White: Thousands of new homes are being built in Calgary’s city centre

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It has been a very good year for residential development in downtown Calgary.

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I recently caught up with Architect Bruce McKenzie, Vice President of Business Development at NORR’s Western Canada office in Calgary, to get a sense of what the year has been for multifamily residential development — and what 2022 looks like.

I love talking to architects about future development because they are the first to have their projects canceled in tough times, but also the first to be involved in creating designs for new buildings when the future starts looking a little more rosy. FYI: NORR’s Canadian western office (in Calgary) has designed more condos and multifamily condominiums than any other architectural firm in the city.

McKenzie surprised me by saying, “We’re as busy as we’ve ever been and it looks like it’s going to last until 2022.” Then I asked, “How busy are you?” He said: Let me check.

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A few days later I received an email with the numbers. “2021 has already been a very busy Calgary year for us with 12 multifamily interior projects (1,200 new homes) and 120 suburban projects (8,500 new homes predominantly condominiums) in various stages of development, construction or completion in Calgary. This does not include the Elbow River Cidex site which is another 1,350 units.” I had to read this twice – the numbers shocked me. Of course, not all of these projects will happen in 2022.

I wasn’t surprised by the numbers within the city as downtown housing development continued to thrive, even while downtown struggled. One of the keys to a healthy city center is building new housing that meets the needs and desires of today’s families, young professionals and empty residents.

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Here is a summary of the diversity of modern multi-family development in downtown Calgary today and what’s to come soon.

Completed projects in 2021

The largest and most architecturally distinctive project to be completed in 2021 was the two West Village towers in Downtown West (the corner of 9th Avenue and 11th Street SW). This Cidex Group project, designed by NORR, is adding 554 new homes to downtown, with a third tower yet to come.

Nearby, Home Space has completed Legacy Project, offering 108 new affordable homes (7th Avenue and 5th Street SW). You would never know that this is an affordable apartment building because the design and facade elements make an attractive modern architectural statement.

In the East Village, the first Arris by Bosa tower (top of the Real Canadian Superstore) has been completed and residents are starting to move in this year. The better news is that construction work has begun on the second tower. Together, these two towers will create approximately 500 new homes in the East Village.

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Across the river at Bridgeland/Riverside, Bucci Development’s first mid-rise building, The Dominion (just north of the LRT station) has been completed and people started moving last summer. The second tower will be completed in 2022.

In Kensington, the very attractive Victorian Fifth (Fifth Avenue, near 10th Street NW), by Casula Kobe Architects and Hive Developments has opened its doors to over 90 new residents, and welcomed an extension of Minto Communities (at 9Ath Street near the LRT station) about 105 more than the village.

On the Beltline, One Properties’ mega Curtis Block project has been renamed Blvd and begins welcoming residents to 958 homes in two towers near Stampede LRT Station (which has received a $90 million turnaround).

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Also in 2021 in Beltline, Hines’ Park Central opens its doors to 462 new residents to live across the street from Memorial Park, with easy access to downtown, as well as 4th Street SW and 17th Avenue SW facilities. The construction of its second tower also began this year.

almost!

Construction continues in Bridgeland at Jemm Properties’ The Bridge, a new development of 256 homes, near the Bridgeland/Riverside LRT station and across the street from Murdoch Park.

In the Beltline District, Centron’s Oliver Condominium continues to rise in Building 500 of 10th Street SW, the first tower will introduce 459 new homes, and the second tower will add another 403 homes in the future.

To the west, on 11th Avenue and 11th Street SW, is Intergulf’s Eleven, an elegant 44-story white tower that is nearing completion and will soon offer 369 new homes.

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Additionally, two new residential developments are set to begin in 2021 at the corner of 14th Street and 10th Avenue SW Cidex Group’s The Hat at 14 on the southeast corner (yes, this is a sister tower to both The Hat at 7 and The Hat in the East Village ) will add 239 new homes, while Housing One’s Sunalta Heights, a two-tower building in the northwest corner will add 150 new homes in Phase 1 and another 182 homes in Phase 2.

At Mission (north of Safeway), the Verve River Walk is rapidly forming. This retirement home will create 141 new homes offering everything from independent living, personalized supportive care, assisted living and memory care.

In the heart of downtown, Home Space and Inn From The Cold have teamed up to begin construction to convert the 10-story Sierra Place office building into 82 affordable homes along with shelter, moving and support services. This is part of the City of Calgary’s program to support the conversion of empty office buildings to residential and other uses.

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In Kensington, across from Safeway, Theodore, a triangle-shaped apartment, at Graywood Developments, is beginning to take shape — and will welcome about 150 new residents in 2022.

And in Englewood, StreetSide Developments is building Konekt, a three-story, 104-home development adjacent to Pearce Estate Park within walking distance of the community’s main street (also known as 9th Avenue SE).

In addition to these downtown multi-family developments, hundreds of tiny homes have been added to Calgary’s old inner-city neighborhoods—single-family, side-by-side townhomes—in the past year.

It will be interesting to see what happens in the heart of downtown in 2022, as the city has committed $100 million to support the conversion of old office buildings to residential and other uses. It would also be nice to see the redevelopment of the old CBC and Legion sites at Hillhurst and West Hillhurst, respectively, beginning in 2022.

The last word

In fact, 2021 has been a busy year for Calgary residential developers creating attractive new homes for Calgary of all ages and backgrounds across the city. Let’s hope 2022 will be as good or better than 2021 when it comes to inner city housing development where a healthy city needs a healthy inner city – neighborhoods where a diverse group of people want to live.