City shifts $15.5M to spur efforts to revitalize core
City council is planning to put $15.5 million originally slated for other projects toward work on the Glenbow Museum and Fort Calgary.
Council's finance committee approved the change in a 7-1 vote Tuesday as part of an update to the strategy to inject new life into the ailing downtown.
The money is part of the Municipal Stability Initiative grant from the province, and intentionally set aside for cultural projects. It was going to be split between four projects, but city officials said renovation and revitalization work on the Glenbow and Fort Calgary can get started faster.
If council gives final approval next week, the Glenbow Museum will get $11 million while Fort Calgary will see $4.5 million of the total.
Mayor Naheed Nenshi said the decision is about moving the work along more quickly.
“It's not that those other projects aren't important, but the money's been parked for a really long time,” he said.
“We have two projects that just needed a little bit more so they can get going, create jobs and build.”
Calgary Opera's planned community arts centre is also receiving $7.5 million from the MSI funding and, according to the city, that won't be affected by the planned reallocation.
Fort Calgary is planning to demolish its current interpretive centre and create a new museum in its place, adding more space for classes and special exhibitions.
Meanwhile, there are numerous renovations planned for the Glenbow, including replacing the exterior cladding and redoing each floor in the building that's now more than 50 years old.
The project has funding from all three levels of government, and is expected to cost about $120 million.
Council approved the downtown strategy in April, with $200 million to be put toward the goal of addressing the persistent problem of office vacancy in Calgary's core. Just shy of one-third of Calgary's downtown office space is sitting empty as of early 2021.
Part of the plan includes trying to make the streets more lively to draw more people downtown and change its reputation as solely a nine-to-five business district.
City officials are also finalizing the process for handing out funding that will serve as incentives for office building owners to convert their space into residential units, or other uses.
There's $45 million set aside for that work, and the city is planning to offer $75 per square foot of an existing building, up to a maximum of $10 million.
Staff say there's the potential for the program to be oversubscribed — significantly more is needed in incentives over the next 10 years. If they run out of grants quickly, they might return to council to ask to approve more, and they're also planning to advocate for support from the province and Ottawa.
Council will see further details on that work by the end of the year.