Demolitions go ahead in Calgary neighbourhood for transit station that may never come

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This article was published 05/02/2025 (303 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

CALGARY – Steel snapped and tumbled to the snow-covered concrete on Wednesday as bulldozers ripped away pieces of Calgary’s Eau Claire Market, a plucky mall near the Bow River built in the early 1990s.

The demolition is the next step to clear the way for a future train station that may never come, leaving groups in Calgary concerned the downtown neighbourhood will end up a casualty of political battles between city hall and the Alberta government.

“It’s going to be vacant for many years,” Mark Garner, executive director of Calgary Downtown Association, said of the large patch of land cleared for the Green Line, Calgary’s multibillion-dollar transit project that was approved last week.

That transit would flow through a station on the edge of downtown appeared a sure bet before the Alberta government said last fall that rising costs for the Green Line meant it would need to run above ground instead of tunnelling below the city. It hinged its $1.3-billion commitment on the condition it would run above ground.

That change, paired with new potential designs for the future project, indicates the Green Line may not reach Eau Claire. The city is conducting a review of the downtown section that will take about two years to complete.

“We’re all speculating right now. I’m getting tired,” Garner said. The association has suggested the city temporarily pave the area so it can be used prior to any potential construction.

“If people come down and there’s a construction site and dust … we’re shooting ourselves in the foot.”

The City of Calgary has not said what it plans to do with the neighbourhood over the coming years. But Bill Black, president of the Calgary Construction Association, said he worries real estate investment that hinged on the transit line will flee if the station isn’t in near-term plans for the Green Line.

Should that happen, the already-struggling neighbourhood in prime downtown real estate could flounder.

“How long does that stay stranded for? Ten years? Twenty years?” Black said. “Now you’ve gone from an incredible potential to a stagnated block.”

In preparation for the Green Line, the city also expropriated residents from a 23-unit complex in the area. Residents of the region have been fighting the compensation they received for being forced to move.

“They’ve stolen our homes, taken our community away. We had a really tight-knit community,” said Joel Goucher, one resident who was expropriated from his townhome.

Though Calgary city council voted to move ahead with construction last week, Calgary’s mayor is still attempting to emphasize what she believes will be major detrimental impacts to the city’s downtown.

The city has previously raised concerns over the effects an above-ground system would have on local businesses and residents, who would have a train rumbling over or beside their properties. This week, Calgary Mayor Jyoti Gondek publicly invited Alberta Premier Danielle Smith to tour the section of downtown to showcase the “potential impacts” to local businesses and residents. 

The City of Calgary did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Black said he’s concerned that in the long term, failing to execute on a major project will affect the city’s global reputation.

“The impact on Eau Claire is really a microcosm of what happens to a city rapidly approaching two million people,” he said.

“There could be other ripple effects of our failure to deliver something successful that may have other impacts … elsewhere in Calgary.”

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Feb. 5, 2025.