THE PAST REBORN

talization initiatives is crucial
— and extensive.
CMLC spent 18 months in
consultation for the construction
of a single bridge, for
example. But as Susan Veres,
CMLC’s vice-president of marketing
and communications,
notes, there’s no such thing as
a “single bridge” in isolation
from what’s around it.
“Every piece has its role to
play in telling the greater story,”
Veres says. “Every effort
supports our next effort. It’s
all interconnected.” The St.
Patrick’s Bridge, which opened
in October 2014, connects
the East Village River Walk
west of Fort Calgary with the
just-opened 12.55-hectare (31-
acre) St. Patrick’s Island Park.
The bridge was designed by
French firm RFR to evoke the
appearance of a stone skipping
“Most areas
that need
revitalization
had a good
reason to be
developed in
the first place.”
— Dan Van Leeuwen
across the river’s water.
Veres says the bridge was
never considered separately
from the park and its other
surroundings, but instead was
seen as an integrated piece of
a much larger puzzle.
Building a bridge requires
approval at all levels of government.
CMLC also had to
consider this bridge’s relationship
with other, nearby bridg-
es, as well as the surrounding
communities and stakeholders
from the Calgary Zoo to Bow
Valley College. It also needed
to consider how the bridge
would look and how it would
complement its surroundings.
“There are a lot of contractual
obligations, development
requirements and permitting
needed,” Veres says. “It is a
massive undertaking.”
Despite its complexity,
redevelopment is taking off in
Calgary. Elkey says the commercial
success of communities
like Garrison Woods — the
city’s first sustainably designed
inner-city redevelopment,
completed in 2004 — helped
to demonstrate the practicality
and viability of this type
of urban project. Elkey also
credits the Plan-It Calgary proposal
with normalizing types of
development that were once
less likely to be considered.
The proposal, approved by city
council in 2009, is a blueprint
for the city’s next 60 years
of growth. It focuses, among
other things, on sustainability
in land use and transportation.
Veres says all types of
development are needed, from
suburbs to mixed-use inner-city
neighbourhoods. “I think the
City has taken a really visionary
approach to how to develop
and redevelop … to make it
more sustainable.”
To Van Leeuwen, the appetite
for this type of revitalization
is a given — people will
always want to live in vibrant,
interesting places.
“It needs a spark. I’ve been
to many great cities, and
Calgary is an exciting and fun
place to live.” ■
The pulse of Calgary’s commercial real estate industry TM
21