Edison—the company’s first highly amenitized, 'love where you work' office building.
Aspen’s development work focuses on both infill properties to bring development within the current footprint of downtown projects and the redevelopment of existing properties to bring new life and longevity to existing buildings.
Aspen has established and nurtured strong financial relationships offering solid capital support. With blended yields from existing operations, new acquisitions, institutional financial support and new office property development, Aspen's financial platform and management integrity has positioned us for strong, disciplined, properly capitalized growth over the long term.
Who we are
Aspen Properties is a privately-held, boutique real estate company that owns and manages commercial office space in downtown Calgary and Edmonton. Aspen focuses on creating welcoming work spaces where people feel connected, get inspired, and know they belong.
Together with our investment partners, Aspen Properties owns and manages approximately 3.8 million square feet of office space in Calgary and Edmonton (plus nearly 3,800 highly sought-after parking spaces in downtown Calgary and Edmonton). Our current assets comprise 15 buildings—eleven in Calgary, three in Edmonton and development sites in each city.
Our buildings typically offer modern and flexible workspaces, full-service meeting and conference facilities and many of our office buildings include recreation amenities—gyms, basketball courts, shared bikes, showers & change rooms and secure bike parking. And, let’s not forget the many retail stores and services sprinkled throughout our buildings which not only adds to the quality of our workplaces, but also, provides another “bump-into-occasion” during the work day.
Our vision: To provide the most advanced and sought-after boutique commercial real estate in Alberta.
Our Culture
We love coming to work—and we work hard to help others feel the same way when they come to work in Aspen’s buildings.
We strive to give our tenants exactly the right spaces they need to be happy, productive and profitable.
Aspen is driven, innovative and adaptable—as one needs to be in order to thrive in today’s quickly evolving business landscape. We love challenges that require ‘outside the box’ thinking. Our team works hard to keep current and to continue to offer the services and amenities that people want and need to make their workdays (and workspaces) fun and rewarding.
Our employees and our tenants know they can express their ideas, voice their concerns and ask questions. And in return, our management team offers them the promise that Aspen will listen and respond with respect and professionalism.
Being honest and open—and always respectful—is fundamental to who we are.
Our passion is to innovate…
to offer the very best in every Aspen building to everyone we serve…
to be first-to-market with amenities that make coming to work fun and productive…
to put a smile on everybody’s face.
