December 19, 2018

Province backs BMO expansion and revitalization of Victoria Park in Calgary

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Calgary has been granted a 20-year extension on its east downtown community revitalization levy to fund a massive expansion of the BMO Centre and infrastructure upgrades to Victoria Park.

The NDP government announced Tuesday that it will extend the same CRL that was previously used to fund growth in the East Village to continue redevelopment in blighted areas south of the CP tracks in east Victoria Park.

The news comes on the heels of a council decision to proceed with plans to nearly double the size of the BMO Centre, conditional upon provincial support for an extension of the CRL.

“For too long now Calgary has missed out on major conferences and the only reason is that we don’t have the physical space available that many of these conferences and trade shows require,” Premier Rachel Notley said Tuesday at a news conference on the Stampede grounds.

Some $140 million will also be generated by the CRL to allow for infrastructure upgrades in Victoria Park and the potential future expansion of Arts Commons.

Extending the CRL means the province is relinquishing a portion of the property taxes collected in the area for another 20 years — amounting to approximately $700 million that will be reinvested in the community.

Mayor Naheed Nenshi welcomed the announcement Tuesday, suggesting it will drive further private development and assist the city in tackling some of the problems that result from high downtown vacancies.

“Focusing on our travel and tourism industry and focusing on the convention centre is part of our downtown revitalization strategy,” said Nenshi.

“It’s certainly about getting more workers into those buildings, it’s about getting more people living and working in the core and it is about attracting tourists as well, and we’ve got to do all of it at once.”

Three of the city’s wish list capital projects, including the expanded BMO Centre, are in the so-called ‘Rivers District’ east of the downtown. Also on the list for the area is a new arena to replace the Saddledome and an expansion of Arts Commons, including a refresh of Olympic Plaza.

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