CMLC Looks Back on a Year of Progress in the Rivers District

For CMLC, 2022 has been a year of progress and reflection. We celebrated our 15-year anniversary and looked back on all we’ve accomplished in Calgary’s east end. We made significant progress on our major projects - installing 9,000 metric tonnes of steel for the BMO Centre expansion project and progressing through concept design for the Arts Commons Transformation. We announced three new development partners with a total investment value of $382M, including the C+E District’s first major private investment for a new convention venue hotel, and completed the sale of the two remaining waterfront lots in East Village.

Our ongoing commitment to equity and inclusion served as our guide as we hosted more than 650 programs and events in our public spaces with 65 diverse programming partners and worked to support the ongoing safety and vitality of our community. And we did it all with the collaboration and support of our many wonderful partners. We are proud to be Calgary’s go-to city-building placemakers and we look forward to another year ahead of community building progress.?

Read on to learn more about what we accomplished together this year.

Initiated design for Arts Commons Transformation: In February of this year, alongside our partners at Arts Commons and The City of Calgary , we announced the team that will lead the design for the expansion and modernization of Calgary’s premier arts and culture centres through the Arts Commons Transformation (ACT) project. Learn more.

Integrated Indigenous-inspired programming in the Reconciliation Bridge lighting calendar: The hundreds of LED lights that illuminate Reconciliation Bridge were due to be upgraded this year and CMLC took the opportunity to re-evaluate its community lighting program and develop a new program that would prioritize Indigenous stories in the annual lighting calendar. Learn more.

Launched The C+E Access Map: With important construction underway throughout The Culture + Entertainment District CMLC and its project partners developed a new interactive map to help Calgarians navigate the impacts of construction as they travel to and through the area. More than 38,000 users have visited the map since it launched in March. Learn more.

Unveiled new RiverWalk public art: In June, we unveiled the next iteration of public art works that now adorn the bridge abutments and building surfaces on the Jack and Jean Leslie RiverWalk in East Village. Calgarian Cassie Suche created a series of works called Touch Traces, a contemporary and abstract interpretation of the hand mural, with fingerprints used as the repeating pattern in place of hands. Learn more.

Opened the East Village Safety Hub: In July, we announced the East Village Safety Hub, a partnership between CMLC, The City of Calgary, Calgary Police Service and Alpha House Society’s Downtown Outreach Addictions Partnership Program, to provide social supports and uniformed officers to better respond to the neighbourhood’s evolving social needs.? Learn more.

Hosted more than 650 events in the Rivers District: CMLC delivered more than 650 placemaking initiatives in Calgary’s Rivers District this year, from larger-than-life public art installations like The Beacon in The C+E and the hugely popular Nordic Loop in East Village, to regular live music programming, firepits, movie showings and weekly dog walks. Learn more about all of our programming and events here.

Opened the temporary platform at Victoria Park/Stampede LRT Station: In October, the 17 Ave S.E. Extension and Victoria Park/Stampede Station Rebuild team opened the temporary outbound platform that enables continued transit operations and minimizes disruption for transit customers through the demolition of the old station and construction of the new one. Learn more.

Welcomed three new development partners to the Rivers District: This fall, we introduced two new partners who will develop projects in East Village. Minto Communities will develop a 100-unit residential building called Vita on the neighbourhood’s last riverfront property, and ONE Properties will develop two new mixed-use towers on Q Block, completing the block and welcoming 750 new residents to the community.?

In early December we and our partners at the Calgary Stampede announced a joint partnership for the development of a new convention centre hotel that will complement the dramatic expansion of Calgary’s BMO Centre.

Completed steel installation on the BMO Centre expansion: Just 11 short months after the first piece of steel was installed, crews completed the BMO Centre expansion’s massive structure, which is comprised 9,000 metric tonnes of steel. Learn more.

Launched our Ways of Working video series: In celebration of CMLC’s 15-year anniversary, we launched Ways of Working, an in-person video series that takes viewers inside the organization to learn first-hand from its team members what makes CMLC tick and why its downtown redevelopment efforts have been so successful. Watch the first six videos in the series, and stay tuned for the last three in the new year.?