Rice Howard Place: Revitalizing a downtown landmark into a vibrant urban destination

The redevelopment of Rice Howard Place focuses on revitalizing the office building’s two-storey podium and existing atrium space, while adding a new bridge connection to the second-floor level. The project’s goal is to turn the building ‘inside out’ and make it more engaging with Rice Howard Way, opening up the podium and establishing a link to the outdoors.

The new bridge connection across the atrium to the new conference room and tenant lounge will introduce maximum natural night into the redeveloped interior via existing windows facing Rice Howard Way. The previous partition separating this space from the atrium was removed, and a new handrail installed, providing an engaging view from the atrium into the tenant lounge and beyond.

The main floor will be converted into a vibrant food hall after the previous food court and retail spaces lacked the appeal to attract people into the building. Clients will have spaces to work or hold casual meetings with more collaborative seating on the main level. The elevator lobbies will be redeveloped and reclad with the floor near the escalators infilled to create additional soft seating areas.

On the second floor will be a tenant lounge which includes a fish tank, a fireplace, a podcast room, and a golf simulator. An adjacent conference centre with several meeting rooms is accessible directly from the lounge. The gym area, previously located on the concourse level, has been relocated to the second level with new equipment and lifestyle graphics to animate the space which has an abundance of windows to the exterior.

Sustainable upgrades including replacement glass panels combined with high-efficiency lighting and low water fixtures make Rice Howard Place a high-performance building and allow it to maintain its BOMA BEST Platinum certification.

The second floor interiors have been completed, with the main floor and exterior recladding continuing and reaching completion in fall 2025. The podium is quickly becoming a destination place for downtown Edmonton that supports the uniqueness of Rice Howard Way as a pedestrian street.