'A real game changer': Developer plans twin towers for rapidly changing Marda Loop
City asked to allow 19-storey towers in popular southwest community
A massive, mixed-use development is planned at the former site of a Calgary movie theatre in Marda Loop, but this production is something the burgeoning southwest community has never seen before and it's a blockbuster.
Truman and Calgary Co-op are proposing to team up to build 440 housing units, a grocery store, shops and services and a 660-stall underground parkade in a project they're calling the "Marc and Mada Block," named after the former owners of the Marda Theatre which opened in 1952, was sold a decade later, and shut down in 1988.
The location is considered the heart of the community. A representative for the developer calls it "centre ice."
The $400-million proposal will push the height boundaries in Marda Loop to unprecedented levels; two 19-storey towers and two eight-storey buildings. The taller buildings will reach 66 metres in height, nearly three times the 23-metre, six-storey maximum that is currently allowed in the community.
The development is slated to be built on a nearly two-acre site along 33rd and 34th Avenues, bounded to the east by 20th Street S.W.
Calgary Co-op purchased the land just before the pandemic and then found a development partner in Truman. The two have been working on the proposal since.
Along with the size and scale, the development raises the question of how Calgarians confront these types of plans in a city that's grown by tens of thousands of people in recent years and is struggling to maintain a supply of affordable homes. Some experts and local politicians say this is the way of the future, as the city's rapid sprawl isn't sustainable.
'Large, unique site'
David White, with CivicWorks, is a consultant who represents Truman and Calgary Co-op. He says the building site inspired them to come up with a bold plan.
"It's on a very large, unique site. It's not too often that you find an inner city established community of this size and scale and this kind of location. So it's an opportunity to do pretty significant scale density."
White says they've heard from approximately 400 people since they opened an "engagement centre" in the rundown strip mall that will be demolished to make way for the towers.
"it's been a really balanced conversation," he said.
White says people are looking forward to the redevelopment of the site and a new grocery store. He says there's also been positive feedback on a pledge to create 34 non-market housing units in partnership with the non-profit Liberty Housing Organization.
He says people have raised concerns about the height of the buildings and how they will manage construction in an area that's seen rapid change with new multi-family complexes sprouting up along with publicly funded street improvements.
When asked why the buildings need to be so tall, White says there is an economic component in trying to reach those heights.
"There is a fundamental economic reality to the cost of this particular land delivering a project," he said.
"So it was about organizing the mass, the density, and we looked at a strategy of some portions being lower across the key main street edges, and then some portions being taller and skinnier types of high-scale forms."
While three dozen or so units will be available for rent, the remaining 400-plus units will be condominiums, ranging in size from 500 to 1,200 square feet. Prices have not been set.
While the Marda Loop Community Association is staying neutral on the proposal and will instead act as a conduit for people who are trying to get information about the development, the Marda Loop Business Improvement Area (BIA) says there are many aspects of the plan that it likes.
That includes the addition of more businesses and people to shop at those businesses — and all of those much-needed parking stalls. The executive director of the BIA also likes the public plaza space planned for the northeast and southeast corners of the project.
"It's a big change, it's a big impact, it's a big investment into Marda Loop and it certainly is in some ways a real game-changer for the area," said Bob van Wegen.
But he can't help but address the elephant in the room — the height of the two towers.
"We would probably be happy, happier to get all the amenity and a little less height. Is that possible? We're looking at the whole package and certainly it's something that the community and city council is going to have to discuss."
Grow up, not out
As the city adds tens of thousands of new residents every year, land planning experts say there will be more pressure to increase housing density in existing neighbourhoods, which can be less expensive than expanding the city's boundaries and having to pay for all of that new infrastructure.
"The question really is about how people are going to confront the reality of a city that's growing," said Eliot Tretter, an associate professor of geography at the University of Calgary.
The city councillor for the area describes the rapid pace of change in Marda Loop as the expected "turnover" of older, inner-city neighbourhoods.
Courtney Walcott, who represents Ward 8, is keeping an open mind about the proposal since the public hearing hasn't been scheduled yet.
"It's something normal to expect to see towers start to be proposed in your city because the widespread sprawl of the city doesn't fit as much anymore," said Walcott.
He says people have told him they want to know more about how the public spaces and the pedestrian realm at the base of the towers will look and function and what sort of impact the buildings' shadows will have on the community.
The proposal is still in its early days, you could say it's still in the first act.
The rest of the production will play out in the spring, when the developer expects to go before city council for a public hearing.
Bryan Labby is an enterprise reporter with CBC Calgary. If you have a good story idea or tip, you can reach him at [email protected] or on Twitter at @CBCBryan.
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