A downtown landmark buildling tower -- the Telus Tower -- is up for sale as part of a sweeping reorganization and sale of real estate holdings by telecommunications giant BCT.Telus Communications Inc.

About 1,000 Telus employees here will be affected as the company, formed through the February 1999 merger of Telus Corp. and BC Telcom, consolidates its Calgary workers in the downtown tower.

Telus spokesman Nick Culo said Tuesday that the company, which operates under the Telus name, will lease back space in the 28-floor tower after it and the Telus Mobility building, at 3030 2nd Ave. N.E, are sold as part of a divesture of real estate throughout Alberta and British Columbia.

Telus owns about 2,500 buildings in Alberta and British Columbia -- the second-largest single portfolio in Western Canada -- and has targeted the two Calgary properties along with the company's head office building in Burnaby, B.C. and two downtown Edmonton towers for sale and leaseback as it rationalizes real estate assets.

"It's been an issue with the company for a while; we've got a significant amount of space that is underutilized. This is an effort to make our entire real estate portfolio more efficient," said Culo. "We're moving employees from buildings that we lease in both provinces into buildings that we own, where we have some space that's been underutilized and we're going to look at selling some of our administrative buildings in Calgary, in Edmonton and in Burnaby and lease back the space that we require."

"A lot of major companies in Canada have done this and are doing it, this is no different." Culo said, noting the company has about 300,000 square feet of excess space across the West.

Along with moving to the 760,000-square-foot Telus Tower, some employees will also move to the company's Len Werry Building, at 7th Avenue and 1st Street S.W.

Telus leases out two floors of the Telus Tower to other tenants. Following the changes, four of the floros will be leased to non-Telus tenants.

"We're vacating another two floors, which will further consolidate Telus' presence in the building," said Culo.

The Telus Tower joins a long list of major downtown Calgary office towers that have changed hands or been put up for sale in recent months. They include Bankers Hall East and West towers, the Fifth and Fifth Building, Scotia Centre and Calgary Place, put up for sale by TrizecHahn Corp. as part of a $1.7-billion cross-Canada divestiture. Commercial real estate exprets said its unlikely Telus will have much difficulty selling the Calgary properties, particularly the downtown tower.

"There'd be a good appetite for that," said Jim Rea, a principal with J.J. Barnicke Calgary Ltd.

"What we're seeing are more and more pension fund buyers. They seem to have a good appetite for commercial real estate." Analysts said it would be difficult to put a price tag on the Telus Tower, as much would depend on the terms of the leaseback, in particular the rental rates and the length of the lease agreement.