Calgary breaks ground on $80 million transformative parkade

Dec 14 2018, 7:15 am

Developers clearly thought ahead before dreaming up the new parkade that just broke ground in Calgary’s East Village.

The $80 million parkade project being created at 9th Avenue and 3rd Street will provide over 500 parking spots in the newly revamped area of downtown, sure, but it will also provide residents with a place to grab a coffee, shoot some hoops, and even, potentially, call home.

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“This is a strategic future-focused development coming to life and just as we embraced the challenge of delivering a landmark Central Library, we embraced CPA’s need for more downtown parking and coupled it with the opportunity to create an innovative community hub,” said Michael Brown, Calgary Municipal Land Corporation’s president and CEO, in the release.

“This project is an opportunity to do what we’ve done from the start in East Village: Design and build with placemaking and people in mind.”

parkade

A rendering of the new multi-use parkade (evexperience.com)

The project was designed by architects Kasian and 5468796, who ensured that the parkade would be able to convert into commercial or residential space in the future.

The parkade will be built with floor to ceiling heights one and a half times higher than a usual parkade, and thought was put into allowing natural light to penetrate throughout the building — better allowing for a future re-purposing of the structure further down the line.

parkade

A rendering of the new multi-use parkade (evexperience.com)

“Our objective at CPA is to provide parking structures that not only service today’s needs but have the ability, should the need arise, to convert into residential, commercial or mixed-use space as the future Calgary will likely be very different than the Calgary of today,” said Glen Furtado, the general manager for the Calgary Parking Authority, in the release.

“And this building is a prime example of that type of forward-thinking and strategy.”

parkade

Where the new multi-use parkade will be located (evexperience.com)

CMLC took the reigns on the project after being enlisted by Calgary Parking Authority, who realized that the downtown area needed both additional parking capacity as well as active public use spaces.

Ground was broken on Wednesday to kick-start construction of the project, which CMLC estimates will be completed by 2020.

The building is expected to include a 500+ stall parkade, bike parking, a ground floor café, and outdoor sports court, and a 50,000 sq. ft. innovation centre named PLATFORM, which will be operated by Calgary Technologies Inc.

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