The Globe and Mail

A mini-boom in office real estate is in the offing across Canada, fuelled by the red-hot resource sector and the improving economy, a study indicates. The equivalent of 16 new, 50-storey towers of one million square feet will have to be built to meet the surge in demand by 2010 -- particularly in Calgary, Toronto and Ottawa, the study by Toronto-based CB Richard Ellis Ltd. forecasts. The demand is so hot in downtown Calgary -- the heart of Canada's oil patch -- that several office buildings are being built by pension funds on speculation. "There is a real crunch on for office space," Bryan Walsh, a vice-president of CBRE Alberta, said yesterday in an interview. "Nobody saw this coming, and all of a sudden all these companies need office space, and are taking it down at a rapid pace.