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Manulife Place

For the highrise residential tower in Toronto, see Manulife Centre.

Manulife Place is a highrise office building and shopping mall in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. It was completed in 1983 and designed by Clifford Lawrie Bolton Ritchie Architects. It is located at the corner of 102 Avenue and 101 Street in downtown Edmonton. Naming rights of the complex are held by insurer Manulife.

The building has a two level shopping concourse. Manulife Place is connected by the Edmonton Pedway to Edmonton City Centre and Commerce Place.

At 146 meters (479 ft) tall, with 36 floors, it was the tallest building in Edmonton from 1983 until 2011.[3] In 2011, it was overtaken by Epcor Tower at 149.4 meters (490 ft).[4]

In 2025, National Bank of Canada announced that the building would be renamed National Bank Centre.[5]

History

The location of Manulife Place was formerly the home of the King Edward Hotel which stood on the site from 1906 until it was destroyed by a fire in 1978. Demolition of the hotel began in September 1979 and was completed in early 1980.[6][7]

In late 1978, land assembly for the building began at a cost of $20 million.[8] In January 1979, it was revealed Manulife had purchased King Edward Hotel site at a reported price of $300 per square foot.[9] In March 1980, Manulife announced plans to construct two skyscrapers at the hotel site. The complex would consist of a 27-storey office tower and a 20-storey tower (either an office tower or hotel) and would be built in phases. The towers would also be anchored by a ground level, two-storey shopping mall.[10] In July 1980, Manulife abandoned their original two-stage plan and announced their revised plans would consist of a single 36-storey office tower with a retail complex. The revised project would feature a 460 feet (140 m) tower with 620,000 square feet of space, which would make it the tallest building in Edmonton. The tower would be connected to a three-storey podium, with office space occupying at the top level and the two lower levels dedicated to retail. Additionally, the complex would include a three-storey underground parking garage with space for 500 vehicles.[8] Edmonton City Council approved the project in December 1980.[11]

Construction on the building began in June 1981 with a scheduled completion of June 1983.[12] In February 1983, luxury department chain Holt Renfrew reopened in Manulife Place after relocating from their Jasper Avenue location.[13] The building officially opened on 12 October 1983 at a cost of $100 million.[1] At the time of opening, 70 percent of the complex's retail space was leased but only 12 percent of the office space was leased due to the poor office leasing market.[1] Manulife Place was constructed by the local general contractor PCL Construction,[12] with another local contractor, C. W. Carry manufacturing and erecting the structural steel.

A pedway connecting Manulife Place with Eaton Centre over 102 Avenue opened in March 1984.[14] A second shopping mall, Manulife Place Phase II, opened on April 20, 1988. The mall, located west of Manulife Place and north of the Hudson's Bay Company building (now known as Enterprise Square), is connected to the existing complex by a pedway over 102 Street and featured 75 stores and services across two-storeys.[15] A pedway connecting to CityCentre opened in March 1993.[16]

On May 15, 2019, Holt Renfrew announced that they would be closing their 47,000 square foot store at Manulife Place on January 11, 2020, as the Louis Vuitton concession inside the store had departed for West Edmonton Mall, and as the Holt Renfrew chain had decided to focus on larger stores with 130,000 square feet or more.[17]

In January 2025, Epic Investment Services announced the building would undergo a $45 million redevelopment that would include a modernization of the podium and new amenities.[18] On April 22, 2025, National Bank of Canada announced that Manulife Place would be renamed National Bank Centre.[5]

See also

References

  1. ^ a b c Hryciuk, Dennis (13 October 1983). "City's tallest tower lost in space". Edmonton Journal. p. E9. Retrieved 7 April 2025 – via Newspapers.com.
  2. ^ 1688 to 1923: Geloso, Vincent, A Price Index for Canada, 1688 to 1850 (December 6, 2016). Afterwards, Canadian inflation numbers based on Statistics Canada tables 18-10-0005-01 (formerly CANSIM 326-0021) "Consumer Price Index, annual average, not seasonally adjusted". Statistics Canada. Retrieved April 17, 2021. and table 18-10-0004-13 "Consumer Price Index by product group, monthly, percentage change, not seasonally adjusted, Canada, provinces, Whitehorse, Yellowknife and Iqaluit". Statistics Canada. Retrieved 2024-05-08.
  3. ^ Emporis Buildings (2007). "Manulife Place". Archived from the original on March 30, 2007. Retrieved 2007-10-19.
  4. ^ Mah, Bill (2010-06-15). "Flagpoles will make Epcor Tower tallest". Edmonton Journal. Archived from the original on 2010-08-23. Retrieved 2011-01-25.
  5. ^ a b Delaney, Zac (22 April 2025). "Downtown Edmonton's Manulife Place gets a new name with new tenant". Edmonton Journal. Archived from the original on 22 April 2025. Retrieved 22 April 2025.
  6. ^ "Demolition to start on King Edward site". Edmonton Journal. 10 September 1979. p. E1. Retrieved 7 April 2025 – via Newspapers.com.
  7. ^ "Same old story". Edmonton Journal. 2 February 1980. p. B5. Retrieved 7 April 2025 – via Newspapers.com.
  8. ^ a b Gilmour, Bob (24 July 1980). "New tower would be city's tallest". Edmonton Journal. p. B12. Retrieved 7 April 2025 – via Newspapers.com.
  9. ^ Gravelines, Gail (13 January 1979). "Toronto firm 'mystery' King Edward owner". Edmonton Journal. p. B1. Retrieved 7 April 2025 – via Newspapers.com.
  10. ^ Gilmour, Bob (4 March 1980). "Office tower complex planned for King Eddy site". Edmonton Journal. p. F2. Retrieved 7 April 2025 – via Newspapers.com.
  11. ^ Gilmour, Bob (17 December 1980). "'Shimmering' green tower for downtown Edmonton". Edmonton Journal. p. C15. Retrieved 7 April 2025 – via Newspapers.com.
  12. ^ a b "Manulife work begins". Edmonton Journal. 27 June 1981. p. B6. Retrieved 7 April 2025 – via Newspapers.com.
  13. ^ Pierce, Gretchen (8 January 1983). "A retailer's fairy tale stars Edmontonian". Edmonton Journal. p. D14. Retrieved 7 April 2025 – via Newspapers.com.
  14. ^ Thorsell, William (23 March 1984). "Recyclists". Edmonton Journal. pp. A6. Retrieved 7 April 2025 – via Newspapers.com.
  15. ^ "Manulife Place — Phase II Uptown shopping, downtown [Advertising feature]". Edmonton Journal. 20 April 1988. p. C3. Retrieved 7 April 2025 – via Newspapers.com.
  16. ^ MacDonald, Jac (13 February 1993). "Building managers pave the way for newest pedway link to open". Edmonton Journal. pp. A5. Retrieved 7 April 2025 – via Newspapers.com.
  17. ^ Patterson, Craig (15 May 2019). "Holt Renfrew Announces Closure of Downtown Edmonton Store [Feature/Analysis]". Retail Insider. Archived from the original on 11 November 2020. Retrieved 7 April 2025.
  18. ^ Patterson, Craig (16 January 2025). "Manulife Place $45M Redevelopment to Revitalize Commercial Podium". Retail Insider. Archived from the original on 17 January 2025. Retrieved 22 April 2025.
Preceded by Tallest building in Edmonton
1983–2011
146 m (479 ft) 		Succeeded by