Building Big. Living Better. CMLC’s 2024 Year in Review.

For CMLC and our communities, 2024 was a banner year for grand openings and groundbreakings, for development progress and programming activations. Our 18th year of master-planning, community revitalization, and major project delivery in downtown Calgary’s east end was one for the books, enabled by innovative partnerships, strategic investment and bold city-building ambition.

Here’s just a taste of what we delivered together in 2024:

Stampede Park’s dramatically expanded BMO Centre welcomes the world

Following a complex four-year, $500-million construction project that added more than half a million square feet of floor space to Calgary’s premier convention venue, the expanded BMO Centre officially opened its doors on June 5. Now boasting the distinction of “Western Canada’s largest convention centre,” BMO Centre at Stampede Park has become a stunning architectural landmark making gatherings even greater with the ability to host conventions on a scale the city has never before been able to accommodate.

2024 Milestone Moment: BMO Centre Expansion celebrates its grand opening

17 Avenue SE extension & Victoria Park/Stampede Station rebuild paves the way for future development in The C+E

Celebrating its grand opening on October 10, the extension of 17 Avenue SE across Macleod Trail and into Stampede Park was identified in the Rivers District Master Plan as a crucial undertaking to improve access between Calgary’s Culture + Entertainment District and the Beltline neighbourhoods to the west. The infrastructure initiative included a full rebuild of the Victoria Park/Stampede LRT station. With a redesigned, expanded side-loading platform at street level, the station now provides an accessible, seamless connection to Stampede Park, shortening the pedestrian journey across Macleod Trail from 400 meters to just 60 while improving sightlines and enhancing pedestrian safety for the thousands of Calgarians who live in The C+E and the million more who visit the District every year.

2024 Milestone Moment: Pedestrians, cyclists, and vehicles access Stampede Park from Macleod Trail for the first time in over 40 years

Arts Commons Transformation accelerates forward with expansion design reveal and groundbreaking

In April, after two years of meticulous planning and design work, CMLC and our partners at Arts Commons and The City of Calgary revealed the architectural design for the Arts Commons Transformation (ACT) expansion—a new 170,000 square foot building featuring a 1,000-seat theatre and 200-seat studio theatre. The expansion broke ground in December, setting the stage for construction to start in early January 2025 and marking a significant step forward in our delivery of the largest arts-focused infrastructure project currently underway in Canada. This transformational $660-million project also includes modernization of the existing Arts Commons facility, whose design will progress in 2025, and the Olympic Plaza Transformation project, whose design will be revealed in late Q1 2025.

2024 Milestone Moment:The largest cultural infrastructure project underway in Canada breaks ground

Development momentum continues in East Village… and beyond

2024 saw continued developer interest and investment in East Village, adding another 900 homes to the development pipeline, with 400 of those anticipating construction start in 2025. Local developer Bankside Properties, in partnership with Sumus Property Group, purchased two parcels east of the Central Library for two six-storey buildings that will bring 150+ new homes to the neighbourhood. The site of the temporary Bounce Games Park has been conditionally sold to another developer partner, and both Trico and Triovest are advancing plans for their respective mixed-use projects. Meanwhile, for the 8.8-acre site of the former David D Oughton School in Albert Park/Radisson Heights, Attainable Homes received its development permit for 230 townhomes in fall 2024. Construction commenced in November, with occupancy expected to begin before the end of 2025.

2024 Milestone Moment:Land sales continue in East Village making way for another 900 homes

CMLC breaks ground on innovative public washroom and community amenity in East Village

In March, CMLC revealed the design and broke ground for a new public washroom facility in East Village. The 3,000 square foot facility features four universally accessible bathroom stalls, a shared handwashing space, a fenced-in outdoor pickleball court, a tiered spectator seating area and a living green roof with natural grasses. Located adjacent to the playground, community garden and off-leash dog park near the intersection of 7th Ave and 6th Street SE, this innovative amenity is expected to open in January 2025. This initiative builds upon CMLCs investment in supporting community safety and vitality and aligns with the recommendations for the Downtown Safety Leadership Table of which CMLC participated earlier this year.

2024 Milestone Moment:Designs for the East Village Public Washroom are revealed

Coordinating construction and access as stewards of the Rivers District Master Plan

Beyond our role in managing more than $1 billion in active construction projects and community-building investments though 2024, CMLC continued to embrace the important responsibility of coordinating the incredible volume of construction activity underway in The Culture + Entertainment District. We work closely with all interested and involved parties to ensure coordinated project delivery, maintain access to events at BMO Centre and the Scotiabank Saddledome, and minimize disruption to folks living in and moving around the area. To support this effort, we introduced a new and improved version of our C+E Access Map in October 2024. Since its original launch in 2022, more than 200,000 people have used the interactive tool to navigate construction and access impacts in The C+E, and we expect many more to use the map to plan their trips to The C+E as construction in the District progresses on Scotia Place and the associated district infrastructure in the coming years.

2024 Milestone Moment:A new and improved C+E Access Map goes live

Continuing to bring energy and excitement to downtown Calgary’s east end

Since CMLC embarked on our mission to revitalize Calgary’s east end in 2007, meaningful community programming has been an essential dimension of our community-building work. In 2024, CMLC led the delivery of over 600 community program days in East Village, working with more than 60 partners to support vibrancy and activity in the neighbourhood. Meanwhile, we continued to build on the momentum of our programming and placemaking efforts in The C+E, amplifying the presence of our C+E stilt-walkers, EAST team and engagement booth while working with a range of partners to activate Pixel Park, which saw 50,000 visitors across 150 programming days in 2024.

2024 Milestone Moment:Pixel Park celebrates its one-year birthday

Reflecting on the impact of our work over the past five years

In 2024, CMLC completed a new five-year strategic plan to guide our city-building efforts from 2025 to 2029, expanding on our previous 18 years of inner-city transformation and picking up where our 2020–2024 Strategic Plan left off. During that busy five-year period, our team nearly doubled in size—from 21 to 38—while the value of projects under our purview grew by nearly 400 percent, from $245 million to $1.2 billion. At the same time, we worked with nearly 300 diverse programming partners to activate our spaces, and our developer partners brought nearly 400,000 square feet of mixed-used private development to downtown Calgary’s east end. To set the stage for CMLC’s next five years of city-building success, we’ve detailed the challenges and the impacts of our efforts over the past five years in our 2020-2024 Strategic Plan Impact Report.

Thank you for trusting us with your transformation, Calgary. We do it for you. We do it with you. And we can’t wait to take another big, bold, city-building step forward together in 2025.