CURRIE BARRACKS ‘MILESTONE’
5,100 residential units, office and retail space approved for project’s next phase
The next step in the plan for Currie Barracks, including single-family homes and condo towers stretching up to 30 storeys, has been approved by the City of Calgary.
Currie Barracks is an inner-city southwest Calgary community and the third and last Canadian Forces Base Calgary site under redevelopment by Canada Lands Co.
A total of 5,100 residential units were approved by the city during a public hearing May 12.
This joins 500 residential units that were given the green light for the community’s first stretch of development. The approval also includes 615,000 square feet of office space and 250,000 square feet of retail.
“That was a milestone that we had been working to over the last year and are very excited that we are now moving into the next stage of development,” says Doug Cassidy, CLC’s vice-president, real estate, western region. “The approval for a significant number of more residential units and office development really helps the city see that plan move forward in terms of greater intensification of city land.”
The section of Currie Barracks earmarked for single-family homes will continue to serve the high-end segment of the market, says Cassidy. However, he adds, a builder group for the next stretch of singlefamily homes has not been finalized.
“We expect these will be some of the most appealing single-family homes in Calgary,” Cassidy says, adding they will be “about 100 steps to some amazing parks (in one direction) or 100 steps in the other direction to a beautiful retail, food and beverage village centre.”
Cassidy says there is a limited number of homes still available in Currie Barracks’ first two phases of single-family development.
CLC and Embassy Bosa are joint venture partners in a project consisting of about 200,000 square feet of retail development and about 2,500 multi-family units at Currie Barracks, says Cassidy. He adds the plan includes the development of up to six condo towers approved to a maximum height of 30 storeys.
Embassy Bosa is a British Columbia- based developer with recent work in the city’s East Vil- lage, where there’s a condo project called Evolution that consists of more than 600 units.
Prior to shaping the next instalment for Currie Barracks, CLC welcomed public feedback through open house sessions and surveys. CLC says more than 1,200 people attended the open house events and 440 surveys were submitted.
Some residents in nearby Rutland Park expressed concerns regarding the closeness of towers to their homes, says Cassidy.
“The shift to move the majority of those buildings to the southeast corner of the plan and further away from existing development was a shift to address those concerns. The feedback we had was people were satisfied and that really accommodated their concerns,” Cassidy adds. “It’s a substantial distance away from any existing residential development.”
He says the move puts the towers in close proximity to Mount Royal University and employment nodes.
“We have a very substantial portion of the plan that is both lower-density residential, single-family and low-density townhome and four-storey condo development, as well,” Cassidy says.
“We will be finishing the sales in phases one and two this summer and then bringing on new singlefamily or low-density product on stream next year.”