CMLC: $1B in major project work advancing in 2024

Key Takeaways: 

• The corporation said 2024 will be filled with construction milestones. 
• Major projects include the BMO Centre expansion, 17 Ave Extension & Victoria Park/Stampede Station Rebuild project and the Calgary Event Centre. 
• CMLC plans to issue a Progressive Design Build RFP in the coming weeks the design and construction of Calgary’s new event centre. 

The Whole Story:

Calgary Municipal Land Corporation (CMLC) is on track to advance more than $1 billion in major project completions and initiations this year. 

With the BMO Centre expansion and 17 Ave Extension & Victoria Park/Stampede Station Rebuild projects nearing completion, the late-2024 Arts Commons Transformation project construction groundbreaking approaching, and procurement underway for the new 6 St S.E. underpass, CMLC is preparing for a 2024 full of city-building milestones.

“As Calgary’s go-to city-building placemakers, CMLC has a proven track record of designing and delivering some of Calgary’s most transformational projects on behalf of our partners,” said Kate Thompson, CMLC’s president and CEO. “2024 will be a huge year for project completions and groundbreakings, and for continued progress and development for downtown Calgary’s east end. Our team is poised and ready to advance more than $1 billion in major city-shaping vertical and infrastructure builds this year, and to steward further development and placemaking in East Village.”

In 2024, CMLC will continue to oversee the development of several mixed-use residential projects in East Village, which includes projects like BOSA Development’s Arris Residences, which began leasing on 337 units in late 2023, and Alston Properties’ EV606, where construction is underway on 44 residential units and 9,000 SF of main floor retail space. 

CMLC says it is seeing sustained development interest in the community, recently signing Letters of Intent for three development parcels.

In the downtown core, CMLC is leading the Arts Commons Transformation and Olympic Plaza Transformation projects on behalf of Arts Commons and the City of Calgary, and are preparing to reveal the design for the Arts Commons Transformation expansion – a new building with a 1,000-seat theatre and 200-seat studio theatre – this spring and anticipate breaking ground on the expansion later this year. 

The Olympic Plaza Transformation project, which will support Arts Commons’ vision for an expanded, integrated Arts Commons campus, is also advancing through the design phase in 2024.

In The Culture + Entertainment District (The C+E), CMLC is preparing to bring more than $600 million of major city-building projects over the finish line in 2024 in partnership with the Calgary Stampede and the city. The BMO Centre expansion is expected to open for Stampede 2024 and the Victoria Park/Stampede Station Rebuild and 17 Ave S.E. Extension projects will are also on track for completion this summer.

In CMLC’s capacity as district construction coordinator, the team will continue to support the coordination of the many developments in The C+E, including the new Calgary Event Centre and the Green Line LRT’s 4 St S.E. station, to ensure access is maintained at all times for the many Calgarians and visitors who visit the BMO Centre and the Scotiabank Saddledome for events every year.

And as some of CMLC’s major builds in The C+E approach completion, the team is preparing to initiate another major related project: the new 6 St S.E. Underpass. As steward of the Rivers District Master Plan, CMLC will lead the delivery of the district infrastructure projects in support of the Calgary Event Centre. The 6 St S.E. Underpass is the first of those projects to get underway.

“The underpass was envisioned in the Rivers District Master Plan in 2019 as a critical infrastructure connection to support future development in the area, including a new Event Centre, the expanded BMO Centre and more than 4M square feet of future mixed-use development,” said Thompson. “CMLC has proven experience building infrastructure of this kind. In 2011, early in our stewardship of East Village, we delivered the 4 St S.E. Underpass, which has completely transformed the way people travel through downtown Calgary’s east end.”

In 2023, CMLC began the early scoping work required to support the future underpass. Now, with the Event Centre’s definitive agreements and funding in place, CMLC says it is ready to move the project into the next stage of development. 

CMLC will issue a Progressive Design Build RFP in the coming weeks to identify a project team that can support the design and construction. Early works on the project are anticipated to begin in 2024, and the overall construction schedule will be refined in due course.

“CMLC is proud to serve as steward of the Rivers District, and as development manager for some of our city’s most-anticipated capital builds,” said Kate. “Together, alongside the City of Calgary’s downtown revitalization work, these investments will put Calgary on the map as a Tier 1 tourism and hospitality destination, attracting international meetings and conventions audiences, dramatically transforming Calgary’s creative future, and fundamentally re-shaping the way that Calgarians experience downtown Calgary.”