Electromagnetic Door

Please note: this is a very, very preliminary search into possibilities. The purpose of my search is to be able to go to my employer with a potential solution. This is nowhere near a possibility as of yet.

Issue: We want our front door to remain open. Our "front door" is a fire-rated door into a common area (hallway). Because of this, the building strata has said that we cannot have our front door open because apparently propping it open because it is a fire hazard (stopping smoke, and also something about pressure, which... seriously, there are windows always open in the hallway, but, I digress).

The reasons we want/need the door open: 1) we do it right now for pandemic purposes: this door is used constantly during the day, and we keep it open to remove one more "high traffic" touch point, and 2) during the summer, we seriously need air flow, which we can get because there are windows in the hallway, creating cross breezes.

My proposal is to have an electromagnetic door stopper/holder wired into the main power so that if the power goes off during an emergency, the door automatically closes. Badabing, badaboom, safety returns. You know how the stall doors of the washrooms on BC Ferries work? That idea, but the magnet is electric, and the door has a spring arm to pull it closed.

We own the suite, it is mixed residential and commercial. We are commercial.

A) am I missing something obvious to people who know about these things, and b) I'm looking for a ballpark figure, as in, would it be closer to $200, or $2000? I fully understand that a full, proper quote would be needed before continuing, and could not hold anyone to any numbers given. I really just need a "You're looking at $300 to $500 for the parts, and $300 to $500 for the labour." Nothing more involved/detailed needed.