Fourteen months from bare pad to leasing-ready: the schedule, the surprises, and what we'd repeat.
Aspen Corner broke ground in March 2024 with a schedule most trades called optimistic: structure closed in before the first hard freeze, bays demised by spring, leasing-ready by early summer 2025. It finished two weeks early.
The unglamorous reason: approvals and servicing were fully settled before excavation. No redesign mid-stream, no waiting on a levy agreement while a crane sat idle. The weeks you save on a commercial build are almost all saved before the fence goes up.
“Fourteen months, three snow loads, and zero owner-side change orders.”
The surprise was a wet April that cost eleven pour days. The schedule absorbed it because contingency was carried where Calgary weather actually lands: in the structure phase, not spread thin across the calendar.
What we'd repeat: weekly owner walkthroughs with the leasing broker present. Tenant requirements surfaced while walls were still open, which is why the anchor bay was fixturing within a month of turnover.