REVITALIZING DOWNTOWN
Plan calls for costly investment
Calgary's downtown needs an immediate $200-million investment and a 10-year plan to inject $1 billion into the city's ailing core, according to city officials.
City council will discuss the Greater Downtown Plan on Monday, including a request for an “initial investment package” to start the work to change central Calgary neighbourhoods.
The plan, which got committee approval earlier this month, covers strategies to adapt older office buildings for other uses, introduce a better mix of amenities and services, and generally improve the way downtown looks and feels. In addition to the downtown core, it covers downtown west, the Beltline, Eau Claire, Chinatown and the East Village.
More than half of the $200-million total would come from city reserves, and another $77 million would come from federal infrastructure funding.
“The initial investment proposed in the report represents only 20 per cent of the overall need to get started,” a city report says.
“We will need to look hard at alternate sources of funding and support from other orders of government to help address 80 per cent of the funding gap.”
The downtown plan aims to fix the persistent problem of vacant office towers, snuffing out 60 per cent of downtown office property values since 2015 and wreaking havoc on Calgary's property tax system.
The COVID -19 pandemic has additionally “accelerated” the need to revitalize downtown neighbourhoods across Canada.
The report says a “do-nothing scenario” poses major risks for the future of downtown and the city's overall financial future.
City officials say Calgary's core needs about $500 million for “downtown vibrancy infrastructure and amenities” and another $500 million to address office vacancy over the next decade.
A significant part of the downtown plan is converting empty office space into residential units, or other uses like post-secondary space.
The city is proposing using $45 million of the initial funding for incentives for building owners to do that work, which is often costly and complicated.
City staff are also recommending a $5.5-million grant for Homespace Society to transform 95,000 square feet of office space into 108 affordable housing rental units. They say the project “presents a unique demonstration opportunity” to help with future proposals, and the municipal money will help the affordable housing provider attract more investment.
The rest of the $200 million breaks down with $55 million for a capital program, $5 million for programming to draw people to the core and $10 million for a group of city staff specifically focused on downtown.
The Arts Commons transformation project is also part of the priorities, with $80 million for the first phase of work. That money would come almost entirely from the expected doubling of the Canada Community-building Fund, formerly known as the federal Gas Tax Fund.
Coun. Gian-carlo Carra said it's been obvious for some time that downtown is in trouble, and it's time to take steps to rebuild it.
“It's a meaningless gesture unless it's funded. I'm 100 per cent behind funding it,” he said.
“The business axiom that sometimes you have to spend money to make money is exactly where we find ourselves as a city. If we are going to reinvent our economy, if we are going to diversify, we need to make the moves that will make that happen.”
But Coun. Sean Chu said he'll have questions about the steep price tag.
“Conversion makes downtown better, of course,” he said. “But if a private company owns everything, why should the city subsidize something that's going to be better for them?”