Future Focused Community Development

As everyone who lives here knows, Calgary and its citizens are remarkable and resilient. Over the course of a decade in East Village, the CMLC team has learned that Calgarians are also adaptable and curious, that you’re open to new ideas about where and how you live, and you’re enthusiastic and engaged builders of community.

The challenge posed by the COVID-19 is unprecedented—it has upended cherished traditions like the Calgary Stampede and the Calgary Folk Music Festival, and it has made us realize the importance of things we often take for granted—our health, our families and the warmth of friendships we can now only feel from a distance.

Despite our prolonged collective pause, CMLC is able to move ahead with important preparation on projects in The Culture and Entertainment District (The C+E) in east Victoria Park. It’s work that will contribute to the prosperity, resilience and excitement of life in Calgary, and that gives us optimism and confidence in the city of tomorrow.

Two of these projects—the BMO Centre Expansion (BMOx) and the new Event Centre—set the foundations for the future of community development and gathering places in Calgary. In the years to come, they will complement the 10 days of our internationally-beloved Calgary Stampede and help make The C+E a true year-round experience that will combine events with riverside recreation and neighbourhood life, and make the district as enjoyable as it is resilient.

We are consulting with planners, event experts, and architects to ensure that the facilities we’re planning will have the flexibility and intelligence to accommodate the many ways we will come together in the future. We do not know exactly what the future of gathering will look like—no one has a hard and fast answer yet—but there’s work we can do now that will position us for a successful execution of both projects.

• After a 30-day pause on Event Centre work, CMLC will move ahead to complete the procurement process and initiate preliminary concept design.
• Enabling works on BMOx have been ongoing, and we will continue to build in alignment with public health guidelines that ensure the safety of everyone on the site.
• Initial site works are underway on the 17th Ave Extension and Stampede Crossing project that will ultimately form the vital pedestrian and vehicular connections into the district.

We know that in the Calgary of today, we’re all being asked to shift priorities and rethink essentials, and that Calgarians will collectively continue to respond with our characteristic optimism, adaptability and spirit. The CMLC team is also working diligently to give all Calgarians reasons to build, grow and believe in our city tomorrow.