End of a ‘beautiful dream’ at Art Central

Nine years ago, it was conceived as a downtown hub for the arts, a collection of galleries, shops and cafes that would bring colourful new life to a rundown block in the downtown core.

Art Central had its official opening in November of 2004, promising a onestop location for artists, art sellers and art lovers to gather.

Earlier this week it was confirmed that the complex would be demolished to make way for a $400-million Telus tower. The news shouldn’t have surprised anyone. Tenants were given a heads-up about a possible redevel- opment as early as January.

Whether or not the complex ever reached its full potential over the past nine years is up for debate. But for many of the art groups and galleries that helped in its development, Art Central remains a noble idea and “beautiful dream” that isn’t likely to be replaced anytime soon.

“When I think about it at its best, I think about the First Thursday events that happened a few years ago where everyone threw their doors open and it was ground-zero for a culture crawl around downtown Calgary in the cultural district,” said Terry Rock, CEO of Calgary Arts Development, which has had an office at the complex since 2009.

“You had Calgary openings all co-ordinated and really jam-packed. There were many times I remember you couldn’t move around in there.”

On Thursday, Telus CEO Darren Entwistle confirmed that a 58-storey “super sexy” tower is planned for the location.

Art Central will be demolished during the redevelopment, although a firm timeline hasn’t been established.

In 2002, the 1929 building at the northwest corner of Centre Street and 7th Ave. S.W. was purchased by Encorp Group, which eventually put $3-million worth of renovations into the building that resulted in 40 spaces for artist studios, art galleries and art-related outlets.

But while there certainly were long-term anchor tenants, the facility also had a high turnover rate as that corner of downtown increasingly became more attractive as real estate. As a result, it increasingly became financially out of reach for many art-related groups, Rock said.

“That was one of the challenges they had in keeping tenants there that were able to afford what it would take on that prime real estate,” Rock said. “It became more prime over time. In other words, it really became more valuable and in a way is a victim of its own success. It led to people feeling more comfortable in that end of downtown and then the Bow (Tower) came up there and it was really a prime corner. It wasn’t a prime corner when it first went in there.”

It certainly wasn’t. In fact, that area was generally considered fairly rundown. The two-storey building had housed everything from a bowling alley and billiards parlour in its 80-year life.

Rob Mabee was the complex’s first leasing manager in 2004 and opened the Axis Contemporary Art a year later. He said the location had challenges from the start and Arts Central had been straying from its original concept for quite some time.

“It isn’t now what the concept was of what Art Central hoped to be back then,” Mabee said. “I don’t think the city is losing anything in losing this building now. It may have lost a beautiful dream, but that’s been gone for awhile. It didn’t quite come to fruition in this location. We didn’t have the support, the density. We had a lot of things working against us. When we opened, we opened with the LRT being ripped up in front of us. You could hardly get into the front door. Then we went into about six or seven years of the Bow construc- tion across the street with the roads tied up. There was a perception of coming into (the) core here that it was violent, there was nowhere to park. Art Central didn’t really survive the recession.”

Mabee says he will keep Axis open at least into the fall, but the long-term future of the gallery is undetermined. Rock, who will be leaving as CEO of Calgary Arts Development at the end of the month, said new offices will have to be found for that group as well.

But some galleries have had success in finding new space.

The New Gallery, which is artist-run centre, will be begin relocating to Calgary’s Chinatown in late July. It has been in Art Central for the past three and a half years.

“It is disappointing that we couldn’t keep it going for sure,” says Nicole Bracey, gallery assistant. “I think for the most part a lot of the tenants are relocating. We gave them our notice this week.”

Certainly no one could argue that the current property owner Allied Properties REIT didn’t give tenants plenty of notice. In late January, the company told tenants that there was a good possibility the property would be redeveloped.

Many of the tenants are now leasing on a month-tomonth basis. Alec McColm, western regional director with Allied, said tenants have been told that they are welcome to stay until the end of the year. After that, tenants will all be on monthly leases. Currently there are 38 tenants in Art Central, although increasingly many are “pop-up” retail businesses.

“It may be only a few months into 2014 that the retail community would still be here,” he said. “But up until the end of the year, we are looking forward to it remaining as it is.”

As for the new building, a partnership between Telus, Vancouver developer Westbank and Allied Properties, there are plans to dedicate 5,500 square feet for “arts space.”

Downtown could certainly use more space for artists and art.

“In downtown I think we could have more of these smaller, interesting shops,” Rock said. “The challenge is they need to be in more affordable spaces.”